Problem streaming 5.1 audio

[rikkitic]

I am stuck trying to stream 5.1 audio and I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong. The subject has been dealt with here before, but I hope someone can offer fresh insight. I am using a PC running Win 7 with HDMI and optical outputs. My HT receiver is an older Yamaha, good quality but without HDMI inputs so I am only using HDMI to the TV for video. The audio is from a sound card on the computer and plugs directly into the receiver via an optical spdif cable. The receiver is only able to decode AC3 and DTS. I have installed the k-lite codec pack and set it for bitstreaming. When I play a 5.1 media file it works fine. All the correct speaker symbols light up on the receiver along with Dolby Digital and I can clearly hear the different surround channels, so I know the hardware is working and the Windows audio settings are correct. But I can only get streamed sources to work as two-channel stereo on the same connection regardless of what I do or how I tweak the settings.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about Surround Sound streaming sources. There are several test clips on YouTube, but I keep seeing comments that YouTube HTML5 doesn’t support multi-channel audio streaming, so I don’t quite get the sense of that. I have found two other sources that I assume must be genuine 5.1 clips, though I don’t know how to verify that:

https://www2.iis.fraunhofer.de/AAC/multichannel.html
http://www.livenaturesongs.com

I have also read conflicting information about different browsers not supporting 5.1 sound. This just adds another layer of uncertainty to an already confusing situation. If someone could offer any clarity about this it would be very helpful. Until now I have only used the Chrome browser. I just downloaded the most recent version to make sure it was up to date.

Any tips or help to solve this very frustrating issue would be most welcome. I know most sites do not yet offer multi-channel audio streams, but I would still really like to get this working. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Krispy Kritter]

Try the AVS forums in the HTPC board. I've seen this come up before and I believe it has to do with how browsers process the audio. When you bitstream, you don't want the stream processed, you simply want it passed untouched. I don't think browsers/Windows can do that. This is one of situations where a standalone streaming device is the better option (ie: Roku, Firestick, etc.).

[rikkitic]

Thanks. If that is the case I can live with it but it sure is hard to get clear reliable info about this.