5.1 on windows

[smoothnobody]

i went to control panel and setup for 5.1. i can hear the test sounds coming from all my speakers. but no sound comes through my rear speakers when playing a gaming watching a movie listening to music etc. i've done some reading, and there seems to be alot of confusion. some people say windows only supports stereo. some say you have to upmix from stereo to 5 channel through other devices as virtual/3D sound isn't supported through windows directly. others say 5.1 on windows isn't supported because microsoft won't pay dolby for a license. i understand license stuff when watching a bluray. but needing a dolby license to play a mp3 doesn't make any sense. i'm assuming this is either some kind of windows limitation, or there are extra steps that i am not aware of.

[Blue4130]

39 minutes ago, smoothnobody said:

i went to control panel and setup for 5.1. i can hear the test sounds coming from all my speakers. but no sound comes through my rear speakers when playing a gaming watching a movie listening to music etc. i've done some reading, and there seems to be alot of confusion. some people say windows only supports stereo. some say you have to upmix from stereo to 5 channel through other devices as virtual/3D sound isn't supported through windows directly. others say 5.1 on windows isn't supported because microsoft won't pay dolby for a license. i understand license stuff when watching a bluray. but needing a dolby license to play a mp3 doesn't make any sense. i'm assuming this is either some kind of windows limitation, or there are extra steps that i am not aware of.

MP3s don't support more than stereo sound so you won't be getting surround that way.

[smoothnobody]

you can up mix stereo to 5 channel. people call if different things, virtual sound, 3D sound, spatial sound, etc.

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, smoothnobody said:

you can up mix stereo to 5 channel. people call if different things, virtual sound, 3D sound, spatial sound, etc.

Yes, what software are you using to upmix?

[cmndr]

The content you're playing either needs to support multi-channel OR you need to upmix. 

There's likely free software that'll do this.