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Wii U - Surround Sound Guide and FAQ

C

CLEEK

Member
luknotluck said:
Not sure if this has been answered yet.

Does the Wii U audio work if I plug in the video through HDMI, but the audio comes thru the component or AV cables?
Click to expand...

Dude, it's in the OP.

For Wii U use, only one AV port on the back is active. If you output HDMI to your TV, the AV Multi Out analogue output will be disabled.
Click to expand...
 
L

LiberaTeExInferis

Member
Hello guys!I would really appreciate your help.

I am ready to enjoy surround sound from my WiiU, so today I had a stop at my local MM and checked two receivers.Unfortunately, upon checking their specs I saw that they do not support LPCM 5.1.

Is it too hard to find AV receivers that support this format?
Here are the two I found.

1) http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/archive/VSX-422-K/page.html
2)http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx/rx-v375_black_u/?mode=model

Unless I am reading something wrong, they do not support this, right?

Do any of you have some AV receiver or even a full system with speakers to suggest,that work out fine with WiiU?
I could spend spend up to 300/400 Euros.
Thank you in advance.

edit: It is mentioned on the previous page of the thread that this AV receiver supports LPCM,yet in the specs there is no mention.
http://au.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx-v375_black_a/?mode=model
Am I still reading something wrong???
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
LiberaTeExInferis said:
Hello guys!I would really appreciate your help.

I am ready to enjoy surround sound from my WiiU, so today I had a stop at my local MM and checked two receivers.Unfortunately, upon checking their specs I saw that they do not support LPCM 5.1.

Is it too hard to find AV receivers that support this format?
Here are the two I found.

1) http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/archive/VSX-422-K/page.html
2)http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx/rx-v375_black_u/?mode=model

Unless I am reading something wrong, they do not support this, right?

Do any of you have some AV receiver or even a full system with speakers to suggest,that work out fine with WiiU?
I could spend spend up to 300/400 Euros.
Thank you in advance.

edit: It is mentioned on the previous page of the thread that this AV receiver supports LPCM,yet in the specs there is no mention.
http://au.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx-v375_black_a/?mode=model
Am I still reading something wrong???
Click to expand...

General rule of thumb is if it supports Dolby Digital True HD and DTS-HD Master, then it'll do LPCM. You should be fine.

This is my receiver:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Elite+Receivers/SC-07

If you look at the specs, you'll see it's not listed either and I know for sure it supports it.
 
W

wsippel

Banned
D

Downhome

Member
wsippel said:
wat



According to Downhome himself, it actually doesn't work. Because the receiver has HDMI, but doesn't support LPCM.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know it didn't work back earlier this year. I was hoping that had changed in updates or something since then.

What would be an affordable receiver to pick up that actually supports LPCM?
 
D

Downhome

Member
Yeah, Nintendo really f'd the sound options big time on the Wii U. If they haven't updated anything then I'm still beyond pissed off at them for this stupid botch.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
ChrisG683 said:
I don't see LPCM listed at all on my receiver, and it's only like a year old :(

Onkyo TX-NR616
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882120197

I'm a sad panda
Click to expand...

Yours should support it.

Downhome said:
Yeah, I know it didn't work back earlier this year. I was hoping that had changed in updates or something since then.

What would be an affordable receiver to pick up that actually supports LPCM?
Click to expand...

First rule of thumb that you probably should get out of this is never buy a home theater in a box setup. They tend to be garbage. Just a quick glance, but this should do the trick:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007O5ATM8/?tag=neogaf0e-20

It shouldn't be too hard to find a receiver for about $200 these days that supports it.
 
D

Downhome

Member
Ok, I'm confused.

I just started playing Wind Waker HD and to my complete and total shock I am indeed getting surround sound for this game. Have they actually updated something that enabled it for my type of receiver? It's raining here and I thought the sounds coming around me of the ocean was just the rain here but had to pause it and go to each speaker, and yeah, complete surround sound.

I'm very happy about this, but totally confused as to how this is happening.

Is it just this game that supports it? I had always been able to hear the tones when testing my setup with the Wii U, but have never heard it from any games or Netflix or anything like that.
 
B

Barrow Roll

Member
Downhome said:
Ok, I'm confused.

I just started playing Wind Waker HD and to my complete and total shock I am indeed getting surround sound for this game. Have they actually updated something that enabled it for my type of receiver? It's raining here and I thought the sounds coming around me of the ocean was just the rain here but had to pause it and go to each speaker, and yeah, complete surround sound.

I'm very happy about this, but totally confused as to how this is happening.

Is it just this game that supports it? I had always been able to hear the tones when testing my setup with the Wii U, but have never heard it from any games or Netflix or anything like that.
Click to expand...
I'm no expert on the subject matter, but I believe certain Wii U games simply don't have 5.1 audio, even when surround sound is setup properly, like NSMBU. Also, I believe Netflix on the Wii U doesn't have surround sound because it can't stream uncompressed audio.
 
C

CLEEK

Member
LiberaTeExInferis said:
Hello guys!I would really appreciate your help.

I am ready to enjoy surround sound from my WiiU, so today I had a stop at my local MM and checked two receivers.Unfortunately, upon checking their specs I saw that they do not support LPCM 5.1.

Is it too hard to find AV receivers that support this format?
Here are the two I found.

1) http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/archive/VSX-422-K/page.html
2)http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx/rx-v375_black_u/?mode=model

Unless I am reading something wrong, they do not support this, right?

Do any of you have some AV receiver or even a full system with speakers to suggest,that work out fine with WiiU?
I could spend spend up to 300/400 Euros.
Thank you in advance.

edit: It is mentioned on the previous page of the thread that this AV receiver supports LPCM,yet in the specs there is no mention.
http://au.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx-v375_black_a/?mode=model
Am I still reading something wrong???
Click to expand...

The Pioneer supports it. Click on the Support link then download the manual. It says it supports multi channel PCM on page 12.

I haven't checked the others, but if you do the same, it's highly likely that they will support PCM.
 
gingerbeardman

gingerbeardman

Member
So what is the cheapest solution to get headphone audio out on a Wii U?

If it's an amp/receiver I need, I'd like one of the smallest available. It doesn't have to be an award winner in terms of sound quality.

Thanks.
 
gingerbeardman

gingerbeardman

Member
OK.

I have a Wii U deluxe
Epson 1761W projector (HDMI in, no audio out, crappy integrated mono speaker)
a HDMI switch (to allow Wii U and my Roku box to both be attached to the single HDMI input on the projector)
JBL Creature II speakers (attached by 3.5mm from the Roku and my iMac)
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
gingerbeardman said:
OK.

I have a Wii U deluxe
Epson 1761W projector (HDMI in, no audio out, crappy integrated mono speaker)
a HDMI switch (to allow Wii U and my Roku box to both be attached to the single HDMI input on the projector)
JBL Creature II speakers (attached by 3.5mm from the Roku and my iMac)
Click to expand...

Am I understanding this correctly; right now you're getting no sound output from your Wii U in your setup?
 
A

adg1034

Member
So, being the technologically-savvy man that I am, I'm a little embarrassed to ask, but: any reason my 2.1 setup (new as of 9 months ago!) isn't using the subwoofer for Wind Waker HD? My receiver's showing multi-channel in from my Wii U, and my Wii U's set to Surround output, so...

(It's a straight-up HDMI connection from my receiver to my Wii U, and yes, the subwoofer works for other sources.)

EDIT: And it turned out that the in-game track just didn't have any bass... Once I got back out onto the sea, though, the sub kicked in.
 
C

CLEEK

Member
Bullza2o said:
Wait, I thought you can't use optical/toslink cable because it's too slow for LPCM?

Perhaps this converts the LPCM 5.1 into a lesser-quality (dolby?) 5.1 via the toslink? If this is true this is what I need.
Click to expand...

LPCM can only be stereo when sent over optical, as it doesn't have the bandwidth for multi-channel. If you want LPCM 5.1, it has to be over HDMI.

DD/DTS goes over optical as they are a compressed format. LPCM is uncompressed, so required far more bandwidth.
 
B

Bullza2o

Member
SPE said:
LPCM can only be stereo when sent over optical, as it doesn't have the bandwidth for multi-channel. If you want LPCM 5.1, it has to be over HDMI.

DD/DTS goes over optical as they are a compressed format. LPCM is uncompressed, so required far more bandwidth.
Click to expand...

So there's no way to convert LPCM into DD/DTS, 5.1?
 
J

jimi_dini

Member
Bullza2o said:
So there's no way to convert LPCM into DD/DTS, 5.1?
Click to expand...

If your receiver has analog 5.1 in (the good ones do), you could buy a HDMI -> Analog 5.1 decoder.

Compressing would be possible in theory, although lag would get introduced and it seems that there is no box available for this. The box linked before will at best route Dolby Digital 5.1 from HDMI to TOSlink and that won't help in the Wii U situation. I bet LPCM 5.1 will get converted into LPCM 2.0. And it may also not even mix the streams together.

Marty Chinn said:
It would be cheaper to buy a receiver at that point.
Click to expand...

Not in case of high-end receivers. If someone owns a cheap one, then yes of course. Amplifiers are not like notebooks/PCs.
 
B

Bullza2o

Member
jimi_dini said:
If your receiver has analog 5.1 in (the good ones do), you could buy a HDMI -> Analog 5.1 decoder.

Compressing would be possible in theory, although lag would get introduced and it seems that there is no box available for this. The box linked before will at best route Dolby Digital 5.1 from HDMI to TOSlink and that won't help in the Wii U situation. I bet LPCM 5.1 will get converted into LPCM 2.0. And it may also not even mix the streams together.
Click to expand...

Well 2 years ago I bought a Samsung Bluray Home Theater set, and that was when I didn't really know much about home theaters. Now I know it's terribly outdated due to its lack of HDMI input, and it seems like the only way to get Wii U surround is to buy an expensive receiver and an expensive speaker set :(

I'll just get a PS4 also and enjoy its audio in games, netflix, etc.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
jimi_dini said:
Not in case of high-end receivers. If someone owns a cheap one, then yes of course. Amplifiers are not like notebooks/PCs.
Click to expand...

No, I think even in the case of high-end receivers, it would still be cheaper. A real time Dolby Digital encoder the last I checked was pretty pricey. They're not common at a consumer level.

Bullza2o said:
Well 2 years ago I bought a Samsung Bluray Home Theater set, and that was when I didn't really know much about home theaters. Now I know it's terribly outdated due to its lack of HDMI input, and it seems like the only way to get Wii U surround is to buy an expensive receiver and an expensive speaker set :(

I'll just get a PS4 also and enjoy its audio in games, netflix, etc.
Click to expand...

No, you don't need to buy an expensive receiver and an expensive speaker set. Depending on the type of speakers your setup already has, you might be able to reuse them and a receiver can be had for about $200 that will handle it.
 
B

Bullza2o

Member
Marty Chinn said:
No, you don't need to buy an expensive receiver and an expensive speaker set. Depending on the type of speakers your setup already has, you might be able to reuse them and a receiver can be had for about $200 that will handle it.
Click to expand...

My Samsung home theater uses proprietary inputs for the speakers. If there's some way to make it into the usual speaker cables then I'd keep them. I tried Googling for it but couldn't find it.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Bullza2o said:
My Samsung home theater uses proprietary inputs for the speakers. If there's some way to make it into the usual speaker cables then I'd keep them. I tried Googling for it but couldn't find it.
Click to expand...

What model do you have? Also, let this be a lesson to never buy a HTiB again.
 
B

Bullza2o

Member
Marty Chinn said:
What model do you have? Also, let this be a lesson to never buy a HTiB again.
Click to expand...

It's this one
http://www.samsung.com/us/video/home-theater/HT-D4500/ZA

I bought it 2 Black Fridays ago at Best Buy for $250, and I didn't know much about home theaters back then. I think a year after it was discontinued. The same happened to a Toshiba A135 I bought from Best Buy during the BF sale. I'll never buy cheap electronics again without research. That said, it was the first home theater system I bought, and because of this it's my last too.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Bullza2o said:
It's this one
http://www.samsung.com/us/video/home-theater/HT-D4500/ZA

I bought it 2 Black Fridays ago at Best Buy for $250, and I didn't know much about home theaters back then. I think a year after it was discontinued. The same happened to a Toshiba A135 I bought from Best Buy during the BF sale. I'll never buy cheap electronics again without research. That said, it was the first home theater system I bought, and because of this it's my last too.
Click to expand...

How comfortable are you with doing a light modification? It's possible you could still use your speakers if you're willing to do an easy mod.
 
B

Bullza2o

Member
Marty Chinn said:
How comfortable are you with doing a light modification? It's possible you could still use your speakers if you're willing to do an easy mod.
Click to expand...

It depends. To use an analogy, I've seen my dad's friend modify our TV's plug to extend it, and it didn't seem hard at all. If there's soldering, nope.

Is there a site I can go for instructions?

It would save me money if I just have to buy a receiver. This is my "receiver" that makes my Xbox/DirecTV have 5.1 via optical: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=5557&seq=1&format=4

EDIT: I tried Googling some more, and would it be okay if I just cut the wire end, so it will turn into 2 bare wires?
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Bullza2o said:
It depends. To use an analogy, I've seen my dad's friend modify our TV's plug to extend it, and it didn't seem hard at all. If there's soldering, nope.

Is there a site I can go for instructions?

It would save me money if I just have to buy a receiver. This is my "receiver" that makes my Xbox/DirecTV have 5.1 via optical: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=5557&seq=1&format=4

EDIT: I tried Googling some more, and would it be okay if I just cut the wire end, so it will turn into 2 bare wires?
Click to expand...

Yep, that's what I was going to suggest. Cut the end connector off and then strip the wire ends so that you can use them in any standard speaker output.
 
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