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Wii U - Surround Sound Guide and FAQ

Deku Tree said:
So what do people thing of the HDMI cable that is included with the Wii U?

It has silver tips. A salesman at BB once told me only to use HDMI cables with gold tips.

Is it a cheap HDMI cable? or is it going to be just as good as any other cable for the Wii U?
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A cable is only as good at passing electricity as the worst metal used in it. So unless your cable was gold 100% through, having gold tips doesn't make a difference.

*edit*

Arrggg didn't see that post was from January, sorry.
 
Is there a homebrew solution yet to the Pro Logic issues in vWii mode? Reaching around to switch the sensor bar back and forth between the Wii and the Wii U is getting really old but until this is fixed I can't retire my Wii! :(
 
Count Dookkake said:
Any recommendations for a decent 5.1 system for Wii U that won't break the bank?
Click to expand...

I'm owning this home theater system from Onkyo (bought it 2 yrs ago):
http://www.de.onkyo.com/de/produkte/htx-22hdx-35462.html (German site, but just google the model HTX-22HDX) with the additional rear speakers from Onkyo as well (SKS-22X).

It's small, affordable and supports LPCM 5.1 as well as Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD and has one HDMI-out and three HDMI-in ports. If you're not a big audio enthusiast, but just want to enjoy your movies and games in glorious, superior surround sound in cinema quality, get this system!
 
Datschge said:
There is a reason none of the GC/Wii hardware comes with the Dolby license logo, it's not licensed on the hardware level. So Nintendo saves the money for licensing something and pay for every unit of hardware produced and replaced it with the possibility of developers opting for it, them then having to pay for every produced unit of software using it (which then prominently shows the Dolby logo on the title and package). Wii U appears to be a straight continuation of that approach.
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didn't allot of wii games come with dolby pro logic 2 logos?
 
Got my WiiU yesterday. I noticed the dedicated audio port on the back and I have a surround receiver. Where do I get the audio cable, though?
 
GotchaForce said:
Got my WiiU yesterday. I noticed the dedicated audio port on the back and I have a surround receiver. Where do I get the audio cable, though?
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I don't know what you mean. There is only an HDMI out and an AV out (for a Wii composite or a Wii component cable). For more details see the OP.
 
So I ended up getting this:

l_21309872.jpg
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LG BH7430P 5.1

Seems like a fantastic sound so far, but nothing I have tested on the Wii U has been surround except for the test during the settings.

Am I to assume that the Wii U frontend, Bit Trip Runner, NintendoLand and Netflix are all devoid of rear speaker noise?
 
GotchaForce said:
Got my WiiU yesterday. I noticed the dedicated audio port on the back and I have a surround receiver. Where do I get the audio cable, though?
Click to expand...

There is no dedicated audio port.

You can't even route sound seperately through the AV out. This needs sorting as soon as possible, because I am using a computer monitor with no speakers built-in.
 
Nintendo makes some incredibly stupid decisions sometimes. Removing features with updates? What purpose did that serve really?
 
Robin64 said:
So I ended up getting this:



LG BH7430P 5.1

Seems like a fantastic sound so far, but nothing I have tested on the Wii U has been surround except for the test during the settings.

Am I to assume that the Wii U frontend, Bit Trip Runner, NintendoLand and Netflix are all devoid of rear speaker noise?
Click to expand...

Yep a lot of games are like that unfortunately. Sad that Netflix is stuck with Stereo on Wii U.
 
Robin64 said:
Am I to assume that the Wii U frontend, Bit Trip Runner, NintendoLand and Netflix are all devoid of rear speaker noise?
Click to expand...

I know that NintendoLand and NSMBU have 2.0 tracks and they play in 2.0 even when you have your Wii U set to 5.1, so nothing gets sent to the rear speakers or the subwoofer.

Netflix doesn't have surround sound, probably because Wii U surround is only LPCM (uncompressed) and Netflix surround audio is encoded in Dolby 5.1, which Wii U doesn't support.
 
After a weekend playing around, I'm slightly miffed with Nintendo's efforts. I really hope the next Zelda isn't just 2.0, that would pretty much be a crime.

Has anyone compiled a list of Wii U software that supports 5.1?
 
Seth Enosh said:
I know that NintendoLand and NSMBU have 2.0 tracks and they play in 2.0 even when you have your Wii U set to 5.1, so nothing gets sent to the rear speakers or the subwoofer.
Click to expand...

Your receiver should be doing that for you. That's how stereo music works, too.

Robin64 said:
After a weekend playing around, I'm slightly miffed with Nintendo's efforts. I really hope the next Zelda isn't just 2.0, that would pretty much be a crime.

Has anyone compiled a list of Wii U software that supports 5.1?
Click to expand...

Dunno, there are a bunch. Monster Hunter sounds pretty badass in surround.
 
Seth Enosh said:
I know that NintendoLand and NSMBU have 2.0 tracks and they play in 2.0 even when you have your Wii U set to 5.1, so nothing gets sent to the rear speakers or the subwoofer.

Netflix doesn't have surround sound, probably because Wii U surround is only LPCM (uncompressed) and Netflix surround audio is encoded in Dolby 5.1, which Wii U doesn't support.
Click to expand...

if I remember correctly, the WiiU Netflix does support 5.1, your receiver must be LPCM 5.1 compatible for it.
 
MysticX said:
if I remember correctly, the WiiU Netflix does support 5.1, your receiver must be LPCM 5.1 compatible for it.
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I haven't streamed Netflix in a while, but the audio stream has to be LPCM 5.1 for the Wii U to give you surround. If it's Dolby Digital 5.1 or something else from Netflix's end, then it doesn't work. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
w1gglyjones said:
I haven't streamed Netflix in a while, but the audio stream has to be LPCM 5.1 for the Wii U to give you surround. If it's Dolby Digital 5.1 or something else from Netflix's end, then it doesn't work. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

You're not wrong. Netflix doesn't stream LPCM 5.1 (I imagine because of bandwidth issues?).

Also, this could be a sign of hope:

Pikmin-3-Japanese-Backcover.jpg
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Pikmin 3 listing 5.1 on its cover. Maybe someone with the game could confirm if that means it's using all the speakers or if Nintendo are just being Nintendo and sending nothing to the rears.
 
Robin64 said:
You're not wrong. Netflix doesn't stream LPCM 5.1 (I imagine because of bandwidth issues?).

Also, this could be a sign of hope:



Pikmin 3 listing 5.1 on its cover. Maybe someone with the game could confirm if that means it's using all the speakers or if Nintendo are just being Nintendo and sending nothing to the rears.
Click to expand...

To be fair, games like Nintendoland have 5.1 channel sound, the catch being the two extra channels are coming out of the gamepad, not from the rear ones. It's like a "Nintendo surround" thing I guess, but yeah I hope Pikmin 3 supports proper 5.1 sound
 
Chao said:
To be fair, games like Nintendoland have 5.1 channel sound, the catch being the two extra channels are coming out of the gamepad, not from the rear ones. It's like a "Nintendo surround" thing I guess, but yeah I hope Pikmin 3 supports proper 5.1 sound
Click to expand...

It just depends on the game. Some Nintendo titles only provide stereo sound through the LPCM stream. The Wii U itself is capable of 8 channel audio, but it sends the 6 channels (5.1 surround) through the HDMI as LPCM, and the other 2 channels are sent to the Gamepad.

Robin64 said:
Pikmin 3 listing 5.1 on its cover. Maybe someone with the game could confirm if that means it's using all the speakers or if Nintendo are just being Nintendo and sending nothing to the rears.
Click to expand...

You might get a better answer in the Pikmin 3 OT.
 
Are there any 7.1 Home Theater systems with HDMI audio out that support LPCM? I mean, there have been a few receivers mentioned in this thread that were confirmed to work with the Wii U, like the Sony STR-DH520, but I'm looking for something with speakers included.

This Onkyo S5550 system looks good, but I don't see anything in he product specs about LPCM.
 
Nintendo, fix your f*cking audio output on Wii U.
If your game only supports 2.0, then for the love of god output only 2.0 and not 5.1 with muted channels!
This f*cks up our AVR settings and doesn´t let us use virtual surround like Dolby Pro Logic or DTS Neo.
When i constantly have to go to the system settings and change the output to stereo when i´m playing Wii Mode or 2.0 Wii U games and then change it back again when i play 5.1 Wii U games, you are doing it wrong!
 
So I have some 5.1 surround sound headphones I recently picked up for cheap with Front, center and rear connections. Is there an inexpensive device out there with: HDMI input, HDMI output and also the front, center, rear headphone connections? I've had a look but I can't find anything out there.
 
EmiPrime said:
Is there a homebrew solution yet to the Pro Logic issues in vWii mode? Reaching around to switch the sensor bar back and forth between the Wii and the Wii U is getting really old but until this is fixed I can't retire my Wii! :(
Click to expand...
I have the sensor bars stacked. Wiimotes actually track better when both units are on.
Inspectah_Deck said:
Nintendo, fix your******* audio output on Wii U.
If your game only supports 2.0, then for the love of god output only 2.0 and not 5.1 with muted channels!
This f**** up our AVR settings and doesn´t let us use virtual surround like Dolby Pro Logic or DTS Neo.
When i constantly have to go to the system settings and change the output to stereo when i´m playing Wii Mode or 2.0 Wii U games and then change it back again when i play 5.1 Wii U games, you are doing it wrong!
Click to expand...
Workaround: Set audio to Surround, convert the HDMI to optical, assign optical input on receiver to GAME, or whatever your Wii U's HDMI cable is also connected to. Manually switch between Optical and HDMI audio, depending on the number of channels; optical will only carry the L&R channels of the Multichannel stream, thus allowing matrixed surround decoding.
I just switch between the HDMI and optical outputs on my DVDO Edge scaler and my receiver automatically switches audio inputs while keeping the same video signal, it's better than changing the Wii U's audio settings, as it can be done whenever a game doesn't sound right.
 
So, has anyone found a solution for optical headphone users? Basically, an AVR or transcoder box that takes 5.1 LPCM on HDMI in and outputs 5.1 DD on optical.
All I can find is ones similar to those linked in this thread which appear to only output DD if it was input. They'll take LPCM 5.1 and split it into 6 seperate phono outputs but I don't think that helps me.
I wonder if the Xbone will do it. Probably not though.
Only solution I can think of is getting an AVR with Dolby Headphone (or similar) and connect the headphone out into my surround headset, disabling its surround processing.
Any suggestions for AVRs with decent virtual surround headphone out?
 
SPE said:
[*] 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...

LTTP and fuck you Nintendo fuck you. Every misfortune faced by the Wii U is deserved because clearly nintendo thinks nobody plays online or has external speakers.
 
Robin64 said:
Pleased to say that Pikmin 3 is properly 5.1. Well done Nintendo, now keep it up, eh?
Click to expand...
Yeah, but please properly incorporate the LFE and center channels next time and hire a capable sound engineer that knows how a home cinema mixing is done.
tronic307 said:
Workaround: Set audio to Surround, convert the HDMI to optical, assign optical input on receiver to GAME, or whatever your Wii U's HDMI cable is also connected to. Manually switch between Optical and HDMI audio, depending on the number of channels; optical will only carry the L&R channels of the Multichannel stream, thus allowing matrixed surround decoding.
I just switch between the HDMI and optical outputs on my DVDO Edge scaler and my receiver automatically switches audio inputs while keeping the same video signal, it's better than changing the Wii U's audio settings, as it can be done whenever a game doesn't sound right.
Click to expand...
So i have to buy a HDMI to S/PDIF converter?
No thanks. :P
 
I refuse to drop the Wii U on my Denon receiver due to the various inconsistencies in sound modes going from game to game to app.
 
I think Pikmin supports 5.1 surround. Is there a list of other WiiU games that do the same?

EDIT:-

Inspectah_Deck said:
Yeah, but please properly incorporate the LFE and center channels next time and hire a capable sound engineer that knows how a home cinema mixing is done.
Click to expand...

What's the problem with the sound in Pikmin?
 
cyberheater said:
I think Pikmin supports 5.1 surround. Is there a list of other WiiU games that do the same?
Click to expand...

It does. It's just not very good.

Out of the games I have, Arkham City, Need for Speed and ZombiU support 5.1

New Super Mario Bros. U, Game & Wario, NintendoLand and Bit.Trip Runner do not.

Netflix and Hulu don't support 5.1 either.
 
EmiPrime said:
Is there a homebrew solution yet to the Pro Logic issues in vWii mode? Reaching around to switch the sensor bar back and forth between the Wii and the Wii U is getting really old but until this is fixed I can't retire my Wii! :(
Click to expand...

You do know the sensor bar sends no info to the consoles. You don't have to switch it you just need to power both on or buy one that takes batteries.
 
Robin64 said:
It does. It's just not very good.

Out of the games I have, Arkham City, Need for Speed and ZombiU support 5.1

New Super Mario Bros. U, Game & Wario, NintendoLand and Bit.Trip Runner do not.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. It's a pity that the surround for Pikmin isn't great. What's wrong with it. Is it not directional enough?

Robin64 said:
Netflix
Click to expand...

It's unforgivable that the WiiU doesn't support surround for Netflix.
 
cyberheater said:
What's the problem with the sound in Pikmin?
Click to expand...

No center channel, LFE channel (nearly) not present and many soundlevels are too low (bad mixing).

It´s better when your AVR has Audyssey with Dynamic EQ, which ups the sounds that are too low, but the sound is still far from ideal.
The lack of center speaker is the most annoying.

For me personally the sound in Pikmin is much better with the WiiU on stereo and the AVR on Pro Logic II.
 
Inspectah_Deck said:
No center channel, LFE channel (nearly) not present and many soundlevels are too low (bad mixing).

It´s better when your AVR has Audyssey with Dynamic EQ, which ups the sounds that are too low, but the sound is still far from ideal.
The lack of center speaker is the most annoying.

For me personally the sound in Pikmin is much better with the WiiU on stereo and the AVR on Pro Logic II.
Click to expand...

No center channel. Ha ha. WTF Nintendo.

"Audyssey with Dynamic EQ" - My Onkyo amp has that.

Thanks for the info.
 
so a question..

I recently got a new AVR (Denon x2000). So hooked up HDMI, set Wii U to surround. Two issues:

Center channel is crazy low in like everything. As one example, going through the menus at the start of Lego City, you can no longer hear the "click" while selecting options. I mean it is BARELY audible. Another example would be super quiet "voices" during Pikmin 3 while the music and ambient FX are through the roof. Not as bad as Lego City, but still noticeably quieter.

The second problem, which seems really odd, is that since I turned surround on, my Gamepad audio is now much quieter also. When originally playing Lego City in stereo on my old receiver, I would actually turn down the gamepad audio slightly when the video calls would come through in the game. Now they are much softer to the point where I have to have the gamepad within say like 12-18 inches from my head just to hear them well. Same thing now with Pikmin 3. Any time a communique comes through from another captain, there "gibberish" is at about the same level the audio in Lego City is.

So I set my audio back to Stereo in settings, and everything goes back to normal levels. I'm guessing this is just Wii U being Wii U.. just wondering if anyone else has noticed this, and/or has any suggestions?
 
So I'm looking into buying an AVR as I'm watching more and more cinematic stuff on my TV(Netlifx and the rare good show on TV) as well as playing Wii U.

To find out that Netflix(which I'm streaming via Wii U) is just stereo on Wii U is really disheartening, and that Nintendo's own 'big' titles are a mess with the audio is making me rethink if it's a bad time to buy a reciever...
 
I just purchased a used Sony Ht-SS2300 receiver and 5.1 speaker system from craigslist and tested it out with my Wii U. So far I've ran BLOPS2 and had perfect surround sound with no issues. I've also used it to play Xenoblade through the Wii emulator, with only stereo sound produced.

Just wanted to give a heads up, I know I had difficulty identifying what exact models would work for surround sound on the Wii U in case anyone else was in the market for a new system. Maybe we could get a list of models that DO work in the first post?
 
SPE said:
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..[/URL]
Click to expand...

Just discovered this yesterday. My plans of hooking the wiiU to my old stereo are dead in the water
 
While this is semi relevant, I'm starting to research some systems.

Is LPCM the same as, or a subset of multi-channel PCM?

ie if I got something like this, would it support Wii U surround sound?

http://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/system_components/home_theater/ht-s3500/index.html

Note under specs it says:
HDMI® Support for 3D, Audio Return Channel, DeepColor™, x.v.Color™, LipSync, Dolby® TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio™, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD, Multichannel PCM, and CEC

4 HDMI Inputs and 1 Output

Dolby® TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio™, Dolby® Digital Plus, DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio™ Decoding
Click to expand...

Thanks in advance for anyone who can confirm either way.
 
LPCM is the same as PCM. Sometime folks just drop the 'L'.

My Pioneer AVR shows 'PCM' when playing LPCM audio.

The WiiU outputs multi-channel PCM, so that amp look fine and should certainly provide 5.1 with the WiiU.
 
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?
 
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