tx-sr605 surround modes are not working

Hi everyone...

i have an Onkyo TX-SR605, 7.1 channel, where I only have 5 speakers and a sub hooked up currently.
I have my computer hooked up to it, through an HDMI cable...before I had it hooked up via a DVI and an Optical cable (i upgraded the computer's video card)
I have my Xbox 360 connected via the second hdmi input, and that gives me perfect surround.

Now...for some reason after I switched to an HDMI setup for my computer, I lost all options to pick from my surround presets. I only get Direct, Multichannel and PCM. What's funny is...I don't have Multichannel even hooked up in the back, and I never touched PCM ever! But my Onkyo's screen reads, PCMMultichannelHDMI, everytime I pick DVD input(which is where I have my computer hooked into). What's going on?

Hi,

Please go into the settings of your player and make sure that you set the audio to bitstream this way your receiver is doing the decoding and not the other player.

Thanks,
Forum Modarator

Thanks...I did as you said, and all my players for some odd reason (never saw that before) are 2 channel based. So I installed a Cyberlink PowerDVD 12 full release. Now...in my software (Cyberlink) i was forced to pick either HDMI or optical, and either decoded PCM or non decoded digital external device. I picked HDMI and a non decoded....
I played an 'official' movie, and the sound was fantastic! I pretty much could pick what I liked from my Onkyo surround presets. Feeling confident again, I attempted to play a normal avi movie I downloaded and a MPEG-4 one, and both were dismal!!! Back to the PCMMultichannelHDMI showing up on the display, and when I cycle thru my options, all I get was Direct, PCM, Multichannel. A side note...if I physically press Multichannel on my Onkyo receiver the sound disappears...meaning clearly I CAN'T be using those inputs in the back.

Now...is it just pretty much true that HDMI is more 'disciplined' in its sound playback than Coaxial and Optical are? You can force your Onkyo to play in whatever surround setting with the latter, but not with HDMI. HDMI you are pretty much at the mercy of the SOURCE you are playing?

Thanks Moderator,

No problem. If you need any further assistance; please contact us via phone, email, or via our Onkyo Forum at https://onkyoproductsupport.forumotion.com/f1-welcome-to-the-onkyo-forum.

Best Regards;

Forum Moderator