The optical output port of a PC is a mystery to many people. Located on the back of the computer, it emits a steady red laser glow regardless of whether something is plugged in or not. Looks like you’re destined to plug something in, but what? The answer is, of course, the optical audio cable and here we show you how to make it work, but in recent years its correct use on Windows 10 has become quite complicated.
In this article, Niketrainers.com.co will tell you:
How to enable optical audio (S / PDIF) on a computer
First of all, there is the obvious question of making sure that both your speakers and your computer have an optical (S / PDIF) port. When it’s not listed, just connect your computer to the speakers using the optical cable.
As with any cable format, companies will try to argue that their cables are superior to others because of gold coating, “high quality” or other marketing jargon, but ignore it all. Buying a cheap optical cable should be absolutely fine, unless you plan on tying it into knots. Optical cables work much like HDMI in that they carry digital signals that are not actually degraded. The main difference is that the audio data uses less bandwidth than HDMI, so even if the cable quality is not good, it likely won’t be affected.
With the optical cable connected, click the speaker icon in the lower-right corner of the Windows taskbar, and then click the speaker name above the volume slider to see if a speaker output appears. ‘Optical’ or ‘digital’ sound. If so, just click to enable it.
If the speaker is not there, right-click the speaker icon in the system tray, click Sounds, and then click the Playback tab
Right-click anywhere in the list on the Playback tab, and then click “Show Disabled Devices”.
At this point, a device called “digital output” or “optical output” should appear. Right-click it and click “Activate” to turn it on. Once done, right-click again and click “Set as default device”. You should now have optical audio turned on.
How to enable 5.1 optical surround sound on a computer
The true benefits of optics become obvious when you’re looking for surround sound, but there are a few criteria your computer will need to meet. Also, in general, if your receiver / speakers have an HDMI port, you should use it as it offers much better 5.1 compatibility with Windows 10 drivers.
First, can your motherboard play 5.1 surround sound? The fact that there is an optical output port does not guarantee surround sound with all games, movies, etc. The optical port on your motherboard must support 5.1 audio, although this will vary greatly depending on the version of Windows you are using if recorded as compatible output with Dolby etc.
You can check if your settings are compatible with one of the Dolby 5.1 formats by going to the Sound -> Playback window. Right-click the device, click Properties, then click the Advanced tab. Just click the drop-down menu, select “DTS Interactive” or the 5.1 surround setting you want to use, and then click OK. (If your computer doesn’t detect Dolby Digital, you may have some work to do, and we have included some solutions in our conclusions.)
You must also click the “Supported Formats” tab to ensure that the formats supported by the receiver are selected.
Conclusion
This should give you the basics of using an optical cable in Windows 10. The thing is, it has a lot of nuances and a lot of variables where things can go wrong. Not only does your sound card and speakers have to support it, but the individual media you’re using as well as the fact that recent versions of Windows have made optical output support quite buggy. (You can no longer use the “Configure” button in the Sound window, for example, to enable 5.1 speakers).
If you have problems with optical audio, you can find many solutions in online forums likethis,thenYtoAlthough some of them involve driver modification, DLL replacement etc, please try them at your own risk.