Thread: How do I play surround sound on VLC?

Hey guys, I was wondering how to play surround sound on VLC. I just got Logitech G35's and they're pretty nice. Also, how do I check if the movie/video i downloaded has surround sound. Obviously the Logitech G35's have virtual 7.1 since there's only 2 speakers on the headset

right-click in playing media window --> go to audio --> select track
How to Play 5.1 for My VLC Player | eHow.com (source: google is your friend)

check the file properties in vlc or mpc for the sound, it will give you all the deets

The file properties are often not precise and sometimes even wrong (Tested it several times with VLC), Grab http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net to get accurate and absolutely right infos on EVERY media file. It's awesome.

Originally Posted by le_us

The file properties are often not precise and sometimes even wrong (Tested it several times with VLC), Grab http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net to get accurate and absolutely right infos on EVERY media file. It's awesome.

interesting, ima look into this later. didn't realize properties could give incorrect info. do you know why this would be?

I can't explain it precisely but I could make an educated guess. I think it because many streams and codecs are similar nowadays and VLC especially interprets the file to find out how to play it, it doesn't need the exact infos. Or it would be "too complex" for the average user.

However, MediaInfo since I used it, always knew the codec and exact info about the files.
A quick comparison (Just video stream):

Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times.1080p.x264.mkv (From PTP)

VLC:

Stream 0
Type: Video
Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1)
Language: English
Resolution: 1440x1080
FPS: 23,976215
Decoded format: Planar 4:2:0 YUV

MediaInfo:

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 26mn
Bit rate : 9 852 Kbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.264
Stream size : 5.82 GiB (75%)
Writing library : x264 core 80 r1376M 3feaec2
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=5 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=9852 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.50 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.10 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Even the encoder settings are sometimes interesting, if you want to get into x264 for example.

Thanks for mediainfo. will be using that. <3