The VideoLAN Forums

Hi there!

Problem... How do you make ALL your videos play with 5.1 surround?

I mean if you have 5.1 surround - don't you ALWAYS want to use it? Yes! Ofcourse! But the way things are now I always have to set it manually to 5.1 under "audio device"... EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Someone please tell me how 5.1 surround can be set as the default audio device.

Thanks!
jonas steger

I (we all) have the same problem, but just to reiterate... If you are playing a cue file for your favorite DTS wav file, each new virtual track is even reset to stereo, so at each song change you have to go back and set Audio Device to 5.1. I downloaded VLC Media player just for its ability to play DTS wav files, so I'm not impressed so far. Not sure why this isn't in the preferences settings. Also for thought, you might consider the option of outputting the DTS stream directly as opposed to the multi-channel PCM output; my Auzentech X-Fi Home Theater card would appreciate it. Looks like a nice and stable app otherwise though; thanks for the effort!

I have figured out a working solution. Pretty simple, should work with most setups.
Open your favorite text editor, or notepad, if you don't have one, and paste this Edit the path to match your vlc path, save it as vlc51.cmd

Use 'Default Programs' go under 'Associate...' and associate .mkv (and other HD files you play) with the vlc51.cmd

Double click an .mkv file to play and verify it is already playing '5.1' under Audio>Audio Device>5.1

Drink a beer to celebrate. Thank me later
This will remove VLC right-click context menus. You will no longer be able to right click .mkv and 'Add to VLC playlist', BUT, you can still drag and drop mkv files onto vlc playlist, AND they all play 5.1, no switching for each file anymore!

This is a hack. A quick/temp fix. Now, go bug VLC developers to fix this bug in the program. It should use 5.1 by default when stream present.

This worked for me:
Tools/Preferences... Show Settings: All
under "Audio/Output Modules" choose: DirectX audio output
under ... "Output Modules/DirectX - Output device" choose your speakers device
under ... "Output Modules/DirectX - Speaker configuration" choose: 5.1
And remember to restart the program, so the new settings will take.

I agree that it should be a default setting; it was so annoying to have to choose 5.1 manually, every time.