setting audio device default / sound mis-directed

[jberger]

I have connected my MacBook to a new receiver which runs a 5.1 speaker system. Though everything was working normal with my old receiver, when paying movies with VLC the centre sound (speech etc.) now comes from the left rear speaker. When in VLC I go to audio > audio device and choose the option “HDMI (Encoded Output)” the centre sound is correctly directed to the centre speaker. Every time I play another movie, I again have to go to audio > audio device > “HDMI (Encoded Output)”.

Is there I way to choose “HDMI (Encoded Output)” as a default or is there a better way to fix this issue? Thank you very much for reading.

I am using: VLC media player version 3.0.3 / Mac OS X 10.12.6 / MacBook Pro

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Activate HDMI in audio preferences.

[jberger]

Than you very much for your help. But I am not sure how to do that. In VLC Media Player 3.0.3, I opened the in the Audio tab of VLC>Preferences (I have macOS) and clicked on the "Show all". On the left of the opening window, under "control interfaces", I can choose "Audio" but I don't see anything HDMI related to choose.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

In simple preferences, it should be.

in all, it should be in the coreaudio category

[jberger]

In the audio tab under VLC>Preferences, I can
- tick the "enable audio" bo
- Choose between "keep audio levels ..." or "Always reset...", or choose a "Preferred audio language"
- Choose something out of a drop-down menu under "Visualization" or "enable Last.fm submission".

Sorry, I do not see anything HDMI related.

[MickM]

I just came to the forums to ask the exact same question as the original poster. To play my DVDs I too am having to set the Audio Device in VLC to "HDMI (Encoded Output)" every ... single ... time ...
I have no idea why I have to choose that particular audio device (it's the only one that works) when the default audio device in my system preferences is my AV receiver. When I play the DVD in Apple's DVDPlayer (which also uses the system's default audio device) it works just fine.
I'm not here to ask why "HDMI (Encoded Output)" is apparently my only viable option, I'm just here to find out how to set and forget VLC's audio device preference. Any ideas?

In case it matters, I'm playing the DVD on a 2010 Mac Mini running High Sierra.

[MickM]

So something is different - now when I select HDMI (Encoded Output) I clearly hear audio, but only background music. I see people's lips moving, but don't hear what they're saying. I don't remember changing anything, I'm just doing the same thing but on a different day...

[ckvlc]

My 7.1 surround mapping is wrong as well, though it is for mpeg AAC codecs. I verified correct channel assignment in Audio MIDI Setup. I am running a Late 2013 MacBook Pro, OS 10.13.6. VLC version is current with version 3.0.4.

Similarly to others, my center channel is playing through the left rear surround. Front and Right are playing correctly, I believe, but I am unsure of the other channels. Dolby Digital and DTS Encoded audio plays correctly, same as original poster. But if I need to play a file that doesn't have DD or DTS encoded audio I must reorganize (incorrectly) the channels in Audio MIDI setup, after which Im still not sure I have them right.

The particular file I am playing contains the following channels: 3F2M2R/LFE

I have attempted to address the problem through the various preference panes, including changing the output module but I have been unsuccessful. Output module is currently set to "Automatic" with media type "Video".

I found several threads about this problem but they are mostly very dated and seem to have been addressed through updates.

[Ex-expats]

I have this same problem. I had some connection issues trying to stream a Blu-ray film (my old MacBook Pro died) so I was trying to use VLC (3.0.6 I believe - current version as of today) to play the film with a DTS 7.1 audio track via HDMI.

I used Audio MIDI to change from 2 channel to 8 channel 48khzand choose the rear surround configuration.

I too had what seemed to be all dialogue coming from the left surround (v Center?).

My set up was simple:

MacBook Air ==hdmi== Onkyo. A780 ==hdmi== LG TV

I did try going straight to the LG but could not get audio at all.

Seems like a channel map issue.

I did not get into VLC prefs, just the above. I tried to swap channels in the MIDI tool but no use.

[OwnALemonTree]

I have the exact same issue. I used Audio MIDI to setup 7.1 (rear setup) correctly.

Center is mapped to rear left surround (v center) and the other way round. Also LFE and right surround seem not correctly mapped.

Setup: MacBook Pro - Dongle - HDMI - Denon