What I'm surprised, and maybe the older mac books are different is that the input won't work as a mic jack, it's line level or optical only. One of those dragon headsets won't do it, and neither will the Aftershokz bone conducting earphones. They work good for hearing from, but that internal mic picks up too much of that bad proximity effect. That's another way boot camp was locked down. I wonder where you get an optical microphone?
----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Blouch To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 2:40 PM Subject: Re: 5:1 sound output on a mac? I don't think you have to switch it. If I plug in an optical cable to my 5.1 receiver the Mac just switches over to optical output. If I plug in a mini to RCA cable and run that to my receiver for just stereo sound it uses that. One odd thing is that when running digital optical output I can no longer adjust the volume on the Mac. If you want something to decode the 5.1 optical into discrete RCA outputs I used one of these: http://sewelldirect.com/Sewell-Digital-to-Analog-51-DTS-Surround-Sound-Decoder-SPDIF-to-RCA.asp which has optical inputs and 6 RCA outputs for the left, right, center, surround left, surround right and subwoofer. I used this in a larger venue where I had a Mac Mini connected to a rack of amps through a Mackie mixer. Main trick is to find one of those otical (mini TOS Link) cables since the Mac optical output is just the regular mini headphone jack. When I first set mine up I tried all the usual places like Best Buy and Radio Shack and none of them had any idea what I was talking about. So I just found some online for a few dollars. I can give you specific links if you decide to go this route. CB On 4/9/12 10:47 AM, Brent Harding wrote: That analog out jack can be switched to optical digital, so use an optical digital cable with the mini plug on the end, or they make adapters from the optical kind of plug. ----- Original Message ----- From: Ray Foret Jr To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 4:48 AM Subject: Re: 5:1 sound output on a mac? I tell you that it's in 5.1 channel sound. I know. I have played DVD's in 5.1 channel sound through that digital output. Sincerely, The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!! Now a very proud and happy Mac user!!! Skype name: barefootedray Facebook: facebook.com/ray.foretjr.1 On Apr 9, 2012, at 4:01 AM, Eric Oyen wrote: no problem redirecting vo to a 2 channel usb device (I have one of those). the only issue is: is that SP/DIF output in 5:1 sound or analog. that does make a difference as I have a 5:1 capable sound receiver that uses SP/DIF. -eric On Apr 9, 2012, at 1:32 AM, Ray Foret Jr wrote: Actually, I've done 5.1 channel sound from my Mac. The sound for 5.1 channels is taken directly from what is normally the ear phone output jack. You'll want to be aware that when you run 5.1 channel sound out of your Mac, you will lose VO unless you direct VO to another output; say, a grifin Imike for example. Other than that, a Braille display will work nicely. One further thing. You'll need to tell what ever app your going to use to output to 5.1 channel sound, and also, you will notice that 5.1 channel sound will only show up when a receiver which can take it is connected. Sincerely, The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!! Now a very proud and happy Mac user!!! Skype name: barefootedray Facebook: facebook.com/ray.foretjr.1 On Apr 9, 2012, at 12:44 AM, Eric Oyen wrote: Hello everyone. I am cross posting this to 2 groups that have some of the best experts for macs around (and also deal with the blind). what i am looking for is this: I woold like to be able to have 5:1 or higher surround sound output from my mac (either via firewater or USB device) and haven't had a lot of luck finding anything. can any of you suggest a manufacturer or some place that has this hardware and also... does anyone have any experience setting up such devices. I would like to be able to use my Mac as part of a home theater system and this is the last stumbling block. thanks. -eric -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. 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