How the heck do you get surround out of a N64?

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:15 am

I've been thinking about this for a while. Games like OoT and James Bond the world is not enough have the ability to produce surround sound. But I don't have any idea how to get that from the console to my sound system... It has only got a red and a white line (which are for L/R) so where the hell do I get the back left and right, the center and the sub? The same counts for a GC. though I still have a digital output on my GC I don't have a connector that fits in.

Damn this, I want surround from my N64/GC!

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:06 am

dolby does some crazy encoding crap with their sound so that if you just hook it up to speakers it sounds right, but if you hook it up to a fancy dolby 5.1 decoder thingy, it gets 6 channels out of it somehow.

perhaps they interleave digital data in with the sound. or who knows. but it was the same on the gamecube

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:02 pm

There is some kind of effect that allows for simple, cheap surround sound. It's called Hafner or Halfler or something. Here's a link to the surround sound decoders schematics on discover-circuits.

EDIT:

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:23 pm

its a miracle what one can get with a single single

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:04 am

Wow that's crazy! I never actually knew that. My dvd player has this optical output that just plugs into my surround system. I know the snes also had a game with surround effects in it (I think it was Fatal Fury special), must be the same system then. When I tried this on my surround system it skipped some sounds and muted others, like speech and distant gunfire.

The circuits dazzle me since they just seem to split the signal into different frequency ranges. I don't understand how they can actually decode the signal without using any IC

BTW: Does anyone know the pinouts for the digital output on the gc? I'd like to use it somehow cause I think the quality might be better.

Post by **Skyone** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:24 am

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendodigitalav

Thar ya go.

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:27 am

basically you have two things in each channel of speakers;

in the right wire you have you have front right as normal and 50% of the rear speakers sounds imbedded within the signal the reverse is true for the left.

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 2:12 pm

Skyone wrote:http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendodigitalav

Thar ya go.

The link seems to be dead

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:45 pm

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:53 pm

I just hook it upto my Surround Sound system and it magically puts it into surround from just L and R input. Makes me happy

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:19 pm

Consoles with only left and right audio signals can output surround sound, but it's not the kind you may be used to. Some older consoles (N64, for instance) can output analog surround sound, which can be in the format of "Dolby Surround" or "Dolby Pro Logic." These types or surround sound are only 4-channel (4.0) however. Left, center, right, and surround (rear). The signals need to be decoded since they all come from just the left and right audio signals.

Newer consoles can output both analog and digital surround. The PS2 can put out Dolby Digital (5.1 channels, those being Front left, center, front right, rear left, rear right, and low-frequency effects, or LFE, which is the sub-woofer. The sub-woofer is the ".1" of the 5.1. This is because the sub-woofer only covers approximately the lower 1/10 of the audio spectrum.) through it's optical audio port. (You know, that thing that glows red on the back of your PS2?

) The XBox outputs digital, but you need the "high-def" kit to get the right connection. The Gamecube, like the XBox, likes to make things difficult as well, so the only way to get digital audio out of the Gamecube is through the digital out port, and we all know the troubles associated with that... Dolby Digital is what you're probably used to. Almost all DVD players can output it through either an optical port or a coaxial port, and almost all movies these days are encoded in it.

All three consoles can output analog surround sound in the form of Dolby Pro Logic II. This is the most sophisticated form of analog surround sound. Again, this comes from only the left and right audio signals, and needs to be decoded, but it can output 5.0 channel surround sound. Front left, center, front right, rear left and rear right.

Learn more about Dolby's audio formats here.

Ari · Post by **Ari** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:42 pm

My speakers just have a switch that you can set to stereo, 5.1, or 7.1 depending on the input.

So I can play PSP games with surround sound! (well, actually I never do because my surround sound system is pretty crappy. but it's still cool that I can!)