Surround difficulties

[markgoheen]

I have an XMC-1 with the HDMI 2.0b video upgrade board running firmware v5.15. My sources are an Apple TV 4K and a PS4, both connected via HDMI. With either of those sources I am having trouble getting correct decoding of the PCM 7.1 stream they provide over HDMI. When I test out the speaker configuration via the tone generator in the Main menu, I get sounds appropriately from the 5 channels plus the sub. The info screen indicates that the XMC-1 is receiving a PCM 7.1 input from both sources, but when I try one of the many 5.1 test videos from YouTube on either one it seems that only the front channels are used. When the sound from the test(s) is meant to be directed to the surround channels, it comes out of the corresponding front channel. Same for the LFE, which worries me a bit about sending such low frequencies to my front speakers. Even the center channel signals seem to get sent only to the fronts. All this no matter what surround modes I pick in the Main Zone and Setup Input menus, including Surround and Auto. 

I've tried all the audio configuration combinations on the sources and the XMC-1 that I can think of, with the same result: nothing from the sub or the surround speakers. Any help or insight would be appreciated. Is there a different test I can perform?

Mark.

[markgoheen]

I also asked Emotiva support this question and they quickly responded, so they get a lot of props in my view. Apparently YouTube restricts audio to stereo, even though there are many videos there that were created specifically to test surround formats. If I had (like Brent from Support suggested) read the comments in the YouTube videos I would have saved myself several hours of frustration.

Mark.

[routlaw]

You have your sources hooked up I would give them a try and see what you get, my guess is you'll be just fine and get the full 5.1 surround. Highly unlikely you'll damage any speakers. Start with a lower volume.