Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: adjusting theatre sound coming from projection booth laptop

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Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 09-06-2019, 07:17 PM:

Ok, with the last Windows update, all of my laptop's sound settings were reset, and with them, all of the bass and depth of the music coming out. We play music before the movies and during events, and now it sounds awful. It is coming from all the speakers, but nothing is coming from the subwoofer anymore. I've tried a few equalizer programs but none of them are great. Dolby Atmos doesn't support the Realtek sound card I apparently have and the not-great-but-serviceable equalizer that used to be part of the sound settings for Windows is gone now. Have any of you encountered and solved this? I'm not a tech person but I'm not an idiot, but I can't seem to figure this out.

Posted by David Ferguson (Member # 10588) on 09-06-2019, 08:18 PM:

Sounds like a driver issue, in past Windows updates I've had devices (usually the printer!) stop working correctly because Windows removed or "lost" the driver.

I'd recommend googling the model of soundcard you have, and trying to download and install the appropriate driver. Then you might get the controls back.

Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 09-07-2019, 02:03 PM:

I've done that several times. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the equipment. Nothing.

Posted by Ed Gordon (Member # 10866) on 09-07-2019, 02:46 PM:

quote: Melanie Loggins
...with the last Windows update, all of my laptop's sound settings were reset, and with them, all of the bass and depth of the music coming out. We play music before the movies and during events, and now it sounds awful.

Melanie, You will have to provide more information about your setup, such as how the laptop is attached to your sound system? Does the audio sound better when you use headphones/earbuds? What version of windows are you running?

You can try running the Windows Audio Troubleshooter. The easiest way to run it is use windows search to locate it.

If you are attached via HDMI to your amplifier, you will have to reconfigure the audio to see all audio channels (2, 5.1, 7.1, etc).

Windows does not manage HDCP very well, but Windows 10 does it better than previous versions. If Windows 'thinks' your configuration is not HDCP compliant it changes your audio configuration without notification.

Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 09-07-2019, 03:11 PM:

It's a line out through the headphone jack into the server that handles the theater sound. It sits on top of the projector so there has never been a pair of headphones/earbuds attached to it. We're running Windows 10.

Posted by Ed Gordon (Member # 10866) on 09-07-2019, 04:13 PM:

Melanie, To test, try headphones or external speakers. If it sounds ok then that would point to problems between the laptop and the amplifier. If is sounds just as poor, you will know it is a windows issue.

Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 09-12-2019, 05:34 PM:

My sub works for the movies, and the connection hasn't changed, and this is a frustration other people have had issues with, so yeah, it's my computer. I just thought someone here might have come up with a solution.