Issues with 5.1 Surround Sound with Windows 10

I have used Firefox for years. 5.1 is not currently supported while streaming on a computer using Microsoft Silverlight or HTML5. However, it is supported in the Netflix app for Windows 8 and Windows 10. If a movie is encoded with H 264 or H265 it should play 5.1 Why advertise that if it doesn't. All of this is  not relevant to my original post. Windows 7 had this working great. Even if it came in on 2.0 a person could emulate 5.1 with a click. It wasn't perfect but it did "sound" better. That went away both in windows and driver support. Microsoft went backwards on this issue and hasn't addressed this it seems. Why else would so many have a problem with this? If it does work why make it so difficult for an answer?

I got 5.1 working in Chrome.  There's a hosted extension on GitHub called netflix1080p.  Can confirm 5.1 does work in Chrome for Netflix streams with this extension enabled (developer mode).  I can get 1920x1080 resolution now also, as the name implies. 

Download the source and unpack it

Enable Developer mode in extensions

Load the unpacked extension

Make sure Use 5.1 is checked off in Extensions Options (off by default)

Clear browser cache and close the browser

It also unlocks the video bitrate/current CDN window (ctrl+alt+shift+s), if you want to play around. 

Here's my audio stream: Audio Track: en, Id: A:1:1;6;en;1;, Channels: 5.1, Codec: audio/mp4;codecs=mp4a.40.2

Hope this helps some of you.

It is a LICENSING issue.

The ONLY Windows version that came with free DVD software player is Windows 7. You had to pay extra money for Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows 8 Media Center Pack.

It is clearly spelt out in Dolby's licensing agreement. If you want Edge browser to play Dolby Audio stuff, then pay for it.

Quote:

"Windows Licensing Program

If you would like to license the Dolby Audio™ technologies included in the Microsoft Windows® operating system, please complete the questionnaire on the Windows Licensing Program page and indicate how many devices your OEM company will be making per year. Based on your response, we will assist you with obtaining a new licensing agreement to support the use of Dolby Audio™ (supporting Dolby Digital Plus™) in Windows and which will be natively supported by the new Microsoft Edge browser for the playback of web-based content as well as accessible by third-party Windows Store and Universal apps. You must have an agreement with Dolby prior to the shipment of any Windows devices."

https://professional.dolby.com/licensing/

What does Microsoft has to do with this? In the last 20 years, Microsoft only paid for it for 3 years when Windows 7 came out.

The sooner people realize that this is a MONEY issue that nobody is paying for it, the sooner people will stop complaining Microsoft for not fixing a "technical" issue.

Whoops, I clicked the wrong button -- it did not solve my problem.         Starting problem is no sound from Netflix App but all good if I use browser for Netflix.   That got me to the Sound settings in windows 10 and the speaker setup.

I tried the suggested method. No luck.   I get test sounds only on the stereo option.   I am running through a receiver and the sound tests works for all the speakers(5.1) when i do the receiver  tests.

     I uninstalled an reinstalled drivers etc. no luck.  I am using a Nvidia graphics card so that may be an issue.

but, back to the sound test,  i do not get any sound from front speakes in the 5.1 selection.   On another computer i will get sound from the front speakers in the 5.1 setting even though it is not 5.1?

1. "Speaker Fill" (aka stereo upmix to 5.1) is a "feature" in the Realtek driver that is enabled or disabled by your computer manufacturer. Nothing to do with Microsoft.

2. Testing digital optical with test signal --- is testing whether or not your AV receiver can decode Dolby Digital or DTS. It does not mean your computer can decode encrypted Dolby Digital or DTS.