Dolby Home Theater for your ThinkPad!

Dolby Home Theater: Now on a ThinkPad in your Area!​

After getting some good feedback in the X220 Owner's Thread I thought why not share my find with all other ThinkPad owners as well. Hearst has also posted some T420-specific information in the T420 Owner's Thread.

The link can be found at the bottom of this post together with the original thread in the Lenovo Forums.

Download​

So, if you are unhappy or unsatisfied with those weak little speakers in your ThinkPad then you should take a close look at this manual: http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/attach...est_General/12516/1/Dolby Home Theater v4.pdf

If you are having problems with Skydrive, Hearst has also taken the time to upload the necessary Files to Mediafire. Big thanks for that!

Dolby x86 (32 bit) Drivers Mirror (110.62MB)
Dolby x64 (64 bit) Drivers Mirror (111.57MB)

Installation​

Simply follow the set of instructions that are given in the pdf and import my settings instead: Dolby v4 Settings by Aurora or 600X.zip

Don't forget to restart your computer after the Installation and to use the preset #1 called "X220". Just double-click the shortcut on your Desktop. This will open a window that allows you to create and edit existing presets and profiles.

There are 6 presets, deleting any of them to replace them with your own can be done with a single click.

Also keep in mind that the "X220" preset is optimized for the X220. (what a surprise) If you own a T420 for example, you might want to try adjusting the equalizer yourself to find the best settings for your ThinkPad.

The same applies to external speakers. The settings given don't necessarily have to harmonize with your hardware.

Known BUGS​

• Dolby Drivers only work when they can access the Conexant or Realtek Sound Chip. This means you either have to use the internal Speakers, the Audio Jack or HDMI/Displayport. No USB, no Bluetooth. Sound will play, but will sound terrible then.
  How to fix: Not at all. All you can do is buy Headphones or external Speakers which can be connected via the Audio Jack.
  
• Sound plays on wrong speakers. For example, even if you have external speakers connected to your ThinkPad, sound might still be played using the internal ones.
  How to fix: This rarely happens, but if it does only rebooting helps so far.

Despite the downs you should at least give it a try. Reverting back to the old Drivers is very simple. They can be downloaded from the Lenovo Driver Matrix.
I really doubt you will do so though, not after getting a taste of Dolby anyway.

If you are still wondering, this is Dolby in a nutshell:

Restrictions​

• For the longest time I have been telling you this only works with Windows 7. Well, I was mistaken, which is good news! Because this means Windows 8 users may enjoy Dolby now too.
  
  At this point I would like to thank the user Pintu who figured this out. I will quote his post to credit him properly.
  
  
  For more detailed information (like how to boot into advanced mode) please proceed to pages 11 and 12 of this thread. Alternatively you can look at a full set of instructions here:
  Dolby Home Theater v4 for most Lenovo Laptops - Page 8 - Lenovo Community
  
  Scroll down until you find them. They are hard to miss.

• If you are having issues under Windows 8, try this:
  
  
  The update at fault is "KB2779768". Make sure you untick it when installing updates.

• You can try installing it on non-Lenovo systems, but I guess it will be more of a hit-and-miss situation. djklmnop was lucky, he got it working on a Dell Vostro.
  
  

​

Credits go to "PeterTWJ"

Original Thread: Dolby Home Theater v4 for most Lenovo Laptops - Lenovo Community
T420 Owner's Thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/568372-thinkpad-t420-owners-thread-149.html#post8451226

 

Thanks for details. I thought I would give them a try even though I'm running Win 8 CP. Unfortunately, I get as far as page 9 "Installing Dolby Tuning and Profile Creator" and then the install program just exits. Nothing gets installed.

 

Great find!

I'll definately try this out on my X220.

+Rep as well.

 

Looks very interesting - will try it!

S

 

By the way, the Dolby Drivers only work with Windows 7, not 8. I haven't tried XP but i'm guessing it's not compatible either.

 

Thanks too! I need to try this because I truly hate the speakers on this laptop.

 

What the fuuuudge!? I'm totally going to try this out!

Edit: Whoahhhhh. This is crazy good. Be sure to actually click on the profiles tab (5. Profiles) and then highlight the P1 HD Audio Profile. And be sure to restart afterwards.

 

I've just tried the Dolby mixes on my ThinkPad (OK it's a T420...) but the extra depth you get including the "pings" are just delightful. The difference having the Dolby mixes on and off is like night and day so I definitely approve of this mod! It’s about time we had some Dolby goodness on our ThinkPads! +Repped.

 

I'm glad to see you guys like it. Don't forget to use my Profile if you want your Speakers to be even louder and richer in bass!

This Dolby Driver also works on the previous Generation of ThinkPads (X201, T410).

I tried it with a Acer Travelmate, and it didn't work. (Realtek)

 

@600X

Can you please explain that a bit? Thanks.