How do i Setup my PC to Surround Sound using a Home entertainment System

[PRxStarChild]

I brought a sound Blaster because i want to use my family old surround sound system however im confused how to do it. I brought a Stereo 3.5 to RCA however i found out that doesn't support surround sound then i got a optical out cable however there isn't a optical input on my HES.

 

My Question: What cables can i buy to setup my Pc to my HES?

 

 

 

 

 

MY Sound Blaster: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102064

 

My Home Entertainment System:http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?ctn=HTS3450/37&slg=en

[Adnanklink]

That is one of the common drawbacks of those speaker/DVD combos. I don't think you can input anything but a stereo signal and the only way to experience 5.1 is have the video/music put on a dvd.

 

Note: I just noticed that digital Input and have no idea what that is. Also the first speaker set my family bought was like that and we eventually upgraded since we used a PC to play movies so often.

[PRxStarChild]

That is one of the common drawbacks of those speaker/DVD combos. I don't think you can input anything but a stereo signal and the only way to experience 5.1 is have the video/music put on a dvd.

Thank you for telling me this information , i didn't know this.

 

Thanks    

[mr moose]

The digital in on your HES is an RCA spdif (or at least it is on 99% of products), your sound card should have a 3.5mm jack on the back that says digital out, connect these two, you'll need a 3.5 to RCA cable. 

 

That is the only way other than to get a whole heap of 3.5mm to rca and join all the analog outs to the analog ins.

[PRxStarChild]

The digital in on your HES is an RCA spdif (or at least it is on 99% of products), your sound card should have a 3.5mm jack on the back that says digital out, connect these two, you'll need a 3.5 to RCA cable. 

 

That is the only way other than to get a whole heap of 3.5mm to rca and join all the analog outs to the analog ins.

 

Do you mean something like this: 

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000067RBT/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[ShearMe]

You need an optical to coax adapter, or just any ole coax DAC.

[mr moose]

Do you mean something like this: 

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000067RBT/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

yes, that should work.

 

 

You need an optical to coax adapter, or just any ole coax DAC.

 

Why can't he just go from the 3.5 digital out on his pc to the RCA digital in on the HES?

[ShearMe]

Why can't he just go from the 3.5 digital out on his pc to the RCA digital in on the HES?

I don't think one of those ports can be switched to coax. I could be wrong, in which case I'll eat my foot.

[mr moose]

I don't think one of those ports can be switched to coax. I could be wrong, in which case I'll eat my foot.

Support for 16/20/24-bit S/PDIF input and output offers easy connection of PCs to high-quality consumer electronic products such as digital decoders and speakers.

 

from the realtek site for the generic 887 chip, So I am assuming (I know its bad) that all the current ones do too.

 

All he has to do is enable the digital out on his mobo and plug into the blue jack (assuming the there isn't one on his sound card).

[ShearMe]

All he has to do is enable the digital out on his mobo and plug into the blue jack

Well the mobo won't encode surround sound on-the-fly, which is kinda the point of the thread.

[mr moose]

Well the mobo won't encode surround sound on-the-fly, which is kinda the point of the thread.

 

He doesn't mention encoding on the fly,  he just said he bought the card so he could use the surround system. 

[BrightCandle]

The problem is that in order to use surround on that connector it has to be Dolby digital encoded as it doesn't have enough bandwidth for 5.1 PCM. The Soundblaster will most likely support Dolby digital encoding but it will have to come from the optical out.

[mr moose]

The problem is that in order to use surround on that connector it has to be Dolby digital encoded as it doesn't have enough bandwidth for 5.1 PCM. The Soundblaster will most likely support Dolby digital encoding but it will have to come from the optical out.

there is no difference in sound quality or channels between spdif over coaxial or spdif over optical.

[ShearMe]

there is no difference in sound quality or channels between spdif over coaxial or spdif over optical.

 

Mr. Candle's right on this one, and was repeating the point I tried to make. If OP didn't want surround sound he could just use the analog stereo inputs. Surround sound over any S/PDIF needs to be encoded in a Dolby or DTS format. For most media, that requires on-the-fly encoding.

[mr moose]

Mr. Candle's right on this one, and was repeating the point I tried to make. If OP didn't want surround sound he could just use the analog stereo inputs. Surround sound over any S/PDIF needs to be encoded in a Dolby or DTS format. For most media, that requires on-the-fly encoding.

I wasn't talking about surround sound that is encoded to dolby from 5.1/7.1  as the OP hasn't said anything about gaming or requiring it, for all we know he only wants to watch dvds/avi's.

 

And my point to mr candle was that there is no difference between using optical versus rca.  They are exactly the same bar for one transport medium is light and the other is electrons. 

 

If the OP needs to encode dolby on the fly then yes the realtek won't do it,  but if not then the realtek is the only way he will get an spdif stream to that HES without an optical to rca converter.  The other option he has is to just use a whole heap of 3.5 to rca cables like the one he linked.

[ShearMe]

And my point to mr candle was that there is no difference between using optical versus rca. They are exactly the same bar for one transport medium is light and the other is electrons.

I feel like he didn't say there was a difference, but maybe we're reading it differently.

[mr moose]

I feel like he didn't say there was a difference, but maybe we're reading it differently.

I read it as the only way he will get surround is if it is dolby becasue the connector does not have enough bandwidth otherwise,  but my understanding is that the bandwidth doesn't change between optical or rca.  He is right that if you want to use the digital on the soundblaster it will have to be optical, but that is because it does not have a 3.5 digital out, not because of bandwidth.

[BrightCandle]

There is no difference in bandwidth between the two, that is not what I am suggesting. I am saying that in order to get the sound out in 5.1 it needs to be encoded as neither supports the PC decoding and passing 5.1 PCM. That requires a dolby digital encoding or something else that fits in the standard. Its possible to get passthrough working on particular software like Windows Media centre but in looking this up I am seeing a lot of people with problems.