5.1 noob question

[ramm]

So i've never actually bothered to have audio thats more than just simple stereo so I don't actually know how the connections work.

 

I'm planning on buying the Sony BDVE2100 5.1 surround set and I understand that when you play a blueray in the actual player you can have 5.1 surround. But I also want to connect it to my PC. How does that actually work? Because you would connect more than just the tullip connections at the back of your motherboard I assume?

 

When I look at pictures of the connections I don't see more colored tullip connectors which I would expect. So that's why i'm asking.

 

 

Thanks

[Lennart van de Merwe]

You could

A: only plug in only an Aux cable in your PC and this mediabox, It would work fine, but it wouldn't have (as far as I know) surround

B: you get a deck amplifier or soundcard to put all of the thingys in.

 

Btw I'm completely sure.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Looking at that alone, the only way to get 5.1 audio from the PC to that is either through HDMI or optical TOSLINK. HDMI is a better bet though since it supports 5.1 PCM which is universal, whereas TOSLINK only achieves 5.1 through DTS or Dolby encoding, which not everything supports.

 

Otherwise you'd have to get an audio receiver for the analog outputs.

[ramm]

I just thought of something.. My pc has a blueray player and I use my pc for almost everything anyway. So I doubt I even need something like a "home cinema" set if I can just get a decent 5.1 PC speaker set, or am I mistaken now? I would only be missing a remote but thats where a cordless KB&M come in.

 

I feel a bit stupid for being a bit late to the party of the entire 5.1 thing and have no actual idea how it works.

 

But i'm guessing if you look for 5.1 surround pc speakers they would come with 3 aux wires instead of the single one by a normal stereo set so the 5.1 actual works?

[ramm]

I dont really understand how to connect any of those home cinema sets to your computer. All I see is a red and white tulip connection but that isn't enough for surround is it?

[ramm]

Ok I did some more research and it appears I would need a "Receiver" maybe.

 

A big black box that should "connect everything" but i'm not sure if that also works for me. Maybe I should clarify what I use:

 

1) I use a computer with a normal monitor through DVI for everyday use.

2) Then I also have a tv connected to the computer using HDMI. Now I don't use the tv every day, only when watching movies, tv shows, etc.

 

So I would still need (surround) sound when the tv is off. So how does that actually work then? Do I need to have my tv on everytime when I want to hear sound while using the computer?

 

It's a bit hard to find info about this because nobody is doing this with PC's. It's mostly about how to connect a blueray player.

 

I'm having trouble finding information about this. I always thought sound comes from the aux cables but now suddenly it goes through HDMI but I don't use HDMI except when my tv is turned on. So I have no idea how I would get sound without using my tv when going down this road. I'm probably being retarded but I can't figure this out so thanks alot for the help all.

[Mira Yurizaki]

5 hours ago, ramm said:

So I would still need (surround) sound when the tv is off. So how does that actually work then? Do I need to have my tv on everytime when I want to hear sound while using the computer?

No. You can turn only the receiver on. As long as the computer believes something is connected to an HDMI port that can output audio, it can send audio out of it.

[ramm]

16 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

No. You can turn only the receiver on. As long as the computer believes something is connected to an HDMI port that can output audio, it can send audio out of it.

So how about when I turn the tv off in nvidia control panel? I usually have the screen turned off and when I go watch a movie I enable the extra monitor in nvidia control panel.

 

Would I also need to change the sound settings everytime then?

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, ramm said:

So how about when I turn the tv off in nvidia control panel? I usually have the screen turned off and when I go watch a movie I enable the extra monitor in nvidia control panel.

Windows should automatically be detecting a second monitor is off and revert to single monitor settings.

1 minute ago, ramm said:

Would I also need to change the sound settings everytime then?

Yes

[ramm]

18 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Windows should automatically be detecting a second monitor is off and revert to single monitor settings.

Yes

Ah that was something I was kinda worried about. So much hassle to change the settings everytime.

 

Then I should maybe just go with something like a Logitech z906. But then you don't have normal tv coming from there I think. I dont even know if normal TV has surround though, i hardly watch tv anymore anyway

[ramm]

I see that the Logitech Z906 read speakers only have a cable length of 7.6m. This is a bit too short for my livingroom. Can I just extend the cables without any problem?