surround sound not full 5.1

[Tim4rd2000]

Ok so I have surround sound connected to my PC via a headphone port in the back of the PC which goes into the surround sound video port which is a red and white cable.

http://www.customautosounds.com/classic/radio_data/Acc_Cable.GIF

This is the cable, I do not get sound out of all 5 speakers though, only the left and right speakers and the Sub woofer. Is it because of the cabling, I have lots of coloured ports in the back of my PC from the sound card that came standard with my motherboard. It's just I intend to get a blu-ray player soon and would appreciate decent sound.

[bchur83]

The only way you will get 5.1 sound from the PC to your speakers is with 3x 1/8in to RCA cables (like you have above) to a 5.1 analog in on your receiver (assuming it has one). Otherwise you can use the SPDIF to connect via Coax or Optical.

Also note that you will not get 5.1 channel sound from MP3s or other stereo sources. If using SPDIF, you will need to set your DVD/Bluray software to SPDIF pass-through.

[Tim4rd2000]

Well my sound card is all component so I odn't have the red white cables on there so if I get a converter are you saying i need red and white to red and white because thats the only cable my sony surround sound takes.

[Neuromancer]

he is saying that the only way to get analog surround sound to your reciever is via 3 of those cables you posted.


Soundcard is not component. That is a video conection.


Depending on the card 3 of the ports on the soundcard translate to

Front L/R
Center/Sub
Rear L/R

If your receiver does not have a surround sound analog input then the only way you can do it is via that single cable you have and running Neo6 or something ( receiver emulates surround sound, actually it is not too horrible)

Digital (single coax or TOSLINK (optical) is my favorite. Nice and easy, one cable and presto :)

[kevleviathan]

Your receiver probably has what is called 5.1 Discrete Analog Inputs. You will need 3 of the cables you pictured above. Your soundcard will have Front Left/Right, Center/Sub and Rear Left/Right outputs. You split all those and plug them in accordingly to your receiver. I've done this with my X-Fi in my current setup and it works very nicely.