Best way to hook up LG home theater to PC

[Blazelc]

So I'm going to start right off by saying I am a complete noob when it comes to computer peripherals such as sound. Now to the good stuff.

I have a custom PC I put together a few years ago and have recently took it along with my Xbone and monitor to college. I received an LG 5.1 home theater bundle from my father as a present and am currently trying to hook it up to my PC. Unfortunately, it looks like the only audio inputs for the surround are analog and optical, both of which I don't have all necessary cables/ports/whatever. Is a sound card with an optical out my best bet? I don't really have a budget, but if possible I would like to keep the damage below $100 (college ain't free, ya know).

Mobo (don't judge. upgrading soon with skylake): Biostar TA970
Surround Sound: LG 5.1 Home Theater

I also have Turtle Beaches, I believe PX4's, at home which I was planning on grabbing on my next visit.

 

[ssddx]

well, there is good news and possibly bad news:

-the good news is that if you wanted 2.0 sound the analog output from your motherboard would work (with a 3.5mm to rca adapter) or you can buy a cheap adapter or soundcard which would give you optical output which would also work in at least 2.0 (see below).

-the possible bad news is that you have a HTIB (home theater in a box) type home theater which are notoriously bad when it comes to connecting other devices, especially on some of the older models. the analog input only does 2.0 only. the optical may be 2.0 only as well (optical is only 2.0 if uncompressed full quality). if you are lucky your htib supports 5.1 (compressed audio) over optical (though your soundcard and it would need to support the same formats for this to work). well known formats would be listed as DDL (dolby digital live) or dts-c/dts-connect on your soundcard. you do not have hdmi arc support it seems either which means there are no real alternatives to the above.

unfortunately i say your chances are 50/50 in terms of getting 5.1 to work via optical. it is worthwhile trying but i cannot guarantee it unless of course the manual explicitly mentions support.

 

[Blazelc]

unfortunately i say your chances are 50/50 in terms of getting 5.1 to work via optical. it is worthwhile trying but i cannot guarantee it unless of course the manual explicitly mentions support.

I actually had my HTIB set up with my TV and Xbox One and 360 via optical about 2 weeks ago, before packing it all up to take to my dorm, and it seemed to work very well (but I have been playing with stereo audio practically all my life, so it may not have been all that). So by the sounds of it I need to invest in a sound card. Do you know any off the top of your head that are solid options? I checked my surround and it supports all of the following audio formats: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD Master Audio. This means nothing to me, but hopefully it does mean something to you. Thanks for the response.

 

[ssddx]

http/support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=68520
should be cards which support dolby digital live or dts-c from creative

some asus cards may as well but you will have to look and make sure.

if you are planning on making the jump to skylake soon.. it may be worth just holding up till then as many motherboards have optical and some have ddl/dts-c support on them. less money spent that way and in the meantime you can make do with 2.0 sound via a cheap 3.5mm to rca red/white adapter.

 

[Blazelc]

Ok great, thanks for the help! I'll just hold off a few months until I get hold of skylake.