Surround sound setup suggestion

[xtremepowers]

I have decided to buy a surround sound setup for my PC.
Can a home cinema provide good surround ? I also have a HDMI MONITOR, not TV, and wonder if I can hook it up to the home cinema (it has HDMI port). Having only 3x 3.5mm jacks on my PC, is it possible to connect the HC to PC?

I know about the Logitech z906 stuff but there is only sound output, no other things like the HC can offer (Audio CD, BluRay DVD, Radio FM, watching movies via USB)... at the same price. So the question is... can I connect HDMI monitor to HC and get video output or is TV mandatory? and second Q: will I able to get correct surround from PC to HC and is it possible?

I searched all forums (including Tom's) and haven't found ANYTHING about MONITOR... just TV... hasn't anyone tried it or there's no way?

 

[schwatzz]

http/www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-2124214/problem-receiver-monitor.html

based on this post, I don't think you be able to achieve what you want to do. If your mobo had an optical cable outlet, then you would be good to go because you could just connect the pc to the monitor and the pc to the receiver with an optical cable.

 

[xtremepowers]

http/www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-2124214/problem-receiver-monitor.html

based on this post, I don't think you be able to achieve what you want to do. If your mobo had an optical cable outlet, then you would be good to go because you could just connect the pc to the monitor and the pc to the receiver with an optical cable.

After some research, regarding audio I don't think it should be much of a problem, as I found that an RCA to JACK 3.5 should be fine for the surround setup. Is it correct?

As for the video, the monitor would be used (if possible) when I'd want to watch some movies directly from receiver to monitor. Doesn't HDMI act the same whether it's TV or monitor? Just asking, don't know... :-??

 

[americanaudiophile]

Unless your surround sound receiver has a discrete 5.1 or 7.1 channel input you won't be able to use the analog surround outputs from your PC.
You should be able to get it to work if the monitor has an HDCP compliant HDMI input.
The HDMI output of your PC and other sources connect to the surround receiver. The receiver HDMI out goes to your monitor. Set the PC to output in surround sound through the HDMI output.

 

[xtremepowers]

I do have HDCP on my monitor but since it's a headphone jack, how could that output surround?

 

[xtremepowers]

Unless your surround sound receiver has a discrete 5.1 or 7.1 channel input you won't be able to use the analog surround outputs from your PC.
You should be able to get it to work if the monitor has an HDCP compliant HDMI input.
The HDMI output of your PC and other sources connect to the surround receiver. The receiver HDMI out goes to your monitor. Set the PC to output in surround sound through the HDMI output.

I found a receiver (example) http/www.sony.com.my/electronics/all-in-one-home-cinema-systems/bdv-e6100/specifications) that has the discrete channels... now I have another question. As I read on some posts on other sites, they say video games don't output DTS. Ok, so gaming is out of way for my setup? What about playing older games that output bare stereo... Does that mean I won't hear any sound? What about using analog jack, will that work for non-DTS sound?

 

[ssddx]

can you connect a home theater to a pc?
yes! some of us have been doing so for years. you can get true 5.1 / 7.1 audio.

okay, so how to connect?
it is suggested to use hdmi out of your video card. this gives you full quality uncompressed audio. you could use optical if you had a soundcard that supports ddl/dts-c and a receiver which also supports it but this will be lower quality and compressed so its not as ideal. if you had an analog input receiver (old!) you could technically use the analog outputs out of a soundcard but unless you had such a thing laying around dont worry about this. most modern receivers do NOT have 6 channel analog inputs!

can you use a monitor with the receiver instead of a tv?
yes! as long as it is not a high refresh rate monitor (50/60hz is what you want) and not an odd resolution (1080p, but new receivers should support 4k) it should work. if its not to those standards, it may not work.

things to look out for?
buy a real receiver (avr, audio video receiver) and a speaker set. do not get a htib (home theater in a box) as most are junk, have not many inputs or features and some dont even support surround sound except from their included dvd player.

some good budget sets?
energy take classic 5.1 or monoprice 10565 speakers are good value for around $300. pair it up with a cheap sony or onkyo 5.1 receiver and you should be set. total investment below $550

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i personally use a pc and console with my home theater system and tv (link in signature if you care for pictures).

- i play video games. i get 5.1 from 5.1 sources (its played as PCM normally except for games which use dolby). stereo games play only on the front speakers although with ext stereo function i can push them to the rear as well. console generally is pcm or dd as well and works the same. i dont get any lag

- i play movies. similar to above its normally dd or stereo depending on content.

- other input sources such as mp3 players and the like are stereo input and will play on the front speakers unless you enable ext stereo mode. generally these are rca or 3.5mm inputs.

my pc gets used for everything from new and oldschool gaming, movies, youtube, cad or general browsing. my speaker system has never let me down for lack of support. i connect via hdmi out of my video card to the receiver. video is output from the receiver via passthrough to the tv.

many people use optical for gaming as well. this should also work fine for gaming provided you have a receiver and soundcard that supports 5.1 over optical.

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more questions? let us know.

fyi, that system you linked is a HTIB. be VERY careful if you plan to go with a htib as some lack 5.1 support from external sources or lack the ability to deal with certain file types. some do work, but you need to know exactly if its capable or not before you buy or you will be stuck with returning it if it doesnt work.

 

[xtremepowers]

I've searched more and more and found a product that features pretty much everything I'd need.
Here is the link: http/www.panasonic.com/nz/consumer/tvs-home-theatre-and-audio/audio/home-theatre/sc-btt885gn.html

2 more questions and perhaps the only ones left:
First - I couldn't find the "LPCM" I was looking for. So again, if I hookup to my PC and play some games (either stereo output or surround) will the receiver decode that audio? (Since they aren't DTS).
AFAIK that LPCM is needed for such decoding. I can only assume this model has that codec, but what if it doesn't?

Second - my monitor is ultra-wide (2560x1080) HDMI. Could it be detected if wanted to use directly from receiver?

***UPDATE***

I've finally bought a SONY BDV N9200W. It works perfectly no matter what monitor I hook it up to, from 4/3 VGA (HDMI to VGA adapter) or 21/9 HDMI, it works just fine. The games and movies play as they are meant to so nothing wrong.

_Thread closed_