PC to TV to 5.1?

corblimey

I currently have an old netbook permanently attached to my TV, via a VGA cable, and an audio cable going from the headphones socket directly in. I use it to watch TV and movies that the cousins send over and it works great, but I'm thinking about investing in a good 5.1 system in the next few weeks. If I hook up my TV directly to the 5.1, will I then get good stereo sound from my movies? Or will the PC to TV to 5.1 connection be too disconnected to allow that?

Ideally, I'd like the connection to be permanent in such a way that i don't have to swap around cables when I'm moving from watching TV to watching the PC, so unless there was some way of connecting both to an input on the 5.1 and have that output whatever sound was active (I usually have the PC on and swap between it and the TV at will, so that's another consideration)

Any help would be appreciated?

Slick50

corblimey wrote: »

I currently have an old netbook permanently attached to my TV, via a VGA cable, and an audio cable going from the headphones socket directly in. I use it to watch TV and movies that the cousins send over and it works great, but I'm thinking about investing in a good 5.1 system in the next few weeks. If I hook up my TV directly to the 5.1, will I then get good stereo sound from my movies? Or will the PC to TV to 5.1 connection be too disconnected to allow that?

Ideally, I'd like the connection to be permanent in such a way that i don't have to swap around cables when I'm moving from watching TV to watching the PC, so unless there was some way of connecting both to an input on the 5.1 and have that output whatever sound was active (I usually have the PC on and swap between it and the TV at will, so that's another consideration)

Any help would be appreciated?

If you are going to invest in a good 5.1 system, get one that has a built in dvd/blue-ray player, they usually have built in radio too, and are becoming very affordable. Then you just use different chanels on the tv for viewing each, without swapping any cables. You can input the stereo from the netbook directly into the player too, and mute the tv speakers, for better sound from it.

big_moe

what other connections are on the netbook? for "real" 5.1 you'll need an optical output or 3 sets of headphone outputs (which is VERY unlikely on a netbook).

the other alternative is get a home cinema system/speaker system that can do dolby processing. this means that you plug a stereo (2.0) signal from you netbook in and it will spread that sound over all 5 speakers. some systems will only give out what it gets in eg you plug in your netbook and it will only give sound out via the front 2 speakers

corblimey

Yea, that's what I thought aswell, particularly true if the source audio wasn't that great to begin with - I'm sure there's all sorts of compression going on with the cousins' files. I don't want to spend loads extra on a system that can cope with it if it's going to be "only ok" no matter what I do.

this means that you plug a stereo (2.0) signal from you netbook in

Would this be a 3.5mm to RCA cable?

big_moe

yeah thats the cable. that will only do 2 channel sound. on some systems, it will spread those 2 channels over all 5 channels so you'll hear sound from all speakers. and then some other systems will only give you out that 2 channel sound so your other 3 speakers will be silent. most downloads now are encoded with 5.1 sound so if your netbook has an optical out that'd get you the best sound possible. if it doesnt you can get a small usb sound card to give you the optical connector. you'd pick up a half decent 5.1 system for about ~€250. its up to you if you'd use one with a built in dvd/bluray, or if you're purely going to use it for netbook/tv programs then dont bother with a dvd/bluray one

corblimey

Hey big_moe (or indeed anyone), I've been looking around, but either I'm not asking the right questions or I'm surrounded by idiots, but I can't find any 5.1 systems that will convert 2-channel sound into 5-channel, as you implied in your post above. Is this what I'm looking for? Any examples online I can look at?

big_moe

my specialty is in the Panasonic range, the SC-PT70 does it and thats their most basic one. http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/Home+Cinema/DVD+Home+Cinema+Systems/SC-PT70/Specification/2946315/index.html?trackInfo=true

if you look under the "Receiver" section it says Dolby Pro logic II. any unit that has that will do the job. the PT70 has a built in DVD player and is approx €179

adam

corblimey

Tks big_moe. No Panasonic dealers near me apparently, but at least now I know what to look for.

Richersounds.ie: John

corblimey wrote: »

Tks big_moe. No Panasonic dealers near me apparently, but at least now I know what to look for.

Corblimey,

(Declared interest 1st! - I sell TV & Hi-fi)

Pretty much any decent AV receiver from the likes of Denon / Onkyo / Pioneer / Sony will have Dolby Pro Logic or similiar processing built in which will make a decent job of converting 2 channel audio (from your 3.5mm - 2 Phono cable as suggested by Big_Moe) to 5.1 channel audio

Have a look at some of these sites for info:

http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_main.php?MID=3&ver=1&Gruppe_A=1&Gruppe_B=1&Gruppe_C=4&action=prodlist&main=prod&sub=1

http://www.eu.onkyo.com/indices/A_V_Receiver_5917373.html

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/42/98/405/overview.html

http://awards.whathifi.com/winners/home-cinema-amplifiers/2009

Some of these receivers are even network compatiable so they will allow you to stream content to and from your PC (the bad news is that they tend to be the more expensive ones..:()

Good luck shopping and I'm sure the HE Boardies will give you gerat advice about exactly what to buy.

ATB,

John Mc & Crew

corblimey

Tks folks. The more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to have to actually go into a shop and talk to a man about it. I've got an odd shaped room and I'm not sure a 5.1 will even work very well in it (or give me the best result), and so maybe a 2.1 or 3.1 will suffice, in which case I'm guessing I don't need any sort of doubly (sorry, old Spinal Tap gag) processing.

I'm also leaning towards getting myself a projector for Movie Night (tm), so maybe I need to treat this as one big project and get it all sorted in one go.

Idleater

corblimey wrote: »

so maybe a 2.1 or 3.1 will suffice

Very interesting that you have thought that way. A good 2.0/2.1 setup will be (in my opinion) significantly better than a poor to moderate 5.1 setup - especially if room configuration (note not even calibration) is not optimal.

I have for a while listened to 5.1 surround tracks down mixed to 2.0 (through decent amplification and speakers) without the loss of any atmosphere (supposedly provided by the surround channels).

Slick50

corblimey wrote: »

I'm also leaning towards getting myself a projector for Movie Night (tm), so maybe I need to treat this as one big project and get it all sorted in one go.

That's a big step up from connecting an old notebook to your tv. Projectors are quite expensive, but worth it if you have the room to spare. One of the things about true 5.1 surround sound systems is, the rear speakers spend a lot of the time doing absolutely nothing. But when they do kick in they really do add to the effect. Some movies tend to over do it with them, and the effect is lost. If you are going to the expense of a projector, a decent surround sound system is well worth the extra expense, as it does give a cinematic feel. I'm sure even more so with the larger picture from a projector.

None of the systems, not even the dolby pro logic, give true 5.1 from a stereo input. What they give is multi chanel stereo, not the same thing at all. Best of luck with it.