Kyl3cook

Hi guys.

I have a DVD player/Homecinema system, a TV, XBox and Sky+. At the moment my Home Cinema system is connected to my media centre pc, so whatever I listen to on my computer comes through in surround sound.

My DVD player is connected directly to my TV through a Scart lead, so I get surround sound on that (as it's a DVD combo thing). My computer is connected to my TV using a DVI connection, so my TV acts as a monitor.

The two problems I have are tha my Sky+ is connected by scart to the tV, but is in no way connected to the Home cinema, so I only get sound from the TV speakers. My XBox is also connected directly to my TV using FAV connections, so again, only TV speakers. Does anybody know how I could connect these to my PC (has TV Card), so pretty much everything runs through my PC, meaning all sounds is in Dolby Surround?

Computer is a Philips Freeline LS2300

has these connection on the front

http://www.pcw.it/img/prove_tecniche_foto_338.jpg

and a normal coaxial on the back for the TV card.

Any help much appreciated. I'm not great with these things, and I'm surprised it hasn't caught fire yet.

Matt

Bartop

Your probably better off trying to plumb all your sound through your home cinema rather than using your pc for switching - what connections do you have on the dvd player/surround sound system ?

OllyK

Unless you have a top notch sound card I doubt your going to be getting audio of the same quality as a dedicated amp.

Ritch96

I get the impression from this it is not a standalone amp but rather a combo dvd/dolby digital jobber?

I'm not convinced what you are trying to do is even possible but if it is it does seem a bit of an **** about face way if you don't mind me saying?

You really need the lot controlling through a suitable amp imho.

I have quite a similar setup in that i have xbox/ps2/dvd/sky+. All connected through a sony home cinema receiver/DD decoder. It is sweet and very simple to use with minimum of cabling.

My next project (after chrimbo!) is to connect xbox (chipped/bigger hard drive) to the wireless lan so i can access media files through xbox media centre.

Ritchie.

Kyl3cook

Thanks guys. The DVD/Amp only has the one scart connection, plus a video out.

The reason I'm trying to get the TV through my computer is that it's windows media centre, and I want to be able to do the stuff to the TV that it'll let me do, but still hear it in Dolby. It then goes from the PC to the Amp, so really the PC is only letting the picture show, and the sound is just running to the DVD/Amp via the PC, if you get my drift


XBox---->
Sky+-----> all go to the PC ------> which then goes to the Amp and the TV Screen
PS2------>

is that possible?

OllyK

I suspect you'll end up crunching it all down the RF input and tuning different channels for each thing. As the RF output from Sky is not full Dolby (not even sure if it is stero) I'm not sure you'll achive much. I'd be tempted to get a 3 in to 1 auto sensing scart box and run that to your amp myself.

Kyl3cook

I'm not sure how I'd run it to my amp though. There's only one Scart (out) and an Svideo out too...so no picture in's. The audio from my computer goes to it right now, and the video from my comp goes straight to the TV. It's a bit confusing.

Ritch96

I agree, confusing indeed!

Looking at this again I see you have phono A/V on the front of your pc and also a spdif optical connector too. I don't know anything about TV cards in pc's but if these are both seperately configurable INPUTS then you could be in business.

You are missing 2 audio inputs for your xbox/sky+. Xbox comes standard with phono connectors so pull that scart adapter off and whack them onto the pc. You will prob have to feed video through the pc too due to cable restrictions. Sky+ comes standard with optical audio out. Optical cables are somewhere between £5 and £10 depending on where you go.

Just reading over this makes me realise how simple these things sound on paper! Good luck,

Ritchie.

OllyK

Not sure why it would have SVideo out if you can't get the video in in any way. You can also get convertors between scart and s-video with standard red/white phono which may help?

Be kind of useful to see pics of the back of the kit you have and see if we can put it all together. Still not convinced the PC is the way to go.

Kyl3cook

When I get back tonight I'll take some photo's of all the backs of the stuff. Halo would be nice in surround sound too

OllyK

Not promising anything, but we'll see what we can do

Ritch96

Halo is awesome in full Dolby Digital surround. As George Lucas said, "Audio is 50% of the movie going experience." I know Halo is a game but it immerses like no other I have experienced, the music score is amazing. We'll try help as much as we can but I don't think I am alone in my belief you are doing this the hard way!

Ritchie.

MJW

You'd be better off with a dedicated Dolby Digital amp. I've just bought a Yamaha DSP-AX757 which has 3 optical inputs (and 2 coax), numerous S-video / component inputs and an S-video / component output. So I hook all my audio and video devices to the amp and it sends the vid signals to the telly & I can listen to all my sources in digital surround.

Kyl3cook

Hi guys. Here are the pictures.

Firstly the DVD/AMP. Normally has the PC connected to one set of the phono leads, but to take the picture, had to take them out

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/4041/dscf05238io.jpg

Now the PC. These show the front, and the top and bottom of the back (all connections)
http://img483.imageshack.us/img483/4098/dscf05256st.jpg
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/1086/dscf05263lh.jpg
http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/9829/dscf05284tk.jpg

And the various connections to the TV. The S-Video isn't connected to anything. Was just playing around with it.

One Scart from Sky+ and one from DVD/amp
http://img492.imageshack.us/img492/4888/dscf05290dk.jpg

DVI to computer
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/5230/dscf05320sj.jpg

XBox in, and unused S-Video
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/4091/dscf05338pk.jpg

and Finally the Sky+
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/1364/dscf05373cv.jpg

I think I could conenct audio straight from sky+ to amp using the phono's or even the optic can I? but would like to run everything through the PC so I can make use of it's media centre stuff. Plus I also need to get sound from the Xbox.

Thanks for any help,

Matt