[treytexag]

OK, this is a newbie question. I did look through the FAQ, but the answer to my question did not jump out at me - might be because I'm not much of a hardware guy, so some of the lingo is over my head. Anyway, here goes.


I borrowed a friends Proxima DS2 SVGA Projector the other day, and hooked up the VGA (I think that's what it's called) plug from my HP PIII PC to the projector. I put in a DVD, and low and behold, WinDVD popped up on my projected image and I selected "Play". (BTW, I have WinDVD 2.3 on my HP PC). Anyway, the WOW factor was big, and my kids were glued to the Toy Story DVD I was playing - needless to say, the projected DVD picture was great!! (Of course this is far from videophile standards I'm sure, but it seemed to play pretty good on my non-HTPC PC). Sooo, I've kindof got the bug to see where I might go with this.


The problem is, at this point, we were relegated to the sound from my lame PC speakers. My thought was that I could move my HP PC out to the living room this weekend and hook up the PC to the projector again, and set up a little home theater movie experience. Here's the question - How do I get the sound signals from the PC into my DD/DTS decoding receiver so we can enjoy the benefits of digital surround sound?


Not much of a sound card on this HP PC, not being a hardware guy, struggling with it a bit. I looked in the system place in Windows ME, and it says I have a Crystal WDM Audio Codec, whatever that is. It does seem to allow me to select 4 speaker, or 5.1 speaker setup though. I also saw that I may be able to select SPDIF on the setup, but I'm not sure what that is or where I would get that signal from my PC or where I would put that signal into my receiver (aux?). I see some stuff about SPDIF coax and Toslink here in AVS, but I have no idea what that is or if my WinDVD will work with it, or if my Crystal WDM Audio Codec will work with it.


Not interested here in audiophile performance, just wanted to upgrade my weekend experience from the PC speakers to some (preferably) digital sound from my HT system in the living room. Anyway, I was wondering how to do this. Can I patch the little plug that feeds my PC speakers into a RCA (?) jack and put that into my receiver (aux?), or is that wrong?


Sorry about this question that I'm sure has been answered before - just couldn't find it. Seems alot of the que's here are on how to connect PC to the video display device, but with my VGA from the PC to the projector, I'm square on that part - just need help getting the sound signal out and into my receiver.


Can anyone give me some advice on this one?


Thanks,

Trey

 

[ELMitz]

I would use the coax output of your soundcard to a coax in on your reciever. Select SPDIF in soundcard setup and software setup on PC. Configure your receiver for that input, cross fingers, press play.

 

[mechou]

Quote:

Not interested here in audiophile performance, just wanted to upgrade my weekend experience from the PC speakers to some (preferably) digital sound from my HT system in the living room. Anyway, I was wondering how to do this. Can I patch the little plug that feeds my PC speakers into a RCA (?) jack and put that into my receiver (aux?), or is that wrong?

You've got the right idea for quick and dirty solution... You need one of those 1/8 male to RCA cables. They should be widely available in places like Radio Shack, Best Buy, etc. This is only analog. Make sure you turn sound card volume all the way down before you plug into your receiver aux in.


For digital you probably want to use SPDIF (optical or coax), but you might encounter other issues like only 2 channel, etc.

 

[treytexag]

ELMitz & mechou, I appreciate you taking the time to post! As you can read, I'm clueless on this stuff.


mechou, I like quick and dirty! I will go over to RS today and see if I can find the cable I would use so that I can get it up and running this weekend.


On the other suggestion, the coax from the soundcard, how do I do that? Do I replace my soundcard with one that has a coax output? Or might there be one there and I just don't know about it? Where can I get the SPDIF signal? I read something about having to get it from the motherboard? That would probably be beyond my hardware skills.


Anyway, any additional help would be appreciated!!


Thanks,

Trey

 

[Nedder]

Trey-


if your soundcard/motherboard has coax output (SPDIF) you should see an orange mini jack or orange rca size jack. If so then all you need is a mono mini-jack to mono RCA cable or a mono RCA to RCA cable (both about $4 at RS).

 

[pter]

Or you might be required to use the stereo mini to RCA converter.

A search on Santa Cruz sound cards in this forum will bring that topic up for you.

 

[treytexag]

Thank you all for your help.


What I have is an orange mini-plug on the back of my computer where I currently hook up a male orange miniplug that drives two small PC speakers.


Can I simply buy an orange mini-plug (male) to an RCA adapter, select SPDIF on the sound card and run that to my stereo?


Please advise.


Thanks,

Trey

 

[skoka123]

Quote:

Originally posted by treytexag Thank you all for your help. What I have is an orange mini-plug on the back of my computer where I currently hook up a male orange miniplug that drives two small PC speakers. Can I simply buy an orange mini-plug (male) to an RCA adapter, select SPDIF on the sound card and run that to my stereo? Please advise. Thanks, Trey

If your orange mini-plug is indeed a digital out as in sound blaster live cards, then yes, all you need is a mono mini-plug + a coaxial digital cable. If you don't already have one then you might want to try with an existing good quality video cable. One end will go into the mini-plug and the other to the coaxial digital input on your receiver. Make sure you enable spdif out in WinDVD and what ever software/driver you have for the sound card.


Warning: Try with the lowest volume level at first.