Connecting PC to A/V Receiver

[simeonsp]

hey guys, i have an onboard sound card on my pc (the 3 colored 3.5mm jacks and a yellow RCA style female output on it), and I would like to connect my pc through my AV receiver to my TV (AV receiver being connected to 5.1 surround sound). Currently im using a 3.5mm jack directly to my tv along with a simple VGA connection for the video. How can I get the 5.1 surround out of my pc to the AV? thanks

 

[luccha]

if your receiver has multichannel input (in other words: has 5.1 analog inputs) I recommend using it.

Otherwise, you should configure your receiver to assign the VGA and the coax (yellow rca) inputs together.

But I think the easiest way to do it is simply plug an HDMI cable from your GPU to the receiver, since HDMI can carry both audio and video streams. Then you should configure the playback devices in Windows Sound settings to HDMI and set it to 5.1 in "configure speakers"

 

[SmurfOnABoat]

What you are trying to accomplish is physically impossible. A standard 3.5mm headphone jack only carries 3 signals, Left-Right-Ground. They make cables that convert 3.5mm into twin RCA (Red/White) jacks, but this will not carry true surround signal, its only a stereo signal that may be amplified through all the channels the receiver has to offer, but they will not be translating the surround language correctly, because there is only 2 channels out of your 6 that your looking for.

 

[luccha]

but he is using 3 3.5mm jacks, so 3 * 2RCA = 6 RCA (left, right, center, sub, left back, right back)

 

[SmurfOnABoat]

Ok to clarify, what color are the 3 jacks on the Computer? Usually you have 3-3.5mm jacks they are usually Line In, Line Out, and Microphone.

Let us know what you have.

Usually if you have enough 3.5mm outs to create surround sound, then you would have a total of 6 3.5mm jacks. The 3 Standard jacks, plus the additional audio outs for the various channels.

 

[simeonsp]

Hey guys thanks for the information. I should have been more clear- I want to use the coaxial RCA output (spdif or whatever), but I am having a hard time setting it up so that my receiver gets the 5.1 instead of regular stereo input/output. I am aware that i should just make it send the raw stream, and the receiver would decode it into whatever it needs to be, but that makes it really annoying, as I have to switch my sound output from my regular soundcard/pc speakers, into the spdif output for when i want to use my 5.1surr/TV setup. Is there a way to make them both output by default at the same time? i.e. i get the best of both worlds, and all i have to do is switch on my receiver and turn off my pc speakers? thanks!!!

 

[soundguruman]

Unfortunately, the current design of PCs does not allow more than one audio route at a time. You have to switch it manually.