Connecting a Sound Blaster Live and a home theater system

[clamum]

Is it possible to connect a Sound Blaster Live to a home theater system? The sound card has a digital out connection, so what kind of input would the home theater receiver need?

 

[GprophetB]

digital in

 

[PurdueRy]

^ thats all or a 5.1 analog connection

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah, make sure it's digital coaxial in rather than digital optical in though....

Usually if they have one, they have the other though.

Have fun 🙂

 

[clamum]

OK I have a digital coax in on my receiver/DVD player, and the yellow digital out on the soundcard, but it's a stereo type plug, so I'm guessing I'm gonna need some type of converter from the coax size to the stereo size?

 

[PurdueRy]

yes 3.5mm -> RCA

 

[clamum]

Well I got a digital coaxial cable and an adapter that accepts a mono phono plug and the other end is a 1/8" stereo phone jack. Everything connects up, and I switched the audio input to coaxial rather than analog on my DVD player/receiver, but I get no sound from my computer.

I think everything is right software-wise... maybe I need a converter that accepts a stereo phono plug instead of a mono one? I told the guy at Radio Shack what I was doing and he give me this one.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Hmmm.... I'm using digital optical out on my card so I'm not sure what kind of adapter you need to go from a soundcard digital out to a digital coaxial rca that a receiver can use.

I'm sure you could fine the answer here

EDIT: I looked a little online and it looks like a mono 1/8" male to RCA female adapter is what you want, and then run RCA to your digital input on your receiver.

How were you attaching this to your receiver? I don't think you want stereo anywhere in this.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think you want something like this mono 1/8" to RCA female and then run a digital coaxial from that to your receiver.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I think you want something like this mono 1/8" to RCA female and then run a digital coaxial from that to your receiver.

This is the adapter I currently have, and I have Philips Digital Coaxial cable which I know is right. So the only difference would be that I need a mono 1/8" end instead of the stereo one I have?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: clamum

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I think you want something like this mono 1/8" to RCA female and then run a digital coaxial from that to your receiver.

This is the adapter I currently have, and I have Philips Digital Coaxial cable which I know is right. So the only difference would be that I need a mono 1/8" end instead of the stereo one I have?

I think so, because it's only sending one signal. Again, haven't done this before so unless you can buy it and try it and then return it, get some more opinions first 🙂

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: clamum

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I think you want something like this mono 1/8" to RCA female and then run a digital coaxial from that to your receiver.

This is the adapter I currently have, and I have Philips Digital Coaxial cable which I know is right. So the only difference would be that I need a mono 1/8" end instead of the stereo one I have?

I think so, because it's only sending one signal. Again, haven't done this before so unless you can buy it and try it and then return it, get some more opinions first 🙂

Ok well thanks for your help. I'll try and find one around here but I doubt I will be able to... and the nearest Radio Shack is two hours from here. 😉

 

[DaveSimmons]

For many soundcards you must go into the mixer or other soundcard software to turn on the digital out.

Note that with a digital connection only DVDs will be in 5.1, game audio will be 2 channel PCM stereo.

For 5.1 channel game audio you need to use 3 x stereo analog outs for FL, FR, Center, RL, RR, subwoofer/LFE. Then plug the 6 RCA plugs into the DVD analog in on the receiver.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
For many soundcards you must go into the mixer or other soundcard software to turn on the digital out.

Note that with a digital connection only DVDs will be in 5.1, game audio will be 2 channel PCM stereo.

For 5.1 channel game audio you need to use 3 x stereo analog outs for FL, FR, Center, RL, RR, subwoofer/LFE. Then plug the 6 RCA plugs into the DVD analog in on the receiver.

I turned "Digital output only" off and on and still didn't get any sound from the speakers. I tried the sound with MP3s, WAV, and .AVI movies and there was no sound. I'll try a DVD in my DVD-ROM drive when I get home.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

With 2 channel PCM stereo you can have your receiver do dolby pro logic or DTS neo6 or whatever it has to get sound from all speakers though 🙂.

If this digital connection ends up giving you a headache, you can go the analog method Dave suggested. You'll have to make sure your receiver has 6 channel direct input though.

 

[clamum]

Yeah I've used the DSP and Pro Logic effects when I had it connected with analog input. And unfortunately I only have three different sets of analog inputs and a digital coax input, so either I get the digital to work or it's back to analog. 🙂