Help me connect my PC to my HDTV and receiver

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Looks right to me.

 

[montypythizzle]

50 FOOT!?@?!?@
GAH.

 

[arredondo]

My computer and HDTV are on opposite corners of my rectangular media room. This way I keep my computer near my workstation but can feed PC gaming content to my HDTV as needed. I already have the 35 foot DVI->HDMI cable connected and it works great.

I also have a PS3 which is LAN connected to my PC for server media access (music, photos, videos, etc). The 50 foot network cable made it simple, and now with this purchase all my cables will be out of the way and relatively hidden.

 

[arredondo]

UPDATE

Everything is now up and running... it's awesome! I'm getting 60fps in 1080P for the few games I've tried so far (Counterstrike Source and Team Fortress 2), complete with max settings and widescreen support.

Audio sounds cool as well... the bass isn't as punchy as I'd like, but I may have to adjust the settings a bit. It still feels nice and solid though. Enable bass redirection helps a lot or I'd have no bass at all. The full surround effect of my home theater system is a step up from my PC audio for sure.

If any one hasn't done this yet with their widescreen HDTV, I highly suggest it. I may never go back to my 22 incher again . I appreciate the advice from everyone.

 

[arredondo]

UPDATE:

When I try to adjust the bass from the Audigy control panel, it becomes distorted with full 200 Hz crossover and +15db gain boost. Bass "volume" is turned all the way up just to get a decent signal. The setting for 100Hz crossover at least gives some semblance of bass without distortion, but it is pretty awful. I get zero "thump" no matter what the setting is.

Is there any way I can get this to work right? I only need the audio for gaming and some mp3 playback... I watch all movies on the PS3 I have connected. If need be I'll also go with all my music on the PS3 (over the network) if I can get a good setting for bass in games.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: arredondo
UPDATE:

When I try to adjust the bass from the Audigy control panel, it becomes distorted with full 200 Hz crossover and +15db gain boost. Bass "volume" is turned all the way up just to get a decent signal. The setting for 100Hz crossover at least gives some semblance of bass without distortion, but it is pretty awful. I get zero "thump" no matter what the setting is.

Is there any way I can get this to work right? I only need the audio for gaming and some mp3 playback... I watch all movies on the PS3 I have connected. If need be I'll also go with all my music on the PS3 (over the network) if I can get a good setting for bass in games.

What are the settings on your receiver set to?

 

[arredondo]

Everything on the receiver is the same for the PS3, the cable box and the PC. Only the PC's bass sounds terrible.

 

[arredondo]

OK, I have the problem solved. In Windows Vista it seems that the audio settings sent my bass to each of my 5.1 speakers (which except for the sub were set to ignore all low frequencies). By changing it so that all bass is sent to the subwoofer alone, I now have it working perfectly.

 

[arredondo]

I'm late at updating this but my last post was incomplete. Bass returns as I described with the new settings, but not for gaming. Bass response is still unbelievably weak when playing a game.

If anyone can give me first hand confirmation of a way to get 5.1 surround sound in PC games WITH a good bass response, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[Slammy1]

Do you run the latest drivers?
http://ask.americas.creative.c...a_driver_matrix_de.htm

My experience with the SB line of card and XP was that mine also lacked good bass response. I bought an X-Fi when they went really cheap and that fixed the problem.

 

[arredondo]

I bought X-Fi last month, installed it with the latest drivers, and still the bass was weak (took it back). Understand that it is hooked up to a home theater A/V system via six analog RCA cables, not a standard PC speaker setup.

 

[Slammy1]

I hook up my receiver the same way, I haven't had standard PC speakers since... I want to say 1999 but maybe 2000. I wouldn't get a Creative solution if I were running Vista, however, given their history of problems with EAX and Vista sound management. The sound card is almost certainly your issue, read up here:
http://forums.creative.com/cre...s/board?board.id=Vista

When you do the speaker check do all 5 channels report separately? It might be that I have an older sub and can manually adjust volume and crossover frequency, but I probably run it at 1/5 volume and still get a strong bass response. I have the left channel output for my center and right for sub, if that helps.

 

[arredondo]

Keep in mind that I only have the problem in games, it sounds fine in every other audio application (music, video, DVDs, etc).

I read through that forum several times in the past, no answers are there for me. Most people are not hooked up to a regular AV system it seems but a standard PC audio arrangement. My speaker checks sound in the Windows audio program, but not Creative's Audio Center... it is there that bass is incredibly weak regardless of how many dozens of times I've tweaked the settings. I don't need to adjust my sub manually because it is perfectly calibrated for my TV and Blu ray movies as well as non-gaming applications on the PC.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: arredondo
Keep in mind that I only have the problem in games, it sounds fine in every other audio application (music, video, DVDs, etc).

I read through that forum several times in the past, no answers are there for me. Most people are not hooked up to a regular AV system it seems but a standard PC audio arrangement. My speaker checks sound in the Windows audio program, but not Creative's Audio Center... it is there that bass is incredibly weak regardless of how many dozens of times I've tweaked the settings. I don't need to adjust my sub manually because it is perfectly calibrated for my TV and Blu ray movies as well as non-gaming applications on the PC.

Do you have bass redirection enabled?

 

[Slammy1]

There's no difference in the signal between running through the external decoder vs PC speakers, and it's the signal that seems your problem as your bass does work just not in games. You won't hear sound from the sub in Creative's audio console. It bothered me at first as well, but their tech support at the time said it's normal. EAX is Creative's gaming standard, which at one time didn't work at all and I think (I haven't been following too closely) still has limited functionality. Creative's forums seem crowded more with criers, but there are some very knowledgeable posters there to help with issues.

One thing to consider is that the sub for a home stereo set up will be a lot more powerful than a typical PC solution. The effect of this on the sound can be impressive, and sources may not be designed to take advantage of lower frequency (PC packages tend to have much higher crossover frequencies and poor bass response at ULFs). Balancing the sub is always a compromise in the different sources in my experience. It limits me in how I do different things, but generally I'll get around it with some of the advanced menus on the PC (which is the sole audio/video source on my system, all things run through it).