Help with/Suggestions for Home theater system/sound card

[skarthik]

Hi All,
I am completely new to the world of Home Theater systems(HTS), any help/suggestions will be appreciated. I have connected my PC to my Sony HDTV Monitor. I am looking for a home theater system that I can connect to my TV and also to my computer. I was looking at this set of speakers/HTS from Sony -

http://www.circuitcity.com/rps...lSpecification.do#tabs

I guess it would not be difficult to connect my TV to that as it appears to be a standard system. However I am not sure what I need to connect my PC to the HTS. Right now I am using an integrated sound card so it just the regular minijack output. Are there cables that fork this regular soundcard output into a coaxial cable output of optical in? I am sounding as though I know very well about these (of course i do not ), I am merely trying to replicate the inputs available in the HTS If there is a regular-stereo-out to optical-in cable then is there need to buy a sound card that supports optical-in? Someone in the forum recommended this soundcard which looks very good for that price -

http://us.creative.com/product...50&subcategory=206

Do these HTS allow us to switch the inputs? like choose either TV or computer?

Any suggestions on HTS (<$200) will be great! Thanks!!!

cheers
SK

 

[beatle]

You don't mention what motherboard you're using. Most newer motherboards include a coaxial or digital output. The only advantage that a PCI based soundcard would offer you is the ability to play back DVD-Audio (this is NOT the sound on your movies, rather a proprietary format that also comes on DVD). You'd need a Creative Audigy 2 ZS to get this. Onboard optical or coaxial digital output will be identical to that of a PCI soundcard as it's all digital.

The system you listed does not provide video switching, but your TV likely does. You could switch the video on the TV and then switch the audio on the HT receiver.

 

[skarthik]

Thanks for the super quick response! I don't remember my motherboard brand/model top of my head (I am not next to my comp now) but I do know that my soundcard is Soundmax integrated digital audio. I checked the outputs and it has only stereo-out (regular computer speaker out)/line-in/mic-in. Since the card does not support coax out or optical-out can I get cables that does the conversion?

Regarding the video switching - Yes I am already using the option availabe in Sony. Sorry I was not very clear, I was referring to the audio switching. I was planing to use the DVD player on my computer for movies. So I want to switch the audio depending on whether it is regular TV or it is from the computer. I guess the HT receiver does that.

Thanks again for the help!