Home theatre help...

[Cuda1447]

Alright, so this may get kind of confusing, but I hope there is someone here smart enough to follow what Im saying.


I just got a new receiver (Pioneer VSX-515) and new speakers/sub (Polk stuff). In my room I have my computer, television, xbox and ps2. Ideally I want to have them all hooked up to this. Most important being the computer and Ps2 (dvd player).


Now I have all my speakers hooked up, as far as I know properly. Five speakers total, Center/Left/Right/BackLeft/BackRight. For the time being my sub is not hooked up.

Going from the dvd/ld audio on the receiver i have one of those standard audio cables that just is right/left audio then an output going to the other side on my soundcard. I only have the black part of the audio plugged into the receiver. I have a digital audio cable but apparently I need some sort of adapter to plug that into my sound card, so I plan on picking that up tomorrow. In the meantime, this semi-works. The front 3 speakers work fine, but the surround speakers don't work at all. Same thing when I turn it to FM tuner.


Now Im also going from my ps2 into the receiver with standard RGB cables the funny thing with this is that I only get audio out of the front left speaker for some reason. I can't seem to get it out of the other speakers. Ive tried numerous settings and looking through the manual to no avail. Anyone have any advice/tips/suggestions/help? Agh, frustrating stuff.





*edit* New stupid problem at bottom.

 

[Slvrtg277]

This isn't too easy to understand. You have a standard audio cable going from the dvd player to the receiver, but you only connected one channel? Why?

And how exactly is your soundcard connected to your receiver?

And the ps2 is connected with RGB? As in Red/Green/Blue, or component video maybe? That doesn't include audio at all. You'd either need stereo cables or optical cable.

 

[DaveSimmons]

PC to receiver:
To just play DVDs, a digital audio cable is fine. To play games in surround sound with most sound cards, you need to use 6 channels of analog out on the soundcard (3 x 2-channel minijacks) into the 5.1 analog in of the receiver

To use a digital cable for games in 5.1 instead of stereo, you need a "Dolby Digital Live" soundcard like the X-Mystique or Turtle Beach Montego DDL. Creative cards are all missing this feature, even a $2xx "fatl1ty" card.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: Slvrtg277
This isn't too easy to understand. You have a standard audio cable going from the dvd player to the receiver, but you only connected one channel? Why?

And how exactly is your soundcard connected to your receiver?

And the ps2 is connected with RGB? As in Red/Green/Blue, or component video maybe? That doesn't include audio at all. You'd either need stereo cables or optical cable.

From PS2 it is component, my bad. As for the computer, I only have one channel because where Im plugging it in at only gives me one spot. Is that why I can't get surround sound on it?

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
PC to receiver:
To just play DVDs, a digital audio cable is fine. To play games in surround sound with most sound cards, you need to use 6 channels of analog out on the soundcard (3 x 2-channel minijacks) into the 5.1 analog in of the receiver

To use a digital cable for games in 5.1 instead of stereo, you need a "Dolby Digital Live" soundcard like the X-Mystique or Turtle Beach Montego DDL. Creative cards are all missing this feature, even a $2xx "fatl1ty" card.

So did I waste my money on my creative audigy card that costs like 90 bucks? If so, can you reccommend me something good thats not to expensive?


I would imagine digital cable will give me the best sound quality, is it that much better than just using analog out on the soundcard?

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
From PS2 it is component, my bad.

RGB/Component are the video cables... How is the sound connected from the PS2 to the receiver?

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
From PS2 it is component, my bad.

RGB/Component are the video cables... How is the sound connected from the PS2 to the receiver?

Its all on one cable. The normal 'RCA' cables I guess you would call them? Red/Yellow/White Yellow being video red/white audio.

 

[BunLengthHotDog]

Sounds like you have some cables really mixed up...

Regarding the PS2, you should have RGB cables, which are VIDEO cables. If I recall correctly you may also have some RCA cables attached for audio, which are the standard red and white.
It sounds like you have the Red audio cable plugged in, but not the white one.

The Pioneer has to have an optical port on the back, why not just run an optical cable from the PS2 to the Receiver (only way to get DD from the PS2 anyhow)

EDIT: Make sure your BALANCE is set to the middle if you are using the RCA plugs, I tore my home theater system apart when I wasnt getting sound out of my left front speaker...turns out my daughter had turned the balance knob all the way to the right speaker.

 

[Cuda1447]

I plan on getting an optical cable, just need to order it. Was hoping to get decent sound in the meantime though.

 

[BunLengthHotDog]

Any way to take a pic of how its all hooked up...I don't remember what the PS2 component cables included...does it have the RCA Y/R/W AND the RGB for component?

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
From PS2 it is component, my bad.

RGB/Component are the video cables... How is the sound connected from the PS2 to the receiver?

Its all on one cable. The normal 'RCA' cables I guess you would call them? Red/Yellow/White Yellow being video red/white audio.

Ah yes... Those are Composite Cables.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: BunLengthHotDog
Any way to take a pic of how its all hooked up...I don't remember what the PS2 component cables included...does it have the RCA Y/R/W AND the RGB for component?

No component cables, just the YRW cables.

 

[Raduque]

To do what I think you want to do, you need to connect the PS2 to the reciever using a TOSLINK cable (square connector with a little door) on the back of the PS2. The TOSLINK connector is on the back of the PS2 itself, not on any of the AV cables.

Your computer, to get surround sound, you either need a DDL card like the poster above said, or you need to use 3 1/8th inch stereo minijack to red/white RCAs, connected to you recievers 5.1 input. It'll be labled "DVD 5.1 input" or similar. I can help you by taking pics tomorrow of the cables and connections you need to make, if you need them.

Hope this helps a little!

Edit: I type to slow, everybody else beat me to it =(

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: Raduque
To do what I think you want to do, you need to connect the PS2 to the reciever using a TOSLINK cable (square connector with a little door) on the back of the PS2. The TOSLINK connector is on the back of the PS2 itself, not on any of the AV cables.

Your computer, to get surround sound, you either need a DDL card like the poster above said, or you need to use 3 1/8th inch stereo minijack to red/white RCAs, connected to you recievers 5.1 input. It'll be labled "DVD 5.1 input" or similar. I can help you by taking pics tomorrow of the cables and connections you need to make, if you need them.

Hope this helps a little!

Edit: I type to slow, everybody else beat me to it =(

Using those minijacks and going to the dvd 5.1, will that be a lower quality than doing the other suggested method... or will that sound good?

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Raduque
To do what I think you want to do, you need to connect the PS2 to the reciever using a TOSLINK cable (square connector with a little door) on the back of the PS2. The TOSLINK connector is on the back of the PS2 itself, not on any of the AV cables.

You should be able to get stereo sound out of the PS2 by just using the red and white jacks... But we can't say for sure what's not working on your setup, Cuda. Any chance for some pics?

Triple (quadruple!) check your connections and receiver setup. It's gotta be something like that.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
PC to receiver:
To just play DVDs, a digital audio cable is fine. To play games in surround sound with most sound cards, you need to use 6 channels of analog out on the soundcard (3 x 2-channel minijacks) into the 5.1 analog in of the receiver

To use a digital cable for games in 5.1 instead of stereo, you need a "Dolby Digital Live" soundcard like the X-Mystique or Turtle Beach Montego DDL. Creative cards are all missing this feature, even a $2xx "fatl1ty" card.

So did I waste my money on my creative audigy card that costs like 90 bucks? If so, can you reccommend me something good thats not to expensive?

I would imagine digital cable will give me the best sound quality, is it that much better than just using analog out on the soundcard?

Analog cables from your Audigy will be just as good as digital from a DDL card, aside from the annoyance of needing so many cables.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: Raduque
To do what I think you want to do, you need to connect the PS2 to the reciever using a TOSLINK cable (square connector with a little door) on the back of the PS2. The TOSLINK connector is on the back of the PS2 itself, not on any of the AV cables.

You should be able to get stereo sound out of the PS2 by just using the red and white jacks... But we can't say for sure what's not working on your setup, Cuda. Any chance for some pics?

Triple (quadruple!) check your connections and receiver setup. It's gotta be something like that.

Yea I can get some pics, I'll put some up later on tonight.

 

[BunLengthHotDog]

Did you check the balance settings on the receiver??

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: BunLengthHotDog
Did you check the balance settings on the receiver??

Yea. Brand new receiver and only Ive touched it so naturally I would expect them to be set to default, which indeed they were. I fear its all user error

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

Originally posted by: BunLengthHotDog
Did you check the balance settings on the receiver??

Yea. Brand new receiver and only Ive touched it so naturally I would expect them to be set to default, which indeed they were. I fear its all user error

My money's on that, as well.

 

[Raduque]

I can't speak for your soundcard/reciever combo, Cuda, but mine (Chaintec AV710 and Onkyo HTR-8230), the analog sounds as good as the optical, but the analog is quieter then the digital at the same volume level.

 

[Cuda1447]

Ok, tried some new things. Not having much luck. First of all, I went and got a toslink cable and hooked it up to my Ps2 and to the optical input labeled TV/Sat on my receiver. Audio works, but still no surround sound. Lets start with that problem. Even when using my FM receiver, I only get audio out of the front 3 speakers. Ive tried other speakers as my surround, but had no luck with them either. So I know I don't have bad speakers, Ive checked the connections to the speakers and they seem to be fine. Ive also played with lots of the settings on the receiver itself, to no avail.

 

[2canSAM]

Did you go through the quick setup on the pioneer. I think it is set to default to only 2.1 channel. Make sure it shows FS-CS-SS under your speaker settings

 

[2canSAM]

Also under your "Advanced Decoding" you have an option for 5 speaker stero. Try that

 

[Cuda1447]

Did the quick setup, no good. For advanced decoding are you talking about on the ps2 or the pioneer itself? Cause I can't find it on the receiver.