Cheap Home Theatre Adv

i have this old computer thats i've turned into a video server for my TV, and im looking for a cheap way to allow the optical out from my 5 disc DVD changer into my computer. im hoping for a sub $50 solution to run an optical cable into the computer, and have 5. output to my Logitech z5300 speakers (which i have now thanx to an SBLi've5. card).
this is an OLD computer, so there is only USB ., no USB 2.0, and it uses the VIA KT00 chipset.
) i've seen the Audigy2 NX (USB 2.0 solution) but it's sound quality drops off for 5. sound when using USB ..
2) i've also checked out the Audigy2 ZS Platinum... but that card runs about $25.
if you guys can reccomend another card with optical 5. input i'd be very greatful.
tia

i also noticed the Audigy2 Platinum (non ZS version) has an optical input, whats the difference betwen the two for sound quality?

Similar Messages

  • Itunes to Home Theatre : Do I NEED Apple TV ?

    My primary goal is simply to feed my iTunes music to my new Yamaha home theatre (HTIB). It would be nice, but not necessarily my goal to also send video from my iMac to the home theatre.
    Near as I can tell, I have the following options :
    Option 1 : run miniDVI >>DVI>>HDMI cable from my iMac to HTIB receiver. The Yamaha receiver only has 2 HDMI inputs, which I'd really like to use for my DVD player and HD DVR, so this is not my preferable option. Plus, I have read that it's not advisable to run HDMI more than about 16 feet, which I'd be right about at that length. I understand that I may need to do some configuring in my iMac controls set-up to make sure that all the audio currently playing on the iMac speakers is sent to the HDMI out.
    Option 2 : run the audio out the headphone jack on the iMac, converted to red/white cable to the Yamaha receiver. Isn't the headphone jack output an analog signal? If so, this option seems like a sub-optimal solution. I'm not even sure if the Yamaha receiver would handle getting an analog input when it expects digital. Clearly I want to get the audio to the receiver in digital format; same as a CD player component into the receiver, right ?
    Option 3 : get an AppleTV : I think I understand how that would work, and it should work nicely, for both audio and video. I currently have a syslink wireless router. The only downside appears to be the cost. I'd like to find a simple iMac to receiver wired connection to send (digitally) my iTunes to the home theatre, if possible. I'd prefer not to spend the $230 if I can get away with it
    Option 4 : My iMac has what I believe to be "firewire" output. I'm not sure, the symbol next to the output port is sort of like the USB symbol, but different. I'm not sure what this port is, or if it has applications for what I'm trying to do.
    Option 5 : is thewre a USB solution for me ? I know I have several open USB ports back there.
    Option 6 : what about a hard wired connection from my Syslink router to the Home theatre ? How would I get my iTunes sent out through the network cable to the router ? I see a network cable input to the Yahama - maybe this is an option ?
    Thanks !
    from my iMac does carry audio and video, but the
    PROS : simple, no need for AppleTV,

    1 - non-starter unless you run analogue/optical audio cable too - DVI only transmits video, no audio
    2 - iMac audio out can be set to be analogue or optical - your receiver might accept either - what's the model?
    4 - you don't need this to accomplish what you want
    5 - not without replicating functionality the iMac audio out already has
    6 - again, give the receiver model - you ay have more options if this is say a DLNA compliant device that allows media to be streamed to it
    3 - personally I think AppleTv is great for music playback and why I bought mine - does your receiver have component in (the other video out on AppleTV) and optical digital in? Or maybe the TV has component video and you could connect AppleTV to TV for video signal and run optical lead for audio to receiver (though you'd not get AppleTV soud through the TV).
    As others mention, an Airport Express is another option which can be a cheaper audio out extension for your computer to playback iTunes digitally via optical cable. Cheaper, but you either need the iMac nearby to control this (so just use the iMac) or an iPhone/iPod Touch to select the music. The downside to the iPhone/iPod Touch in my opinion is that they'd need to be charged with excellent wireless reception in the room you want to use them - both my iPhones wi-fi in the house is flaky to say the least whereas my AppleTV is near perfect for reception.
    Tell us what the receiver type is.

  • Home Theatre Quest

    Anyone got the diagram to make the home theatre cables for the x-fi (ie. which is left, right, side, ground). I am trying to make my own cables with an audioquest g-snake + aq connects + aq silver solder + 3 channel minijack connects. The creative home theatre cable doesn't do my denon avc-axv+b&w mt30 7. justice and its only a low-end hi-fi system:smileytongue:. And i'm guessing it SHOULD make a world of difference, since this is supposed to be a hi-fi card and all...bad interconnects kills sound... did for my 390, goin from g-snake to a diamondback for stereo, altho the diamondback is like 00$ alone...
    Oh ya, I do use the soundcard for music 75% of the time, if i mainly used it for games, I wouldn't care so much, or at all actually...
    BTW why can't they use normal stereo minijacks so I can use some good connects for them, as it's really tough to find some 3 channel minijack connects.
    oh and I don't want to use a DDTS-00 or a DTS-60 cuz that would be goin from the x-fi DAC, to a like 00$ ADC, and through my denon DAC again!!! yuck...Message Edited by adtrisno on 04-06-2006 02:32 AM

    adtrisno wrote:
    Um, well i li've in indonesia, but i found it in a normal electronic store that sell like cables, transformers, interconnects, etc...only found and got normal gold looking ones though, seems cheap:P. Radio Shack i imagine would carry them in the states or canada no? or any store that carry rca m/f ics, m/f stereo /8 ics, etc. People usually use them for headphone+mic replacements, so they have them here. If you were in malang, indonesia, i would say, go to hollywood electronics in pecinan, but ya know....:P
    Btw they are a total pain to fit, 3 g-snakes into ics, ugh, trimming the cable took me like 30 min:P. Soldering was no problem but to actually get it to fit...:smileyvery-happy:
    And i wish i got spdif, i'm stuck with minidin ffs:P. What can i use that for?!? Gigaworks?!? I can't fit anything BUT the elite pro since its running on an asus s-presso (sff pc) with 5.25 bay taken up by my dvdrw. Didn't think it was worth it for what i was using it for + more clutter...my rack is already a total mess.
    Btw, how much better is the aragon compared to the arcam um, something like p000 i think? my next step up from the denon i was gonna try out arcam...heard lots of good things about the avp700, 35watts on the power amp made me a little hesitant though...planning on running them thru an kef xq or a bw 7 series setup...prob the bw since the kef xq is too bright, i much prefer the bw tweeters to the kefs...or maybe the nautilus for the fronts if i run into some money:P...my preference is more musical than vocal...more vienna acoustics than halberd, and more zucable than transparent, etc...Message Edited by adtrisno on 04-06-2006 03:5 PM
    That's the problem with the 4 poles jack. I don't think we can create a decent cable with this jack. The signal are too close to each other. Interference is highly likely.
    That's proof Creative is not paying attention to what the consumers want. Me and many others had been complaining about this stupid 4 poles jack since the Audigy. Almost 5 years later they are still using the same **bleep** thing.
    Aragon is a pioneer in the high end audio stuff. I've been a fan of Aragon(Formerly Mondial) gear even before Klipsch bought them. Actually, while the Arcam AVP700 earns a lot of praises for it's oustanding audio quality, the same can't be said for the P000 amp.
    That's the advantage of using separates, you have the choice of upgrading only the processor, if you like your am
    ps.
    Me, I like listening to music at insane volume. the 35Watts/channel of the P000 is a complete joke.

  • Home theatre connect dts-6

    Does anybody know if the home theatre connect?dts - 60?has better sound compared to analog imputs? I'm thinking of buying it for the sound.

    It offers the convenience of deli'vering 6 discrete channels over a single cable, however since DTS is a lossy compression scheme it cannot offer better quality, actually it will introduce artifacts (almost undetectable if you are not expecting them and you haven't listened to the uncompressed audio). Unless?your receiver?doesn't?have analog inputs go for the HT cable, it's cheaper, you can expand to 8 channels?and if you don't run into electrical issues (such as a ground loop) it will degrade less the sound than?the compression.

  • How to connect Apple TV to DVD blu-ray home theatre

    Hi guys, I am planning to buy Apple TV2 and I was wondering is there setup guide for connecting to HDTV and home theatre system. I currently have LG HDTV and LG DVD Blu-ray Home Theatre. They are connected with HDMI 1.3 cable and I had to get optical cable to get sound from TV to Home theatre.
    How is Apple TV fits into that? I have 1 HDMI slot free on TV and 2 HDMI inputs on DVD system.
    I was thinking just to connect Apple TV to DVD via HDMI? Would that put sound on home theatre system?
    Thank you in advance.
    ddrasko

    You have read home theatre manual about playing sound from external device.
    You doesn't need to connect home theatre to tv at all as you have get video from apple tv.
    Connect video output from apple tv to tv(may carry sound along) and optical cable from apple tv to home theatre.
    That will do. You can mute sound of tv(in case hdmi carry sound along) or using other function(on samsung ) and hear from home theatre sound from speakers.

  • Mac Mini as Home Theatre (advice please)

    Hi There,
    I am considering a Mac Mini to connect to my TV as a Home Theatre device. I just found out that the latest model has no optical drive & so that is a real blow to me as it is a very important factor.
    I have checked the older models & it seems the mid-2010 model might have what I need.
    It would be great if someone could confirm that model will have what I need...
    1) Must play PAL DVD & NTSC DVD (region2) directly. (My PS3 only plays NTSC, my xbox360 has died)
    2) Must have bluetooth - either for trackpad or PS3 controller (i beleive snow leopard has native PS3 controller support)
    3) Must have full HDMI output (audio+video)
    4) Wireless would be best, but LAN connection is fine.
    5) Must be a small device that can easily be moved from room-to-room.
    6) Having a decent web browser capable of using Megavideo etc, would be big bonus.
    With no optical drive, it would mean streaming a disc from my iMac but this inconveinience makes the Mini's price tag unviable for me, since playing these DVD's is the primary reason to buy.
    I could of course save a lot of money & buy a region free dvd player, but i thought with the other benefits of web browser on tv it would be the ultimate solution.
    How about Apple TV? Thats $99 & would stream. But will it stream a DVD from the iMac? & does it have a web browser?
    For $99 the compromise would be worth it.
    Although as I live in Japan & am originally from UK - Netflix etc is impossible for me.
    Thanks for any advice or sugestions.

    libelulacero wrote:
    EG: If you are in USA (region1) & you insert a region 2 disc you will not be able to play it unless you change the region lock. You can do that, but only 5 times ever & then you will be locked to that region forever.
    I dont know if this applies to laptops, even more dumb if it does, because of course in business you may need to travel to many regions with your job.
    It does. It even applies to Apple's external dvd drive for the Airbook. Apple is mad to go along with the DVD cartel on this. It is not uncommon for people to have DVDs from 3 or more regions. It is simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH that their customers have to resort to workarounds like:
    * buying extra DVD drives
    * finding some other software to play DVDs
    * various hacks to reset the region change count
    * altering the firmware on the DVD drive (voiding warranty and risking damage to drive)
    Basically, wasting a lot of time mucking around, just so that they can play a bloody dvd. Get your act together Apple, and show some respect for people who hand you bucket loads of cash to buy a product that is supposed to just work, like your marketing hype says it should.
    This policy is imposed by the movie studios on hardware makers. However a lot of hardware makers now ignore this insanity. Unfortunately Apple have chosen to obey this.
    To show you the level of insanity, Sony are one of the big Movie Studios, Sony of course also make DVD players. Guess what, their home DVD players are able to play multiple regions. So even Sony at least in part think DVD regions are nuts.
    On Blu-Rays there is also a similar Region protection scheme. All the resellers think it is just as stupid as the DVD region scheme. In fact resellers make a specific point of advertising titles that are region free as region free (not all titles enforce this on Blu-Ray). If having a title region free is regarded as means of increasing legal sales by resellers, clearly this means region protection is harming sales.
    Movie Studio = Moron. QED

  • Mac Mini Home Theatre PC + Lion = Big Bag of Hurt

    I have a mac mini (2010) connected via HDMI to a switcher and on to either a TV or projector. The TV happens to be on a wall 90° to the projector screen. The audio is also wired via toslink/optical cable to the AV amplifier. The main speakers are aligned with the projection setup so its nice to have the TV sound come from the TV directly sometimes, even though the quality is dreadful compared to the main speakers (as opposed to rich sound coming from only the left side).
    Running under Snow Leopard was fine - just switch the audio out from the HDMI to the Optical out at will (as one would expect through the sound output control panel).
    Unfortunately I thought it would be cool to update to Lion to have a trackpad rather than the mouse on the coffee table. Bad idea!
    Under 10.7.1 it all seemed to be working OK. Sound from main speakers, picture over HDMI on TV or projector. Sweet. Then I tried to change to the TV's speakers via the control panel. Nothing works. Click on either "optical out" or "Panasonic HDMI" and nothing changes, the audio keeps coming through the amplifier to the main speakers. Oh, well, the TV's sound was crap anyway, I could live with this at a push.
    Update to 10.7.3. Whoops. Now the sound only comes out through the HDMI cable to the television. Permanently. Again, choosing either option in the control panel has no effect. Apple seems to have hardwired it this way and those options are an illusion. Now, I want to watch a movie - ZERO sound! The projector has no speaker, but apple is sending the audio there along the hdmi and I have no way of routing it to the Toslink cable anymore. Total train smash!! Silent movies - whoo hoo. Fail.
    Annoyingly, this isn't a limitation of the hardware at all (it worked perfectly as expected in Snow Leopard) - its obviously a conscious decision. Or no one at apple bothers to test their stuff properly any more. All suggestions summarised - get new hardware - either new AV amplifier which accepts hdmi or extra cables to feed audio back from the TV to the amp!!?? Jeez. It used to work perfectly already without that.
    Oh well, restoring to Snow Leopard as I type. Will have to find another use for that magic trackpad I stupidly bought on Monday. So if you have a Mac Mini Home Theatre PC and you need the options on routing video and audio separately, stay away from Lion!

    You didn't need Lion in the first place for the track pad:
    System Requirements
    Bluetooth-enabled Mac computer
    Two AA batteries (included)
    OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.4 or later
    I was using one with my 2010 Mini before Lion in my
    HTPC setup.

  • How do I stream iTunes content to my home theatre using any combination of a MacBook Pro, an iPhone 4s, and a PS3 using only a LOCAL network?

    I have found many solutions to this problem assuming home internet access, but I only have access to the internet via my iPhone. I do not want online capability in my PS3. All I want to be able to do is control iTunes on my MacBook, and hear/view the content on my home theatre. I would prefer to use my iPhone as the remote for iTunes, and do not want to add the monthly cost of home internet to this equation. I do not require access to anything on my MacBook except iTunes in this application. I would prefer to use iTunes and stream to my home theatre, as opposed to setting up my MacBook as a media server and using the PS3 interface. Is this possible? Can I accomplish this goal using a local network? Can I create a wifi network on my MacBook to do this, or do I need a router? I am looking to spend as little as possible on this project, as I plan on moving to a more urban area soon, and will be buying Apple TV and subscribing to home internet service when this happens.

    Get an AirPort Express.  It has an audio out which you can connect to the line-in on your home theatre system.  All the other devices will talk to the AirPort Express and stream content to it via wi-fi.

  • HT5517 How do I connect my Home Theatre System to Apple TV such that I Can Play the Music on my iPhone through the Home Theatre System.

    How do I connect my Home Theatre System to Apple TV such that I Can Play the Music on my iPhone through the Home Theatre System?

    Thanks for the reply. I tried but failed. There's no sound through the Home Theatre system ( Bose 3.2.1 GS). The audio audio always come through the TV which is connected to the ATV. Please help. Thanks

  • How can I play my ITunes music stored on my IMac via Apple TV through my home theatre system and control it from my IMac?

    My ITunes library is stored on my IMac which is connected to B&W desktop speakers. My music system is connected to my IMac via USB through a Benchmark DAC. I use Pure Music software and am able to simultaneously play music on my IMac in my study and my main music system in the living room.
    My home theatre system is connected by Apple TV via the home network to the IMac. I can access my ITunes library from the TV using the Apple TV remote control. But when I try to play music from the computer and stream to the TV / home theatre, I am unable to make the connection. I tried activating Airplay, but I still cannot get the music to play.
    I would appreciate any advice on how to set this up.

    Thanks for the suggestion. I subsequently realized that my Airplay settings on ITunes are ok. The problem is with the settings on Pure Music. I still havent figured this out. When i stream using just ITunes, it works fine, but when I play music using ITunes / Pure Magic, I still have an issue with Apple TV.

  • How to output video to TV or Home Theatre? (iphone)

    How to output video to TV or Home Theatre? (iphone)

    I recently bought a AV projector and was asked by a smirky but envious friend the same question, after watching me hook up my powerbook, having already purchased an ipod video 30gig with the UNIVERSAL DOCK with remote control and ifrared remote control I remembered reading about it also working with the iphone, so it having a s-video output with a audio mini output port, I plugged the iphone into it and it came up with a little message saying this is not a iphone compatible device, and asked me to turn on airport, I ignored the request and it just clicked over to the itunes section, I picked a video and presto instant big screen projection TV off the iphone, How IMPRESSIVE! then I went to utube launched a utube video and wow how cool it also played seamlessly, although it pays to let the Youtube videos buffer for a minute to get a better play off the EDGE net work verse the Wi-Fi, I plan on having lots of out door theatre shows this summer with this very compact multi-media package, What a hoot! Get the universal dock no glitches!

  • Mac Mini chirps - connected to home theatre

    I have a Mac Mini, mid 2010, that I use as a media server and it's connected to my home theatre. It currently runs Mac OS X v10.9.5 and as long as I've had it, no matter what version of Mac OS, there's an occasional chirp. It sounds like the first note of a wolf whistle. The sound comes over the sound system and only occurs when playing iTunes Internet radio. I don't recall ever hearing it while listening to any of my own music and I have a huge collection.
    I've turned off notifications for almost everything, thinking it was perhaps a notification causing the problem. Strangely, I still get notifications of what song is playing on the Internet radio station but I've not heard the chirp when I saw a notification display.
    For what it's worth, I usually use my MacBook Pro to control the Mac Mini via screen sharing. Also, because of the large collection of media, I have a 3 TB hard drive connected that I designated as the location of my iTunes library.
    This a quite annoying and thank heavens it doesn't happen while watching movies via iTunes directly or through my Apple TV.
    I've read some threads on this site that suggested HD problems but that's highly unlikely in this case since the sound comes over my home theatre system speakers and I've absolutely no issues with the Mac Mini's operation. Since the demands aren't high for the Mac, given it's use, I don't in
    Any thoughts?

    How connected? If HDMI and some other ways then you have to use TV's volume control

  • Apple TV won't connect properly to Sony home theatre system using hdmi cable.

    Using an HDMI cable to the port on the home theatre system I can get sound, but the picture is intermittent. It Comes on for 1second, goes of for 10 seconds.
    If I connect directly to the TV using the HDMI to DVI-D cable it works, but because I am using a Fujitsu plasmavision it is a monitor only with no speakers.
    Would really like to get this to work and don't understand why the video signal is intermittent from the blueray player. Other inputs into the player through the HDMI port work OK (such as a set top box).

    Just installed my Vizio SoundBar with my new LG TV & Apple TV 2... The trick to get the Apple TV 2 to send audio to the Soundbar is on the Apple TV Menu under audio change it to 16 bit. Boom it works.

  • Can I connect 2 sony bravia's, a sony home theatre, 2 macbooks, 2 ipads, 3 iphones and a dell laptop and stream media from my apple devices to my tv?

    Can I connect 2 sony bravia's, a sony home theatre, 2 macbooks, 2 ipads, 3 iphones and a dell laptop and stream media from my apple devices to my tv? I have a sony bravia 600 series and 700 series and a home theatre( sony 7100 series)

    The only way to stream directly to your TV would be if it is an AirPlay-enabled device.
    There are many AirPlay-enabled devices but I am not familiar with Sony's products. If yours do not specifically indicate AirPlay capability, then you need an AirPlay-enabled device such as an AppleTV connected to your Sony TV or Sony AVR.

  • Connecting my Sony Home Theatre System to my many devices???

    I have a Sony HT-DDW990 (Home Theatre Receiver with Subwoofer and 5 speakers) and I need to connect it to all the following devices:
    LCD TV - Model: Sony Bravia KDL46V2500
    DVD Player - Model: Sony DVP-NS78H
    Digital Cable Receiver - Model: Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4250HD (Videotron)
    Playstation 3
    Nintendo Wii
    I need to know first if it is even possible to hook up all these devices together.
    Is there a website I can go to that can let me choose the devices I want to hook up to one another? I need step-by-step instructions and also the cables I will need (ex. HDMI cables, Audio/Optical cables etc.).
    Thanks

    That TV only had 2 HDMI inputs and the receiver only has 2 HDMI inputs, and it will not upconvert the wii to HDMI. So heres what we will do and need:
    You need 4 HDMI cables, one optical cable, and get rid of the Wii video cable and replace it with a Wii component video cable.
    Plug one cable from the hdmi out of the receiver to HDMI one of the TV. For HDMI 2 of the tv, plug in the PS3. Plug the Wii into component video 1, there is an optical out on the TV, the optical cable will go to one of the receivers optical inputs.
    Plug the dvd and cable box to the receiver using HDMI. The inputs are most likely labeled Cable TV? and DVD.
    When watching Cable and the Sony dvd the tv will need to be on HDMI 1, then select between DVD and the cable box on the inputs of the receiver. Video will go to the TV, audio will come out of the speakers.
    for wii and the PS3 you will select that on the TV, HDMI 2 for PS3 and COmponent 1 for Wii. To get the audio, turn the receiver input to whichever optical input the cable got plugged in to. This will be the input for the audio when you are using these two devices.
    If no sound comes out, then you will need to enter the tv's menu and disable the TV speakers, and sound will then rerout to the receiver.
    If you have any more hookup questions, ask. It isn't easy for you due to your limited inputs on the TV and the receiver. I will check back to see how you do.
    If you want to make life easier, Keep your speakers and get a new receiver and life will be so easy. Everything can pass through the receiver. Call around for a Sony receiver Model: STR-DH800 | SKU: 9246602, maybe find an open box deal. Everything can pass through that unit, and one HDMI to the TV.
    Good luck.
    Best Buy employee, 15 years selling electronics

Maybe you are looking for