Connecting laptop to inspire 5700 decoder?

I've got the Creative Inspire 5700 5. product set up on my old desktop. Had that a few years. ?It's got 5 speakers, a sub and the decoder amp.
I'm wondering how I can connect my laptop up to it. The laptop is pretty basic and doesn't have an ExpressCard, but does have PCMIA slot.
Anyway looking at the current products I was wondering if th best option would be the X-fi Surround 5. - would I connect the digital outpt on that to the digital in on my Inspire decoder?
Any advice appreciated.

.....so having spent the day looking through the forums I've reached the conclusion that Creative have left everyone who invested in the 5700s high and dry and full functionality is not possible with?new products such as X-fi?and?they don't even have any?old external soundcards that would do what I want either.
There are a lot of posts on the?board with customers who have been let down in this way. If you had a product to enable continued use of the 5700s I would have purchased it, but you don't, and I'm not?splashing out on top of the line analog speakers.
so no sale...customer gone.

Similar Messages

I Need an Inspire 5700 decoder

My decoder went bad and I'm looking to replace it with the Inspire 5700 decoder box. Anyone know where I can buy one? Thanks for the help...

Yeh man thats really disapointing to hear I was looking around but no one that I can see has this unit itself for sale but I would contact creative by e-mail and see if they have any in stock for a replacement and sorry for any more information you may have wanted but thats all I could come up with I mean I even tryed ebay and no one has any for sale there ither?
Good Luck though

Connecting X-Fi Titanium PCIe to Inspire 5700 speakers - digital connection

I am considering purchasing an X-Fi Titanium PCIe card (or possibly, the X-Fi Titanium Fatalty Pro), and want to connect this to my existing speakers: Creative Inspire 5700 (5.).
The speakers currently connect to my Audigy 2 card via a single 3.5mm connector into the Digital Out socket on the sound card. Looking at the specifications of the X-Fi cards, I don't think they have such 3.5mm digital sockets. Can anyone confirm this, and tell me if/how I can connect my speakers?
Thanks,
Gary

OThanks, Juzam.
If I do this, will I still get true 5. surround sound? Will there be any difference between the way the speakers perform between using the optical connection and the 3.5mm digital one (via DIN)?
Thanks,
Gary

Replacement for Inspire 5700 + Creative Audigy Platinum

Hi,
for many years I have been using a combination of a Creative Audigy Platinum soundcard with a Creative Inspire 5.1 Digital 5700 speaker system. I am very pleased with the quality, compatibility and easy-to-useness of this system. For games and music, I let the soundcard do the decoding and send the bits via digital connection to the Inspire system, which I set to 5.1 DIN. For DVDs, I send everything via SPDIF and let the Inspire do the decoding, either DTS or Dolby digital. Works just perfectly.
Only problem: if everything works according to the plan, I will move from Europe to the States in two months and stay there for - 3 years. Because desktop computers and probably also my Inspire 5700 system are quite tricky to ship, I decided to buy a laptop here and buy another speaker system by creative after I have a arrived in the states. Full of anticipation I checked this site to choose my future system and ... was struck by shock:
I couldn't find any system which offered the same features as the Digital 5700! All modern systems lack digital input, leave alone an external decoder and have primitive wire-remotes instead of real remotes! Why has this kind of great system disappeared? Of course you cannot buy the good old 5700 anymore, which leaves me with a great problem of how to organize a system which offers similar quality and features.
I originally planned to connect my laptop (ASUS A8JS) via S/PDIF to the new inspire 5.1 speaker set, which would then do the job of decoding digital audiostreams coming from DVDs. But well, since the new Inspire sets neither support S/PDIF nor offer external decoding, that idea has been flushed down the toilet
What do you recommend instead? I guess I will need a USB Sound Blaster in combo with an inspire speaker set. What will provide the same quality to what I had? What are the drawbacks of not having digital connections any more? How can I control sound levels of the subwoofer, center and rearspeakers, if there is no external decoder anymore? Only via software?
Thank you very much for any advice!
- spitfire

Thank you very much for your helpful replies! Future looks much brighter now
Where have you found the Audigy 2 NX? On their webpage, creative only list the USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor or the Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit External as USB-solutions. Since I don't need the video editing capability, the Audigy 2 ZS would probably be quite an overkill. Still, the price difference between Audigy ($250) and Life! ($50) is ... drastic! Besides the video stuff and some connections, what else is the Life! solution missing? Does it have poor quality? Is there no real 3D sound, just some kind of upmixing? It's not very clear from the specifications.
The Logitech Z-5500 Digital looks very promising, too. A consequent improvement of the Inspire D-5700, just by the competition I may go for that one, but probably still need an external soundcard for 3D-sound in games.
I am not exactly an expert considering connections. So, my laptop will already have digital S/PDIF built into the headphone plug. Just from the look, I'd say this is the same kind of plug which is called "Analog/Digital-Out" on my old Audigy sound card. Now, the logitech system supports digital optical or digital coaxial as source input. Will this work with the S/PDIF headphone out, or would it require the DIN connection you mentionned? Could this be easily solved by buying an adaptor?
Looking at the picture showing the connections of the SB Life! I again am not clear at all what kind of connections there are (http://us.creative.com/products/prod...Specifications ). Is there anything compatible with the Logitech system? I guess it's no question the Audigy2 ZS is equipped with the required connections.
So, to summarize my question: could I digitally connect either my laptop or the SB Live! 24-bit external with the Logitech Z-5500, so that the latter would take care of decoding Dolby Digital and DTS sound, while the sound blaster would provide EAX and 3D sound for games?
I have also seen that Creative Labs still offers an external decoder with a lot of connection possibilities. It's just no longer part of a speaker system, but rather a standalone product: the Creative Decoder DDTS-100 for $30. Together with a good speaker system, this may be an alternative to the logitech solution, in terms of enabling to plug in other devices than just a computer (another thing I really loved about my old system).
Well, again thank you very much for your advice!
- spitfire

Converting analog 5.1 (multiple cables) to Digital DIN (for Inspire 5700), how?

Hi,
So far I've been using my Inspire 5.1 Digital 5700 speaker system together with my Audigy Platinum in my Desktop PC to watch DVDs and play games with a 5.1 experience. To connect soundcard and Speaker system, I used the provided Digital DIN cable, and it worked fantastically, for both, DVDs and games.
Now I bought a notebook and the only choice to improve onboard sound was the X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook. I thought that I could simply connect it to my Inspire 5700 by connecting optical out with optical in using a TosLink-Mini -> Toslink cable. While this may work for DVDs (I don't have the cable yet), it won't work for all other applications, because as I read optical connections only provide a stereo signal unless the signal it'ss encoded via AC3 or DTS.
Of course there is the docking module which provides multichannel analog out. Trouble here: the Inspire 5700 only comes with two analog line in channels, front and rear. So that would lead to 4.0 instead of 5.1. Missing the center speaker for games is very bad.
Therefore I am looking for a way to convert the analog signal coming from the docking module into something that can be decoded as a 5.1 signal by the Inspire 5700. I have already found the DTS-610 which would turn the analog signal into a DTS signal. But that costs more than the soundcard itself.
So, my question: Is there any simpler / cheaper way how to transform multicable analog 5.1 to one-cable digital 5.1, either AC3, DTS or Digital DIN? I'd prefer a simple converter to Digital DIN, because that's what the Inspire 5700 was mainly designed for and it worked perfectly with my old Audigy.
Alternatively, one could possibly also use some fancy software to convert all the wave-out sound into AC3 or DTS and send it along the optical cable. But I don?t know any such software plus I expect this to drain a lot of processor power.
Any help is greatly appreciated it'ss kind of frustrating that two products of the same company can't be connected with each other, just because neither, the card nor the docking module provide Digital DIN.
Thank you very much and best regards
- spitfire
P.S. in another post, pjc said: You will probably require a 4-pole mini-jack > DIN converter to connect your Creative speakers to this socket.
That's exactly what I'm looking for, but I couldn't find such a converter on the creative homepage.

I believe the DIN for soundcard are mainly built and solely used by Creative. I don't think there is any 3rd-party converter in the market to do DIN. There is a software here posted by some other users that can do AC3 encoding on the fly. Not too sure where's the post now but you can do a search for it.

STATIC with Dell Laptop and Inspire T7900

I've been getting really annoying interference whenever I plug in my speakers. I also have a problem getting a strong connection through the?output socket in the laptop(alot of wiggling the cable to get half decent sound). And lastly the laptop can only support front and back speakers at the moment. I think I need a USB connection instead, but how does this connect to the Inspire T7900? Is a decoder DDTS-100 the answer to my problems?Any help very much appreciated,Cheers,Michael

Your best bet is a 5.1 external sound card such as the Creative Live! 24-bit External. Although if you can find a usb2 one that would probably be better. The DDTS-100 is an option if your laptop has digital audio out, you shouldnt get any interference then. Or you could get a usb sound card that has digital and then such a decoder, but its probably cheaper to find a usb sound card with 5.1 analogue out. Just more annoying if you plan to keep taking it with your laptop

Optimal configuration for inspire 5700

I juz bought a inspire 5700 and a audigy 2 ZS. Currently i am using the digital connection through the Digital Din input on the decoder from the Digital out of the soundcard. However, when i m playing mp3, only the centre and front speakers are working, the rear speakers are only playing some background music. When i m using the DTT 2200 speakers before this, all my 4 satellites are playing loud and clear. When i try to use analog connection (green and black) on my inspire 5700, no sound is coming out from the speaker. I wonder y. I already disable the digital out from the speaker setting. Is anyone using this speaker and can u advice me on how to configure the speakers and soundcard to achieve good quality sound? Thanx alot.

otarboy wrote:Ok i have tried setting the CMSS to stereo surround. However, i dun feel much difference from the CMSS2 or CMSS setting. The rear speakers are producing muffled sounds of the songs unlike the front speakers which are very clear in the singing. Also i tried to play mp3 songs using analog connection and the result is almost like digital output. When i was using the DTT 2200, all four speakers sounded equally clear since they are analog output but how come the analog output of Inspire 5700 is so different? I have already turn up the surround volume till 3/4 max and yet i cant feel the surround of music. So if i dun watch dvd on my pc, does that mean the Inspire 5700 is performing worse than my old DTT 2200?
Hey budd I use my CMSS3D settings too but I leave them set on stero surround and use InterVideo WinDVD6 Platinum Edition ver.B06.083 and don't use Creative Mediasource DVD-Audio Player ver..50.08 cause with that version sounds like there is static on the cd and complicating playback on the cd but thats a bug in creative software but to my knowlage anything in there previous ver. works well off but with InterVideo WinDVD6 PE software of mine they give me settings with it called audio booster pack and I can give my back speakers a Boost of +25 and I can hear well off then with that and does wanders on my DVD'S as well with DVD audio.
PowerDVD I don't like because of conflicts with creative drivers but I don't care for that cause InterVideo software is much better IMO
P.S. you don't have to worry about changing the settings in CMSS3D after you set it to stereo surround because DVD software has no affects with that CMSS3D or atleast to my ears they don't but you could have super sonic ears too hehe... but the settings do take affect in reguler Windows Media Player and Creative Mediasource and other media players out there
Also for your digital audio yes it must be recorded in 3D audio or it will not work right and with analog it would just upmix it unless you want to try on your digital to upmix it by the remote on the speaker settings of yours hardware wise and see if that don't help?
but also digital helps RIAA out in copyright protection of course there are ways around that too but I am not pramoting anything illegal so I will leave that subject alone for you all thinkers out there
after listening to the included dvd-audio disk that comes with Creative Soundblaster audigy2 zs gamer LE card through InterVideo WinDVD6 Platinum ED you can tell a kickass diffrence I mean it's the type that gives ya goosebumps cause you love hearing waht you hear coming from your speakers hehe..... at least try the demo and if ya love the demo get with me at [email protected] and I may share ya a full retail version for just being a helpfull person that I am
Good Luck both ways buddy give it a try you will love it
Message Edited by RLemmon on 12-30-2004 07:59 AM

Going mad with my Audigy2zs+Inspire 5700

?Hello,
after going through all the available manuals/support websites/board topics, etc. I finally decided to create an account and post my question, as I am reaching dangerous levels of exasperation. One may assume that two digital products from one brand should be entirely compatible and should work together easily. Sadly, this is not the case with these two.
The thing is, that I have tried multiple solutions to get all my speakers to produce sound of decent quality. Currently I have connected the Inspire set with Audigy using two jack cables and one digital-coaxial cable. This is the best I've achieved yet, i.e. I get sound from all the speakers apart from the center one.
Is there any chance I can get it to work properly WITHOUT buying the mysterious 9-pin mini-din cable, which is by no means available to buy anywhere in my country (Poland)?, nor in the UK (where I study) or anywhere else I've tried.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Please try the following instructions to test your Inspire 5700, this should tell you if the speakers system is working properly.
1. Disconnect the audio cable connected to the Front analog input on the back of the decoder.
2. Connect an audio device like an mp3 player to the Front analog input, you will need a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable for this.
3. Select CMSS movie or CMSS music on the decoder and play a music track on the mp3 player.
You should get sound from your center speakers. If you are not getting sound, you probably need to check the connections.

Digital DIN cable !!! inspire 5700+audigy 2ZS

Hi,
i need help with my inspire 5700. i don't have a digital din cable (for digital connecting audigy + inspire). Support says that cable is not available. does anybody know where to get this cable (4pole digital jack to 9pole digital DIN) or how to make this cable?
Mic

I believe the DIN for soundcard are mainly built and solely used by Creative. I don't think there is any 3rd-party converter in the market to do DIN. There is a software here posted by some other users that can do AC3 encoding on the fly. Not too sure where's the post now but you can do a search for it.

Digital 5700 Decoder

Hi,I have an issue with the Inspire 5.1 Digital 5700 decoder( I did log a call with Customer Services, but I'll get to that in a bit!). Essentially, when I power the on, the LED light goes from red to green. I then select the output I require? everything is fine. Seconds later, the unit switches itself off and the LED light goes back to red! When I try to turn it back on again, it always goes back to red. I logged a call with Customer Services, who asked what happens when I "gently tap" the unit. The LED does go to green, but eventually goes back to red again. Customer Services also asked me for the serial number, which I duly provided (CAMF375047000040N). They came back saying that they had no record of that serial number on their system. I even took photos of the unit with the SN and sent them across, but they still came asking me for proof of purchase and a 3rd confirmation of the SN. I'm at a bit of a loss as I no longer have the proof of purchase. The unit is 2.5 years old, and possible out of warranty. But I would like to know if what is happening with the unit is a common problem and if there is a fix? If there isn't, then I'll have to throw everything away and start again. Many thanks

MasterRusty,
I have a post on here titled "inspire 5700's are junk" from back in Dec 2004, you are having the same problem with yours that I had so don't worry they will quit working altogether very soon. The digital decoder goes out in them usually within a year AFTER the warranty goes out so creative just says " oh well they are more than year old so too bad" I know from experience with them. There is nothing you can do about this except to pack them up and buy another brand. I stated before that maybe if enough people wrote in stating their problems with this system that maybe just maybe creative would realize that there really is a problem here and they would take a serious look into it and admit that yes we screwed up here and we will fix the problem for our customers, but I really doubt it because as I said before " they are the big company and we are the little people". I was told that "we can't offer unlimited warranties on our products" which I understand; but if you look at some of the other speaker companies they offer 2,3 even 4 year warranties, but again as I said you are really out of luck. I would really like to see Creative make a liar out of me and look into the problem and make things right for us, but I feel that is only a wish that won't come true.
good luck,
MrDave

Inspire 5700: SB Live 5.1 / Audigy2 ZS MiniDin (original cable) Rear not working

As in topic: My Rear speakers in digital mode over MiniDin are not working. Why?
They are working with optical/coax on DVD Player / 5.1 source and in CMSS/DolbyPrologic mode. Only Fourpoint 5.1 DIN is not working on rear speakers..

Hi Pandur2000 (sorry for my english, i am spanish)
I have 5700 and with my old live 5.1 spontaneously mini din don't work and next day works fine ?
I think is problem with cable and digital din input in decoder, try to clean connectors
Rear panel of the decoder of the Inspire 5700:
http://lh6.google.es/rmorinr/RjMSZXzVLrI/AAAAAAAAAR8/a5r8CHe2r8/s400/5700decoder-back.jpg
Creative Digital MiniDIN Adapter:
http://lh6.google.es/rmorinr/Rp-5qHrOJVI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/mz5XWZqWZNE/s400/cable.jpg

Creative Inspire 5700 VS Realtek. SUB NOT WORKING :(

Dear all
I recently beefed up my PC - tried to run my lovely Inspire 5700 through optical on my new Gigabyte motherboard, which didn't work (only got stereo sound) so i tried analoge (which only gave me a 5 speaker sound, no bass). I have tried messing around with the realtek dashboard but I can't get it to work!!
How can I get my bass to work and get a full 5.1 surround sound using the two analogue pins and a realtek software?
Best Regards

D'oh! Well, that explains it. I should like to point out that it is a bit confusing for buyers to introduce a cable standard (nobody else in the business uses that kind auf Digital DIN connection, AFAIK) and then using it for something else altogether. The DIN connection was one of the reasons I chose the Sound Blaster over a competing product. I must say that I'm a bit diappointed since even the Users Guide I downloaded (to make sure I got the right product) states that the DIN socket is used for "connecting digital in-/outputs of multichannel speaker systems".
All in all, it still bugs me that I won't get 5. on my 5700 except for the obvious Dolby Digital pass-through. Any way this might be done via a software update? Maybe somehow integrating a Dolby Digital encoder so I could use the Coax or Optical Out?
Regards,
JoergMessage Edited by Joerg_McFly on 08-25-2006 :52 AM

Problem with 5700 decoder

Hey everyone, I'm new here! I have had the 5700 speakers with decoder for about 2 years now. All of a sudden, my decoder stopped working. I just woke up this morning and it wouldn't work. The power button does nothing. When I plug in the power cord, all the lights on the decoder come on and stay like that. There is no sound, nothing. Is there something I can do to fix this? Thanks for any help.

My Friend,
I have a post on here titled " inspire 5700's are junk" and it sounds like you have the same problem with your's as I had with mine. The digital decoder has gone out and because they are more than year old creative will not do anything about it ( I know from experience after dealing with them their attitude is too bad too sad) so there are two ways to deal with this problem ) get lucky and find someone who has one to sell ( like on e-bay) or plug in a whole bunch of audio cables and go analog, ( although this defeats the reason for spending alot of money on a digital card and speakers) other than that I can't give you much more advice except to say I know what you are going through. Maybe if enough people out there have the same problem with their systems, Creative will relieze that maybe there really is a problem here and they will take care of it ( like fixing it at no charge to us) I doubt it but it is a nice thought. Good luck.
Mr. dave
P.S. I packed mine away and bought a set of Klipsch speakers and they sound EXCELLANT!!.

Creative inspire 5700

Hi all,
i am planning to go for .Can i connect that to both pc as well as tv?
i have sony KV-SW29M80/50.
plz reply at the earliest...
Rudra

rudra wrote:
Hi,
Thx for the replies.. I live in INDIA and i enquired about the rates of inspire 5700? They are too costly It costs around 8000 indian rupees.And i can't spent that much .
Now i have decided to go for creative Inspire 6.1 6600 It costs pretty less(7000 indian rupees).
Whats ur opinion abt 6600 ? Is it worth that much ?
And once i buy i want to use this speaker set i want to use for both for personal computer and My Television.
Is it possible to use for both?
Thx in advance
Rudra
6600 is quite old model too. You should check out their newer model of speaker like the I-Trigue 5600 if it's available in your country. With this speaker, there's a line in at the remote. With this line in, you can have the TV connected from rca to minijack to the remote and to top this off, the speaker itself have the CMSS feature from creative sound card and with this feature, you can upmix the tv sound to 5. soundfield and it definitely sound good.

Creative Inspire 5700 + X

Which is the best X-fi combination for? Creative Inspire 5700 (5.) speaker. Tom?

Hello!
Thanks a lot for the answer. Now i improved my knowledge, because i already was in despair.
. I have connected my acoustic system and sound card via Analog cable and works only 4 channels: Front L/R and Rear L/R, without Front Center and Sub - as i understood it's correct, right?
2. When i tried to install this driver my system just buzzed and needed to Reboot computer, maybe driver does not compatible with my system.
3. Why does Creative not support Digital/SPDIF for acoustic system like my SPDIF or Digital I/O has better quality of sound then Analog, is not it's
Thanks in advance!
Greeting,
Artem

Connecting laptop to inspire 5700 decoder?

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