Few HTPC questions!

[johnny87au]

hey guys im fairly experienced im just a bit stuck atm, Ive built several HTPCs before which all have connected through HDMI to my tv, But now im building a htpc for my old man who has a 56" 3dtv + 5.1 1000w Surround sound system.. So how do i hook up the HTPC to the tv but also using his surround sound system?? All he has connected is the BLU ray player connected to his 3dtv via HDMI cable, all the speakers etc are connected through the wireless receiver box which came with the package..

[sykozis]

If the surround sound system has HDMI input/output with video passthrough...just connect directly to it.

[johnny87au]

This is how the hdmi is connected from the blu ray to the tv.. Blu ray hdmi out to HDMI in-tv , So i hook it into blu ray hdmi in to tv out right ?

[Sever]

telling us exactly what TV it is and what home theater system it is will definitely help.

different home theater setups run differently. with a proper av receiver, he can connect everything to the receiver and just connect the receiver to the TV, which is what im about to do with my new setup.

if he has a home theater in a box setup like the one i upgraded from, he wont be able to plug hdmi devices into it. he'll have to plug in hdmi devices to the TV and rely on toslink cables for the audio.

the laziest way would be to plug everything into the TV via hdmi and then plug a toslink cable from the TV's audio out into the receiver. however, if you do this, you will be stuck with stereo sound and running dolby pro logic ii to get all speakers working.

the better way would be to buy a toslink switch box off ebay, connect all your audio input sources into it (ie. bluray player, PC, etc) and then connect the output to the home theater system.

[johnny87au]

Mind posting pics as im completely lost , ill post back in the morning with tv model number + surround sound system

[Ji1986]

Couldnt you just do.

HTPC HDMI --> TV HDMI In
Then
Optical Out TV --> Optical In Surround

[ShadowMyth]

^ That or if your receiver supports HDMI then:
HTPC(HDMI) --> Receiver
Receiver(HDMI) output --> HDTV

If not you can always take
HTPC HDMI --> HDTV HDMI In
HTPC Optical Out --> Optical In Receiver.

or

HTPC HDMI --> HDTV HDMI in
HTPC Analog --> Receiver analog input
(This is what I use so that I can take advantage of my sound card's DAC)


Note if the receiver supports HDMI then all connections should go into the receiver first, then it's output to the HDTV/monitor.

[johnny87au]

Thanks for the help guys but im really not all that familiar with AUDIO, Yes the tv + bluray dvd surround sound system all uses HDMI, So what would be the best for me to use to be able to use the surround sound ? And can you guys link me which cables i need thx

[Sever]

Originally Posted by Ji1986

Couldnt you just do.

HTPC HDMI --> TV HDMI In
Then
Optical Out TV --> Optical In Surround

i tried doing this method with my old setup previously. the issue is that all hdmi devices connected to the TV will identify it as a TV and will only feed it dual channel audio, unless the input device has the ability to run in pass through mode.

so then when you run the optical out to your surround sound system, only the front left and front right speakers will work for everything unless you force dolby pro logic ii.

if he's using a home theater in a box, then the only way he'll be able to get surround sound is using an optical switch box and connecting the optical cables from PC and bluray player into the switch box, and connecting the output to the home theater receiver.

@OP - look at the following pics.

http://panasonic.com.au/products/pho...ctImageIDs=0~0
if your home theater system receiver is as slim as this, you have a home theater in a box. you need to use the optical switch method i described above with a switch like this.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/3-Way-Toslink...item27b6fb7ba5

however, if your home theater receiver is of similar size to any of the receivers listed in this following link, then you have a proper home theater receiver.
http://www.pioneer.com.au/en/Product...Receivers.aspx
you can just directly connect the PC and bluray player into the system via hdmi (unless youve got an old receiver, then back to optical).
the back of a proper av receiver looks something like this.
http://www.pioneer.com.au/~/media/Im...=white&mw=1024

[ShadowMyth]

Originally Posted by johnny87au

Thanks for the help guys but im really not all that familiar with AUDIO, Yes the tv + bluray dvd surround sound system all uses HDMI, So what would be the best for me to use to be able to use the surround sound ? And can you guys link me which cables i need thx

Well if they all support HDMI, then all the cables you would need are HDMI. Now I'm assuming:

1. That either you have a sound card or modern video card that supports multichannel sound over HDMI.
2. You have an available input on your receiver
3. Said receiver supports the same digital surround sound format that your HTPC is outputting.

4. It would be MUCH easier to give you a definitive answer if you listed the HTPC specs as well as the model number of the HDTV & receiver.

[johnny87au]

Surround sound which comes with blu ray player is the Samsung HT-c5950w And the TV model number is the THL32-D25A

[johnny87au]

Originally Posted by Sever

i tried doing this method with my old setup previously. the issue is that all hdmi devices connected to the TV will identify it as a TV and will only feed it dual channel audio, unless the input device has the ability to run in pass through mode.

so then when you run the optical out to your surround sound system, only the front left and front right speakers will work for everything unless you force dolby pro logic ii.

if he's using a home theater in a box, then the only way he'll be able to get surround sound is using an optical switch box and connecting the optical cables from PC and bluray player into the switch box, and connecting the output to the home theater receiver.

@OP - look at the following pics.

http://panasonic.com.au/products/pho...ctImageIDs=0~0
if your home theater system receiver is as slim as this, you have a home theater in a box. you need to use the optical switch method i described above with a switch like this.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/3-Way-Toslink...item27b6fb7ba5

however, if your home theater receiver is of similar size to any of the receivers listed in this following link, then you have a proper home theater receiver.
http://www.pioneer.com.au/en/Product...Receivers.aspx
you can just directly connect the PC and bluray player into the system via hdmi (unless youve got an old receiver, then back to optical).
the back of a proper av receiver looks something like this.
http://www.pioneer.com.au/~/media/Im...=white&mw=1024

Hey sever thanks for the help half way through , The links you posted mate it seems like its more like the First link you posted, i did post the model number of the surround sound which is HT-c5950W samsung, Mind showing me a pic or something how to connect my htpc ? Will i still be able to use the surround sound playing videos from the htpc on the TV?

[ShadowMyth]

Alright I pulled up the manual for your receiver. You're limited by 2 choices, either HDMI or TOSLINK(Fiber Optic or Optical). I circled both on the image below. To use HDMI you need to have either a sound card or a GPU that supports 5.1 over HDMI.
If you do then:
HTPC(HDMI output) --> Receiver(HDMI input #7 on the image below) then:
Receiver(HDMI output #8 on image below) --> HDTV(HDMI input)

If your HTPC doesn't have any means to utilize sound via HDMI then you would need to use the TOSLINK(Fiber Optic or Optical)(Picture of cable below). I'd suggest running the TOSLINK from your HTPC directly into you receiver(#6 on the image below). I couldn't find much info on the HDTV but if your HDTV has an optical out(TOSLINK) you could also run run the cables like so(as mentioned above):
HTPC HDMI --> TV HDMI In
Then
Optical Out TV(TOSLINK) --> Optical In Surround

The issue with the above setup is that in some cases the HDTV strips away the DTS or Dolby encoding, leaving you with just stereo.

Here's a copy of the Samsung HT-c5950w manual if you need it:
http://rapidshare.com/files/44263676..._HT-c5950w.PDF

[johnny87au]

wow bro your a legend thanks heaps! Seeming as his blu ray player is out-in to tv already through HDMI all i do now is connect the HTPC to inlet of receive right? Would i be able to use the pc as a desktop to play the videos though since i dont have the HTPC connected to the tv but the receive instead ?

[ShadowMyth]

Well if you intend to use HDMI for not only picture but sound as well, then connect the HTPC & Blu-ray player via HDMI to the receiver's HDMI inputs(#7). Then run an HDMI cable from the receiver's output(#8) to the HDTV. If your going with the TOSLINK(optical) then you can either run the HDMI as mentioned above, or you could also run the HTPC(HDMI) & Blu-ray(HDMI) directly to the HDTV(HDMI) inputs while running the TOSLNK to the receiver.

By running the HTPC & Blu-ray player directly to the HDTV, it will be the HDTV that controls which source is selected. Now if you're depending on that HDMI cable to provide sound & it's connected directly to the HDTV, then you will be stuck with using your HDTV's speakers(Unless it has an HDMI or optical output).

If you run the HTPC & The Blu-ray to the receiver then you must use the receiver to select the source, which for most receivers mean leaving it on anytime the your watching a Blu-ray or use the HTPC. It's really about preferences. For example, I run my receiver anytime I have my HDTV running, that way I always have 7.1 surround sound no matter what I'm watching, which could be digital cable, my Xbox 360 or my HTPC. My receiver is basically the main hub, instead of changing the inputs on my HDTV, I simply change sources on the receiver.

LOL, by trying to cover most bases, I may have made it sound a bit more complicated than it is. Really it's quite simple. With that said imo your best bet is to run the Blu-ray & HTPC into the receiver, then your receiver to your HDTV. By doing that you will enjoy surround sound via you HTPC as well as the Blu-ray player anytime you use them.

[Sever]

he'll need to run hdmi directly into the receiver.

when i run hdmi directly into my TV, windows detects it as a TV and will only feed two channel audio. and then the TV will pass two channel audio to the receiver via toslink.

running hdmi directly into the receiver will allow him to use 5.1.

[TruMutton_200Hz]

^ Windows thinks your S/PDIF out is stereo only because that's exactly what S/PDIF is lol. The only way to get surround sound across a S/PDIF connection is through use of a compression format like for example AC3 or DTS. Otherwise, it will be limited to uncompressed stereo PCM. To be able to pass an AC3 or a DTS audio stream through S/PDIF you can use for example AC3Filter 1.63b as an external filter in MPC-HC.

Due to the limited bandwidth S/PDIF has, it cannot be used to transfer surround sound in the highest quality possible with Blu Ray. You'll need to use HDMI or analog for that. Even though bitperfect DTS-HD MA output is possible on some modern vidcards, vidcards can be a pain since they don't always treat our HDMI devices the way we want them to. Luckily however, this can usually be fixed with an EDID override. Link:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1091403

[johnny87au]

Originally Posted by Sever

he'll need to run hdmi directly into the receiver.

when i run hdmi directly into my TV, windows detects it as a TV and will only feed two channel audio. and then the TV will pass two channel audio to the receiver via toslink.

running hdmi directly into the receiver will allow him to use 5.1.

So it should be like this right??

Blu ray HDMI out -> HDTV HDMI in
HTPC -> Blu ray HDMI in

Sound right? And most likely ill be using a AMD zacate board when there released, heres the specs of sound etc..

* AMD E-350 APU (1.6GHz, 18W)
* 'Hudson' SB750 southbridge (sub 5W)
* AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics core (80 stream processors)
* Five SATA 3Gbps ports and one eSATA port
* PCI-Express 16x slot (actual bandwidth to be determined)
* Two DDR3 1,333MHz slots (single channel) and the MemOK failsafe button
* HDMI 1.3b and dual-link DVI-I (dual digital outputs supported)
* Four USB 3.0 ports (two rear I/O and two pin-outs) and on/off charge
* Eight USB 2.0 ports (four rear I/O, four pin-outs)
* Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11n Wireless
* Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Ethernet
* Realtek ALC892 7.1 channel surround sound (outputs only provided for 5.1), with S/PDIF out
* ASUS TurboKey II automatic overclocking

[johnny87au]

Originally Posted by ShadowMyth

Alright I pulled up the manual for your receiver. You're limited by 2 choices, either HDMI or TOSLINK(Fiber Optic or Optical). I circled both on the image below. To use HDMI you need to have either a sound card or a GPU that supports 5.1 over HDMI.
If you do then:
HTPC(HDMI output) --> Receiver(HDMI input #7 on the image below) then:
Receiver(HDMI output #8 on image below) --> HDTV(HDMI input)

If your HTPC doesn't have any means to utilize sound via HDMI then you would need to use the TOSLINK(Fiber Optic or Optical)(Picture of cable below). I'd suggest running the TOSLINK from your HTPC directly into you receiver(#6 on the image below). I couldn't find much info on the HDTV but if your HDTV has an optical out(TOSLINK) you could also run run the cables like so(as mentioned above):
HTPC HDMI --> TV HDMI In
Then
Optical Out TV(TOSLINK) --> Optical In Surround

The issue with the above setup is that in some cases the HDTV strips away the DTS or Dolby encoding, leaving you with just stereo.

Here's a copy of the Samsung HT-c5950w manual if you need it:
http://rapidshare.com/files/44263676..._HT-c5950w.PDF

Hey mate just realised I think my dad has his Bluray OUT Hdmi to HDTV HDMI inlet.. Shouldnt it be the other way around so i can do this..

HTPC(HDMI output) --> Receiver(HDMI input #7 on the image below) then:
Receiver(HDMI output #8 on image below) --> HDTV(HDMI input)

EDIT: Its ok lol, All i have to do is connect the HTPC (hdmi) to Receive (Hdmi input) .. Do i have to change anything in windows to get the surround sound working or just leave it on HDMI ?

[TruMutton_200Hz]

Originally Posted by johnny87au

Do i have to change anything in windows to get the surround sound working

Maybe no, maybe yes. Like I already suggested in my previous post it's quite possible the vidcard will only recognize the SADs (Short Audio Descriptors) of the TV and not the receiver's. You can ask Tulli to create a custom .inf (with a modded EDID) for the TV if needed, in the thread I linked.

[johnny87au]

Well the onboard sound supports 5.1 so i dont see why it shouldnt work ??

[TruMutton_200Hz]

^ The onboard Realtek doesn't support DTS-HD MA bitstreaming, the AMD Radeon HD 6310 does. Since the receiver can do HDMI passthrough, using the vidcard's HDMI for audio is the way to go.

[Sever]

run htpc hdmi directly into the receiver's hdmi in. your htpc should detect the receiver and the amount of channels the receiver supports.

your dad has the bluray's hdmi out to the TV because its outputting the picture to the TV. you wont get TV audio in surround sound unless the receiver supports the audio return channel thing or if the TV is connected to the receiver via optical out.

[johnny87au]

Originally Posted by Sever

run htpc hdmi directly into the receiver's hdmi in. your htpc should detect the receiver and the amount of channels the receiver supports.

your dad has the bluray's hdmi out to the TV because its outputting the picture to the TV. you wont get TV audio in surround sound unless the receiver supports the audio return channel thing or if the TV is connected to the receiver via optical out.

So what do you suggest since your not 100% sure it would work? I really need to be 100% with this so it would work, really dont like fooking around with things.. Would using the toshlink 100% work ??

[deltatux]

Personally I would just plug the PC audio to the receiver and then the HDMI video to the TV. It makes things so much easier.

deltatux