I only have a 5.1 channel output surround system which i love to bits. I recently bought a PS3 and a LED TV. I cannot use my surround system as the PS3 or the TV has only either an optical or HDMI slots. Is there a way that I can hook my surround system? Or what is a decent sound system available which doesnt dent my wallet too much?
Please suggest.
thanks. is that any good?
Sadly, I don't think that model supports HDMI or TOSlink! ;)
Hey tendliya, if your sound system only has optical and your TV has HDMI, you can still connect them, no need to buy crap you don't need.
Connect the optical from your PS3 to your sound, and the HDMI from your PS3 to your TV.
You won't get any sound yet, you have to go into the sound settings in your PS3 menu and manually change the audio output to optical.
hey mate, thanks for the info but my sound system has only 5.1 audio out. no optical and no hdmi. any chance with these connections? i love my sound system dearly and i dont want to get rid of it unless i really have to.
If your sound system only accepts RCA connections (red/white plugs) and you want true Dolby Surround then you should look at getting a new one because you will only get Dolby Surround from optical or HDMI connections.
If you don't care about Dolby Surround, then simply hook up your PS3 to your TV via HDMI, then use a standard red/white RCA cable from the 'Audio Out' of your TV, and plug it into the 'Audio In' of your AV receiver.
thanks for your reply mate but I only have an optical and hdmi 'audio out' on my new samsung LED Tv. Looks like i have to get a new surround system.
@tendliya: Ok there is another solution. But it means you have to use your stereo every time you watch TV. Just get a 3.5mm headphone to 2 RCA cable. It is commonly called an iPod cable because you can use it to play your iPod on any stereo.
Simply plug the headphone jack into your headphone output on the TV, and connect the RCA cables to your AV Receiver inputs.
Voila!
Here is an example of what I am talking about:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5143
It is a VERY cheap cable so I wouldn't recommend you to use this particular one, its for example only.
@gavinshim: thanks so much mate. much appreciated. that just does the job for now and am already on the hunt for a deal for a good surround system.
Hi tendliya, from your information I can't really work out what you need. I take it you already have a speaker system that you like, but it has the wrong inputs for what you need to use it with.
From what it sounds like, your 5.1 channel speaker system may have come with its own 5.1 channel output DVD player, am I correct? These DVD players have 6 sockets on the back for all the speakers (L, R, Cetre, Rear L, Rear R, Subwoofer) which are usually connected directly to the subwoofer which has its own amplifier. This is only an assumption, but they are very common that's why it sounds likely. Sometimes the subwoofer also has a single Stereo input (L and R) which can be attached to an iPod or other device, but this will only give you fake simulated surround sound, not real surround.
If you want to keep the speakers but don't want to buy a new $300-$600 surround sound amplifier (I HATE the amplifiers on sale these days, they are ridiculously overpriced, sound awful if you buy a cheap one, are sometimes very complicated to hook up for beginners and take up an enormous amount of space among other things) then you may find this unit handy:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44701
There's also another brand called Audio Gear that seems to do similar things, it is for sale on eBay and other websites:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/AC3-DTS-Digital-audio-decoder-5-1-AUD…
The DealExtreme box seems to have more features and comes with a remote control, but they sometimes take weeks or months to deliver items, so you may not want to wait that long if you don't need a remote control and the Audio Gear box is all you need.
This box converts Optical or Coaxial outputs from your TV, PS3, DVD player, BluRay or whatever to 6 channel output, which can connect directly to your 5.1 speakers. It also has many inputs so you can hook it up to your DVD player, TV and PS3 at the same time and select between them with the remote control. It also gives you a remote control for the speakers, which you may not have at the moment. It will give you TRUE surround sound from the TV and PS3's AC3 or DTS signals, not simulated surround sound.
I have a similar ThrustMaster box, which is fantastic because I use it with home-made speakers and a home-made extremely high-quality six channel amplifier that is far better than any cheap and awful surround-sound decoder I've played with, and the entire setup is built into a custom subwoofer that takes up very little space.
Please let me know if this is helpful, or if I got it wrong and assumed incorrectly. What would be helpful is a) the type of inputs you actually have on your speaker system. b) model number of TV set. Then I can help you more easily.
how bout this recent deal? http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/32267