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Old 24-04-2009, 09:42 PM   #1
marcs_sp20
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Laptop > LCD TV > Surround sound?

Hey guys,


I have recently just bought a laptop off ebay, and am using the 37" LCD tv we have as the screen via pc cable, oh and have a wireless keyboard & mouse so that I can sit on the couch and control what I am doing

Now although the sound from the laptop is tinny and very hard to hear, does anyone know how I can hook it up to Surround Sound? We have a 5.1ch surround sound system thats hooked up to the TV, so I would like to use it instead of running extra speakers then what we have already...

Anyone know how I could get it to work?? Comments welcome

Cheers
Marc
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Old 24-04-2009, 10:43 PM   #2
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most laptops dont have a 5.1 sound card...so the best you can do is get a 3.5mm jack cable to aux cable...this way youll be able to hook that into the surround sound
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Old 24-04-2009, 10:54 PM   #3
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on a Laptop - it depneds onthe laptop.

in most cases a decent modern laptop should have plug output for stereo sound as minimum on some models it's next to the microphone imput and in effect should be the headhpone out. but on others they might have a dedicated output.

in alot of my old presentations I used with my Dell - which was pacific multimedia BS massive 17inch screen thing. Not good for tuning a car I tell ya.

but I just used it's 3.5mm stereo plug to two RCA's into normally a front Aux of a either amp/ VCR or where ever I was doing the presentation.

but being the multimedia version it was loud enough for small office room.
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Old 24-04-2009, 11:12 PM   #4
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ok, I have a Dell Latitude D610, its got a headphone jack at the rear.

I've basically filled all the holes on the back of the TV bar the s-video plug, and the lappy has a plug, would this work?? (sorry never heard of this)
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Old 24-04-2009, 11:51 PM   #5
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lol, googled headphone jack to RCA, then realised we had one, sounds uber sweet

Cheers
Marc
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Old 25-04-2009, 08:25 AM   #6
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s-video is just picture from memory...
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Old 25-04-2009, 08:34 AM   #7
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yah, its not great quality either.

Max res is horrible, try using VGA if you can marc
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Old 25-04-2009, 08:36 AM   #8
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or DVI
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Old 25-04-2009, 09:04 AM   #9
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Get a PCMCIA or external USB sound card to let you output whatever audio arrangement you want (or can afford). You can do much the same with the video too if the budget permits, but otherwise if you have a DVI or VGA head on the back of the lappy, those are your best options for better display. S-Video can be good too (excluding text), if you're willing to stuff around and fiddle with the display adapter settings.

Gav.
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Old 25-04-2009, 10:52 AM   #10
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I get asked how to hook ur pc or laptop to your lcd tv daily at work as I'm the manager of a computer shop.
In order of picture quality HDMI, DVI, VGA, Component, S-Video then Composite with HDMI being the best.
Most people use a 3.5mm to 2 x RCA plug for audio(some TV's have a 3.5mm input for audio) or if your lucky HDMI carries audio and video in one cable.
You wont get surround sound from you laptop unless it has a s/pdif out jack on it(sometimes its the same plug as the headphone) which is capable of streaming the 5.1 signal to your amp to decode(usually by fiber optical cable) There are a few notebooks with this feature built in to them or you can use an external sound card if you want surround.
You may have to adjust your screen resolution on your notebook or pc for the clearest signal.
On most LCD TV's this is 1280X1024(rare) or 1360X768 or 1920 x 1080.
If you are using S-video, composite or Component usually 800x600 or 1024 x 768 looks best
I have built my self a custom made media pc (HTPC) with full 7.1 surround, HDTV and HDMI outputs so if anyone has questions feel free to ask me.
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Old 25-04-2009, 11:27 AM   #11
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Im basically happy with what I have now, although I do not get the full 5.1ch surround, 2.1ch seems to be the go, which is quite enough anyways...

Screen resolutions is set at 1024x768 and is clear as day! I just watched fast & furious and a bit of one of the underbelly episodes and couldnt be happier with the quality...

CHeers
Marc
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Old 25-04-2009, 12:39 PM   #12
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Id say that maybe your TVs native res is 1024x768.

Most TVs dont do DVI, HDMI or VGA usually

Also as a note dont get hung up on 2.1 vs 5.1 e.t.c. Its all about the sound quality and experience. Unless your spending 4-6 grand on a 5.1 system your better off with a good 2.1 setup

You will also find that if your downloading movies, unless there using AC3 pass through or episodes are HD, that they wont be 5.1 anyways
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Old 25-04-2009, 12:40 PM   #13
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do you have the audio cable running to the TV or straight to the surround sound? if you run it to the tv (same av in as the video cable), then to surround sound from the tv it will put out 5.1 chanel but there will be a slight loss in quality. thats how i get 5.1 for foxtel
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Old 25-04-2009, 12:44 PM   #14
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It will be using all speakers but the audio will only be Stereo still.

So in essence its just spreading the audio from 2 speakers accross 5. So what originally would have been left speaker only is now left hand side e.t.c
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Old 25-04-2009, 12:59 PM   #15
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Im running the RCA's to the rear of the TV off AV2 (as the pc has a dedicated plug, it said that for pc sound run the rca's to av2). the way I have set up the receiver is that I have Video 1 for normal TV, Video 2 for the PS2, DVD for the dvd player ( I have a sony receiver). SO in essence, am getting surround sound, just not it 5.1ch,

Im happy
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Old 25-04-2009, 01:29 PM   #16
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Sometime you can get fake surround thru your amp by enabling pro logic or other similar modes.
Windows has a problem where it can only pass thru a 5.1 vai an ac3 audio stream or else you only get 2 channel audio via s/pdif. But if the audio stream isn't ac3 no 5.1.
So if you do hook it up you will only get surround if you properly configured ur pc to pass thru 5.1 to your amp to do the decoding or as i have done bought a high end sound card that is capable of upmixing all audio to DTS digital.
So that way if I play games/movie its in full 5.1 thru my sony amp.
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Old 25-04-2009, 02:00 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phildough View Post
Sometime you can get fake surround thru your amp by enabling pro logic or other similar modes.
thats what i was talking bout see im not crazy
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