Cyberwoo Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Has anyone had experience using such a device? I'm thinking of moving my PC into my living room so I can hook it up to my new home theater. I'd be displaying it on a Sony Wega KV34HS420 if that matters. Anyway I'd love to hear from someone who has some experience doing this. Half-Life 2 NEEDS to be played in 5.1 surround and on my tv. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Personally, I've never tried one of them. But 90% of modern graphics cards come with a TV out anyway; does yours not, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted May 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 I forgot all about tv out on video card. I've never used it thus the ol "out of sight out of mind" scenerio. Thanks for wacking me across the head with that obvious info. I'm a dork. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted May 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Anyone know the best way to hookup sound to a AV reciever from your PC's sound card? Since PC's cannot encode DD 5.1 and DTS in realtime I assume I'll need to use the multichannel inputs on my reciever for 5.1 sound in pc games? It was explained to me that using the optical cable for sound will only get me stereo sound because of this. Anyway it looks like I'll be picking up some cables this weekend and testing it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 What are your PC specs, Mike? While most video cards support TV-out, you'll be limited to 800x600, 1024x768 is some rare cases. Currently my PC downstairs uses an ATI 9800 Pro with the ATI DVI-to-HDTV adapter and while my desktop and internet browsing could look better, games and DVDs look perfect on it. Regarding getting DD 5.1 sound, unless you have an Nvidia N-Force motherboard you're going to be stuck using 3 cables to get DD 5.1 in games and movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covak Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Regarding getting DD 5.1 sound, unless you have an Nvidia N-Force motherboard you're going to be stuck using 3 cables to get DD 5.1 in games and movies. He can still (and should) use a digital connection for movie/video sound... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 He can still (and should) use a digital connection for movie/video sound... Sure he can, but he's not going to be getting DD 5.1 sound like he wants, he'll be getting digital stereo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covak Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Anyone know the best way to hookup sound to a AV reciever from your PC's sound card? If your receiver has 6 RCA input jacks for 5.1 analog (I think that's most common) then I believe you can actually get cables that go straight from a 3.5mm stereo plug to two (mono) RCA plugs. Probably just need 3 of those. Stereo RCA or 3.5mm cables with adapters on one end would do the trick, too. Sure he can, but he's not going to be getting DD 5.1 sound like he wants, he'll be getting digital stereo. Sure he will. Any DD/DTS streams can be passed to his receiver over the digital connection. Any plain old stereo stuff is probably better off going that route, too. The 5.1 analog connection should be purely for gaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Sure he will. Any DD/DTS streams can be passed to his receiver over the digital connection. Any plain old stereo stuff is probably better off going that route, too. The 5.1 analog connection should be purely for gaming. You've lost me here, Covak. So, you're saying that I can hook up the diigtal output on my Audigy 2 to my receiver and get DD 5.1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted May 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Buck that DVI to HDTV adapter looks like something I could use. Thanks! My pc specs are: P4 3.0ghz 1gig o ram Asus PFP800 SE mobo Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS ATI 9800 Pro card Windows XP My HT consists of: Sony KV34HS420 Yamaha RXV1500 Klipsch RB25 (2 in front)/RS25 (2 surrounds)/RC25 (1 center channel) I'll hunt down that adapter and get the 3 cables I need for 5.1 this weekend. 12 more hours of work and then n4 days off...w00t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Nice specs, Mike, almost identical to mine Regarding the ATI adapter, make sure you're using the ATI 5.4 drivers as they have a nice interface for HDTV resolutions. Also, if your TV doesn't support 720p, I recommend using 1776x1000 for your gaming as it will be seen as 1080i and is a 16:9 resolution. If I have time later I'll take some shots of some games running on my PC downstairs, though my camera is an old 1.3 mega-pixel PoS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted May 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Cool Buck thanks for the help. I'll let you know how it goes. You've lost me here, Covak. So, you're saying that I can hook up the diigtal output on my Audigy 2 to my receiver and get DD 5.1? The way I understand it is any movie or music that is encoded with DD 5.1 or DTS can be output via the optical cable and you will get true DD 5.1 or DTS because there is no need for encoding the signal. However for games the DD 5.1 signal needs to be encoded in real time and the way its been explained to me is PC's cannot encode in realtime (yet) via 1 digital signal. So that is why for games you are forced to go the analog route and just use a cable for each channel (front, surrounds, center, sub). I guess that makes sense. If I'm speaking out of my ass I apologize. I'm just giving you my interpertation of how I understand it. I've been known to be flawed from time to time. It doesn't help matters that I'm new to the home theater stuff and learning all the ins and outs (no pun intended) still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covak Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 You've lost me here, Covak. So, you're saying that I can hook up the diigtal output on my Audigy 2 to my receiver and get DD 5.1? Yep, for DVDs and whatnot that have Dolby Digital or DTS tracks you can pass the stream out the digital out to an external decoder. The 5.1 analog connection should be purely for gaming. Oops, I gotta correct myself here. My 5.1 analog connection sees other uses, like DVD-Audio, and those rare multi-channel WMA/WMV HD/OGG files... just anything that's more than 2 channels that isn't DD or DTS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretvampire Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 The "TV Out" on most video cards is an S-Video connection, which does at most 640x480. If you want to go higher, you need a VGA to component convertor box or something similar. I have one, but it has been a real pain in the past, you need to use a special program (and damned if I can remember what it's called) to get the proper timings for an HDTV signal, and even then it is very picky. Maybe I just don't know enough though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted May 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2005 I ordered that ATI dvi to component adapter after having no luck finding such a device at any local stores. Has anyone had experience with DVI/HDMI adapters? My tv does have HDMI inputs but I'm not using it. Should I have something hooked up to HDMI or just go component on everything like I have now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted May 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2005 Hey Buck could you post some proper resolutions and refresh rates you use for 16:9 mode? I dont want to screw up my tv by selecting something that wont display right. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted June 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Never mind. I went ahead and hooked it up anyway and noticed that the new ATi catalyst drivers have some optimized resolutions for HDTV. I'm using 1152 x 648 (an optimized version of 720p) and it looks great. I tried the 1080i mode but the text was just not nearly as readable due to the interlacing. I'm sitting aprox 7ft away from my 34" TV and text is very readable @ 720p and games look and play fantastic. Half-Life 2 in 16:9 with surround sound is an experience for sure. Anyway here is a pic I took shortly after hooking it up: Lazy setup I swear I find all sorts of uses for those damn food trays. It actually works out quite well for my mouse but I'd like to find something a little more attractive and something that sits about 2-3inches shorter so I could rest my arm on the arm rest of the recliner without the need for that big ugly pillow. Anywho I'm diggin not having to walk to my other room in the house to use my computer. Just flick to video signal 6 and voila. There is my desktop waiting for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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