Hooking TV Audio to 5.1 Channel Speakers

I want to hook my TV's audio output to the 5.1 channel audio speakers, which are normally connected to my computer. The problem is that I have seen that there are only two RCA output for audio on the back of my LG Tv set.

I have a DVD player which has got support for 5.1 channel audio as there are about 6 RCA ports at the back of that DV Player.

Now is there any way by which I can connect in such a way that the normal stereo audio output is channelized to my 5.1 channel speakers so I get a true surround sound experience.

Any step by step guidance will be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

The tv output is stereo. That's the max number of channels it can send (2).

You have two options, .. the first which is very cheap but problematic and the second which costs money but will work with few issues.

First option... you could plug the stereo output of the tv into the stereo line in of the computer and use that to simulate 5.1 surround sound (it won't be actual 5.1 because the source (tv) is only stereo but it would, at least, be all 5 speakers.

You'd need is a cable to go from the tv (stereo rca) to the computer (stereo mini)

But, and there's always a but... the problem you'll face is getting the computer to actually play the sound from its own line in. To do that properly and with minimal time delay (usually a problem) you'd need a software program to run on the computer to actively convert the analog tv signal to digital so the computer can use it.

That's the hard part because the only freebie that might do it is audacity and i don't believe that it will work without an obvious time delay (the time to process the signal... might be a half second or more delay in the audio rendering it useless) I don't believe there's any program free or otherwise that would not have some audio delay... they all have to convert the signal from analog to digital and even the best studio audio programs will have a bit of delay.

Second option- if you wanted to spend some money you could get an audio amplifier or reciever with 5.1 capabilities and plug the tv into that (you'd need more speakers too, of course) and use that to (again) simulate actual 5.1.


So, there you have two options.. one nearly free but
with the big problem of audio delay and another that will work but you'll need to spend a fair bit of money.


To utilize the 5.1 of the DVD player you'd need an amp that 5.1 capable as well... 5 inputs>5 outputs(speakers)... the computer line input, as I said above, is 2 channel stereo so that's no better than plugging the tv into the computer and you'd still have the audio delay issue.

What I'd try is to get the cable for option 1, install audacity and see how it works and whether the delay is annoying or obvious enough to make it unwatchable. It probably will be but the experiment would only cost about 5 dollars or so for the cable and will be a learning experience if nothing else.

This would work better on a new PC with a very fast processor to get the time delay as minimal as possible. An older PC would be pretty bad esp if it were just a P4 or earlier.

Audacity...

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Fink, thanks for your detailed answer. I was wondering that if the tv stereo output is plugged into the computer line in, which is than routed to the speakers attached to the computer output, why should there by a delay in the audio output.

1. Is it possible that the tv rca stereo output is plugged into the dvd audio in ( I am not sure if there is any audio in on the dvd player), and then the audio output of the dvd player is plugged in the 5.1 channels speakers directly???? I might sound crazy but is there any possibility????

Actually I was thinking of converting my 5.1 speakers into some sort of home cinema system.

2. What about if I install a TV Tuner card into my computer and channel its video onto the TV and audio to the 5.1 channel speakers. Will it work that way too???

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I was wondering that if the tv stereo output is plugged into the computer line in, which is than routed to the speakers attached to the computer output, why should there by a delay in the audio output.

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Processing time. The computer has to convert the analog audio signal to digital then back again (AD/DA).

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Is it possible that the tv rca stereo output is plugged into the dvd audio in

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Not in any DVD player I've ever seen unless it's some sort of multimedia capable unit that has a built in amplifier to run it's own speakers. (they do exist but I'm guessing yours isn't one of them). If it was you'd be able to plug the audio into an auxiliary input on the DVD player/audio amplifier combo and that would be an effective solution.

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What about if I install a TV Tuner card into my computer and channel its video onto the TV and audio to the 5.1 channel speakers. Will it work that way too???

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That would work because the video and audio signals would be in sync since the computer is processing both at the same time... it's an option that I hadn't thought of but could be your best bet. Capture cards can be pretty inexpensive. I have one that I got for about 20 dollars.

Then all you'd need is a video and an audio cable to go between the player and the PC. One downside is that you'll need a video card that's got an output to plug into the tv (S-video would be most common and simplest) and most do these days. Otherwise you'd need to watch the video on your computer monitor.

Other downside is making sure the patch between the DVD player video out and the card video in is compatible. If the player has video composite out (single rca) and the card has composite in then it shouldn't be a problem otherwise you may need adaptors and I'm not sure how well it would work adapting a composite out to a standard cable tv input which most capture cards have. sometimes it doesn't work well at all.

You'll need to do a bit of research on the specific video outs and ins of both the DVD player and whichever capture card you want to buy. Cable out to cable in (ch 3/4) would be fine.

My Video card has a S-cable out and I think, after reading your suggestions that the best cost-effective method in this scenario would be to buy a TV Tuner Card and do the cabling in such a way that the video out is routed to the TV Video in and audio to the 5.1 channel audio system. My DVD player has also a S video out put, but I have another alternative too that I have DVD player installed in my computer too.

Anyway, thanks Fink for helping me out of this confusion. I guess, I am going to buy a TV tuner card very soon to get the type of surround sound from tv, I was thinking about

One other thing to consider is that the video quality you'll get plugging the computer into a CRT television is not nearly as good as the quality you'd get from its own monitor or from plugging the DVD player directly into the television.

It's not bad but don't expect DVD quality definition on a CRT television from the computers video card output.

I know a step by step guide on how to convert video audio channel to 5.1 channel, 2 channel, or Mono at How to Convert Video Audio Channel to 2 Channel, 5.1 Channel, or Mono?

Then it is just easy to achieve the following demand:

Convert 5.1 to 2 channel stereo like convert H.264 MP4 5.1 audio to 2-channel stereo source so as to play MP4 with 5.1-channel on Xbox 360.
Convert 6 channel to 2 channels like convert 6 channel AC3 to 2 channel MP2 or convert an MKV 6 channel audio to 2 channel stereo without affecting video quality.
Convert 2 channel to 5.1 channel like turn a dual channel wav file into 5.1 AC3 format; convert MP3 2 channel to 5.1 channel, convert 2 channel stereo to 5.1 surround sound
Convert 2 channel audio into 6 channel to get surround sound in order to listen surround sound from home theater.
Convert 6 channel to stereo like converting 6 channel CAF, OGG, AAC to stereo wave files or 2 channel AC3
Convert multiple-channel to mono like 5.1/6 channel to mono, 2 channel stereo to mono and etc.