Surround Sound Set-Up Advice

[someboyathome]

Hey guys, I was hoping you could help me with this problem as I’m not totally sure I'm making the right decision.

I’m hoping to buy Creative Labs Gigaworks S750 7.1 THX Speakers from amazon.co.uk for £237.28 as I was impressed with the online reviews, the 700watts, the price seems reasonable and its a lot better then my dell speakers that come with my pc.

The problem starts with the soundcard or/and decoder. I want to use my speakers and surround sound on my TV for DVD and games, but also for my pc for music, DVDs (again) and games.

I currently have onboard sound card, so I was going to buy Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro from amazon.co.uk for £149.24, but I'm unsure about the I/O this card offers, I have little to no sound experience and not sure what I'm looking at. I understand this will allow my pc to have surround sound with games etc, but will I be able to still have surround sound connecting my DVD player (TV, PS2, Gamecube) via the card or will I need the Creative Labs Creative DDTS-100 Decoder from amazon.co.uk for £87.10 to allow me to use my TV (which I will 95% of the time watch all my DVDs on etc)

Any help or advice will greatly be appreciated

 

[Aidanoridania]

surround sound is indeed an option that comes with most DVD players , though if that player is external you will have to refer to the manual. some cheap old models offer only stereo (first and second generation DVD players) but nowadays these players are equipped with surround sound and often have at their back an optical or coaxial digital output through which the whole surround sound is transferred through

so what to do?

just use the optical or coaxial digital cable which is delivered with the audigy, Plug it in your external digital source (DVD PS2 or other) digital output and the other side you plug it in the digital input of the audigy2

then you select in the mixer the digital input as sound device and that will work perfectly.

it works with my older soundblaster live 5.1 too though an older dvd player from a friend only gave stereo. this wasn't because the trick didn't work, it was because the DVD player was old (from 1999 if i remember well) and only gave a stereo out and didn't support the 5.1 or 7.1 surround encoding

for the rest there would be no problem

<font color=purple><i> Enosi and I.... </i></font color=purple>

 

[lb19984]

Someboy at home
I would reccommend you to get the logitech z-5500 's over the creatives
They have digital omputs unlike the creatives Optical too
That way you can get true digital sorroubd sound when watching a movie
With the logitechs you can also have 3 or 4 different audio sources connedted at the same time
and you dont have to have the computer turned on to play your ps2
You wont hear a difference in sound between the 2 systems and the logitech are cheaper too




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