Best way to set up surround sound?

Darksaga87

Hi. Loking for a bit of advice on the best way to set up a surround sound ive had for a while. I feel the quality could be better, i just need to know if i have it wired correctly.

Its a sony 5.1 surround. The connections I have and the current set up is, digital optical cable going from the surround into the tv, and a hdmi cable from the surround into tv.

I also have an Xbox and PS3, I use the PS3 for blurays and the Xbox for gaming and netflix.

They both have digital optical ports, is there a way i should change this or am I doing it right?

Thanks everyone.

PogMoThoin

Is your Sony a surround sound system or a home cinema system? There is a difference. A home cinema system is a dvd/bluray player with surround speakers. Many are not capable of receiving surround as they do not have optical in but stereo input only. A proper surround system will have an optical or HDMI input to take sound from another device. What model is the Sony?

Darksaga87

Its a dav-dz-361. It has optical and hdmi. both conections are going into the tv. I would have thought HDMI would transfare sound leaving the optical cable to go into the xbox or ps3? I might not have configured it properly if thats the case.

Its home cinema with dvd player, I mostly watch blurays though on the ps3.

jh79

Connect the optical cable between the ps3 and the surround, then press aux on the surround this should give you surround sound from the ps3. Don't forget to mute the tv. The hdmi cables should go from the ps3 / xbox to the tv.

If you have sky just take the optical cable from the ps3 and plug it into the sky box. The same goes for the tv and xbox. The above will only work if the surround has an optical in connection.

Richersounds.ie (have a forum on boards) do cheap receivers which would do this job better .

PogMoThoin

What he said :rolleyes:

I use one of these to switch mine
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/TosLink-Digital-Audio-3-Way-Optical-Selector-Switch-/170751675239?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item27c197cb67#ht_1898wt_1271


BTW, the optical on TV sets is optical out (passthrough from HDMI). I could not get this to work with my HTPC so I use a switch to change, it may work on yours if you just change source on the TV, give it a go

Darksaga87

So without the switcher id have to swap the optical between the ps3/xbox/sky?

Might pick up one of those!

cheers guys.

Skill Magill

PogMoThoin wrote: »

What he said :rolleyes:

I use one of these to switch mine
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/TosLink-Digital-Audio-3-Way-Optical-Selector-Switch-/170751675239?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item27c197cb67#ht_1898wt_1271


BTW, the optical on TV sets is optical out (passthrough from HDMI). I could not get this to work with my HTPC so I use a switch to change, it may work on yours if you just change source on the TV, give it a go

More expensive but its got a remote
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CYP-AU-D41-DCSk-Edition-Toslink-switcher/dp/B005M1OJB8/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354311859&sr=1-10
:cool:

PogMoThoin

eoing1 wrote: »

More expensive but its got a remote
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CYP-AU-D41-DCSk-Edition-Toslink-switcher/dp/B005M1OJB8/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354311859&sr=1-10
:cool:

Yeah, I considered that but I already have 4x remotes, TV, Sat box, HTPC & Surround system

Skill Magill

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yeah, I considered that but I already have 4x remotes, TV, Sat box, HTPC & Surround system

In that case, you'll need one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Harmony-One-UK-Universal/dp/B0012RHQN4/ref=sr_1_17?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354314248&sr=1-17

PogMoThoin

eoing1 wrote: »

In that case, you'll need one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Harmony-One-UK-Universal/dp/B0012RHQN4/ref=sr_1_17?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354314248&sr=1-17

No good when it don't work well with the Sat box
http://www.amikostb.com/?q=product&id=153
I've had similar before and went back to original remotes, it's too fiddly with non genetic stuff