Connecting PC to TV and home theatre system

kimboy said:

I don't have a sound card (just integrated one i think?) and my video card is geforce gtx260.

My PC doesn't have HDMI port

The 260 does do DVI>HDMI via an adapter, but not all adapters support audio pass through.

I just need my PC to use the home theatre system for sound at this point. I'm using my PC speakers for sound (since Tv isnt connected to PC with HDMI cable).

The quickest way would be to grab either a coax (s/pdif) or optical cable to connect to your PC's onboard sound and plug it into the amps coax/optical input.

Yep.

Although since the 260 doesn't process audio itself, you'll have to also ensure that the s/pdif header on the motherboard is connected the GPU to allow the sound to 'pass-through' from the onboard audio.

The cable should have come with your card. It looks something like this:


The adapter should be a 'male' DVI-D (Dual Link) with a 'female' HDMI output plug.

(It needs to be dual link to allow both audio and video to travel to your amp)

kimboy said:

I can't find any plugin points on the amp itself? I think i need to plug the cords into the bluray player where everything plugs into not the amp? (speakers, amp etc r all plugged into the bluray and not to the amp). Do the HDMI connect to the tv and the two DVI points connect to the pc and the bluray player?

Sorry for the confusion.

When I'm referring to the amp, it's what you know as the blu-ray player since the blu-ray is built into the amp itself. The blu-ray unit has all the inputs you are plugging into.

So you'd be connecting the DVI>HDMI adapter +HDMI cable from the GPU into one of the two HDMI IN inputs on the blu-ray/amp.

From there you'd then use one of the amps video outputs to connect to the TV's inputs. You can use HDMI, component etc to feed the TV it's video source.

edit: does one end of the spif cable go into the motherboard and the other end to the graphics card?

Correct. In the picture of the cable in my previous post, the 'solid' 2 pin plug (white) would connect to your card (typically located near the PCI-E power plugs.

ie:





The other 2 'loose plugs' are what's connected to the motherboard.

Sorry for the delay in the response.

When you set the amps 'channel' to the HDMI input that's coming from the PC, and then the input on the TV that's connected to the amp, the amps basically acting as a video source pass-through**.

Essentially, it's the amp that "sees" the PC, since it's receiving both the video/audio signal.



Hopefully this breakdown makes the whole process a little easier to understand (I'm even starting to lose myself ):

• Onboard audio is 'passed through' the GPU via the 2pin cable that connects the motherboard to GPU
• GPU with the DVI>HDMI adapter +HDMI cable transfer both the Video and Audio signals to the amp.
• The amps 'channel' input that is selected ie HDMI 2 , processes the video and sound. Resulting in the sound playing through your Home Theatre System
• Then that same 'channel' on the amp will then output the video signal to the TV via whatever 'video out' output you use, resulting in the Video being 'passed-through' the amp to display the signal on the TV.

Basically the biggest difference between HDMI and DVI is that HDMI is designed to carry both digital audio and video signals on the same cable. DVI cables are only designed to carry video signals. Since your GPU only has DVI-D outputs and no native HDMI outputs, the right adapter is needed.

This is why a DVI Dual Link adapter is important because there are plenty of DVI>HDMI adapters (not dual link) that will only carry the video signal and not the audio as well. By using a Dual Link adapter, this allows the 'extra' signal, in this case audio; to be transferred alongside the video signal via a HDMI cable.



**"Pass-Through" is a term used when a device allows a signal to travel through it without doing any processing. A middle man/conduit if you will.

With your setup, the sound is being 'processed' by the onboard audio - "Passed-through" the GPU and then delivered to the amp. The video is 'processed' by the GPU, "passed-through" the amp and the signal delivered to the TV.

You're welcome mate :)

As for the cable, it probably goes by a few names but this is what you'd need:

Name: nVIDIA SPDIF 2-Pin/2-Pin Audio Cable

*nb That store and cable name are just an example, but basically it's just a 2-pin SPDIF audio cable. There are some 2 x 2/3 pin or even 2x4 pin cables that will probably turn up in a search. Double check your mobo header - If will only take 2pins, avoid getting the 2x3/4 pin cables since the plug that goes into the motherboard header won't fit.