Bluray Home theater system used for 5.1 surround gaming?

[JonDelijoe]

I just bought a creative sound blaster usb sound card that supports dolby digital live and can convert any audio into 5.1; I'm planning on optical out. I have not purchased a theater system yet, because I have a question.

1. Is it possible to use a bluray home theater system to play Pc games in 5.1 surround sound?
an example would be my creative sound card to that via optical cable in order to utilize it's speakers for my PC game http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HT-F5500W-Blu-Ray-Theater-System/dp/B00BIP6G9K/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t

-from my research these kind of receivers only output movies played through its disc tray in 5.1, any other source of audio will play in 2.1

2.Is it just better to get a reciever that handles audio only?

3.Is an optical port both female and male (I hope that makes sense), in other words is there such thing as an optical out to an optical in cable?

 

[brreaker]

The thing is, some games have support for 5.1 audio (for example Battlefield 3) while others don't (they just split the stereo signal through all the speakers, without actually taking into consideration the positioning of the player and the sound, etc)