Problem with Home Theater System Hooked Up to My PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joony13
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Joony13

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My neighbor was moving out and he decided to give me his home theater setup, which consists of four stand-up speakers, a center speaker and a subwoofer. He gave me the dvd player as well, because the speakers connected to that and use that as an amplifier. So I used a 3.5mm TRS to RCA Red and White converter cable, with the TRS into my motherboard and the RCA into the DVD player, and it's working. In a way.

The problem is, the front two speakers are working, along with the subwoofer, and nothing else is. The center and the rear two speakers seem to be producing no sound.

I'm using Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, and Realtek Audio drivers. I've tried playing around the with the configurations (changed from my old stereo setting to 5.1) but that didn't help. Any ideas?

I'm considering using a digital audio cable since my motherboard has an output for it and the dvd player has an input for it, but I would have to go buy the cable. Would that perhaps fix things?

Thanks.
 
TRS to 2 RCAs = stereo

Does your computer soundcard have Rear Speaker output jacks? Does the DVD player even have inputs for the rear speakers? (I doubt it) Usually those DVD players with amps with surround sound have a stereo input so that you can have your regular tv audio channel through the system. The inexpensive ones do not have surround sound synthesis (fake 5.1).
 
Yes, I did a little research and realized that it was stereo. I took a quick trip to BestBuy and got myself a digital audio optical cable, thinking that would allow 5.1 sound, but then I came home and realized that the DVD only supports Dolby Digital Pro Logic II and DTS Surround.

Just to confirm my fears, this means that I won't be able to utilize the full capabilities of this surround sound system using my PC, correct?
 
That's almost certainly correct. All the DVD/surround/amp/receiver all-in-one type units I've ever seen only have stereo inputs. But what model is this thing you're messing around with?

Either way - even if you can't use the main part for all the speakers, if your PC has the realtek chip with multiple analog outputs, you could pick up a cheapo home stereo amp or receiver from a garage sale or something and rig it up to the rear speakers, using the unit you have already for the front pair and the subwoofer. Just an idea :)
 
It's a Korean Model: Samsung Home Theater System HT-D400.

Also, if I ever get my hands on another amp, I will definitely do that. Thanks for the idea!

EDIT: In fact, if you know any really cheap ones to do the job, links would be appreciated.
 
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