Surround sound questions!

[crispy]

I recently purchased some used surround system with the intent of watching movies from the computer on my projector with surround sound. Now i pretty new to this But what options do i have to get surround FROM the computer to the surround reciever? My computer has an optical out and the reciever has optical in, so thats a possibility. But does that mean if i have a movie on the computer in surround (DVD's, movies with ac3 etc) then the sound will just be sent to the reciever which then decodes it and makes that sweet sweet sound?

 

[Lamp]

My set up is dead simple. I have a 13 channel surround-sound system (2 woofers, 11 surround speakers) - Dolby Digital / Dolby Pro Logic / DTS - all inputs are connected to 2 digital signal mix boxes & relayed through pre&power separate amps (Linn). My DVD player is connected via optical cable, and my PC connected via USB2. Amazing sound quality, but really need to upgrade my monitor to HD or something, but got more important things to spend my cash on right now.

Edit: its a cabling nightmare. Must be 40 km of cables behind the amps LOL

 

[Guest]

wibble, burger van on acid................

 

[crispy]

My set up is dead simple. I have a 13 channel surround-sound system (2 woofers, 11 surround speakers) - Dolby Digital / Dolby Pro Logic / DTS - all inputs are connected to 2 digital signal mix boxes & relayed through pre&power separate amps (Linn). My DVD player is connected via optical cable, and my PC connected via USB2. Amazing sound quality, but really need to upgrade my monitor to HD or something, but got more important things to spend my cash on right now.

Edit: its a cabling nightmare. Must be 40 km of cables behind the amps LOL

But how does that relate to my question ?

 

[Lamp]

Sorry Crispy, it doesn't. I got confused LOL. Its the damn cables behind my speakers. They know I'm talking about them.

*looks nervously about*

 

[crispy]

Only one thing to do. Burn the house, its the only way to be sure they wont be after you again... or is it? TO THE CABLE STORE

 

[Lamp]

The cables have blocked the door & sealed me inside my room. They are...no ! This can't be possible ! They're laughing at me ! Oh sweet Jesus ! This can't be possible ! It can't !

*jumps out of window*
BOING !
OUCH
Damn triple-glazed windows.

 

[georgie]

Is it just me or is Lamp being weirder than usual? :touch:

 

[Lamp]

No more wierder than usual. Promise.

 

[tris-]

im not suprised hes acting weird with 13 channels of sound ffs!

he probably thinks hes actually in the film.

 

[Chronictank]

Need a little more info

Is your surround system on your pc? or is it a seperate unit

If its seperate best quality is usually over the optical/spdif connector, then you set your dvd software to play over that connector (if the movie has dolby digital it will send it in that format, if it doesnt it will be 2 channel most likely)

If it's through your PC you just need to tweak your sound settings to the right ones, 5.1 if you have 5 speakers, 7.1 if you have 7 etc etc
There is usually options in your dvd playing software for dolby surround emulation

But this is all guesswork really, you need to give some more info on what the surround system you have is, what software you want to use etc etc


@Lamp
Why on earth 11 speakers??

 

[cHodAX]

I had surround sound once, 4 women all shouting at me simultaneously, never again!

 

[crispy]

Need a little more info

Is your surround system on your pc? or is it a seperate unit

If its seperate best quality is usually over the optical/spdif connector, then you set your dvd software to play over that connector (if the movie has dolby digital it will send it in that format, if it doesnt it will be 2 channel most likely)

If it's through your PC you just need to tweak your sound settings to the right ones, 5.1 if you have 5 speakers, 7.1 if you have 7 etc etc
There is usually options in your dvd playing software for dolby surround emulation

But this is all guesswork really, you need to give some more info on what the surround system you have is, what software you want to use etc etc


@Lamp
Why on earth 11 speakers??

Well my reciever is a JVC RX-6012RSL which has dolby digital and optical input which works fine. There is no surround sound on my sound card, but i guess it has no problem 'forwarding' surround sound to be decoded by the reciever right?

 

[Chronictank]

Well my reciever is a JVC RX-6012RSL which has dolby digital and optical input which works fine. There is no surround sound on my sound card, but i guess it has no problem 'forwarding' surround sound to be decoded by the reciever right?

yeah thats right
Just make sure you set the audio output on your dvd playing software to SPDIF/Optical and if it has the option the sound to Dolby digital
Your amp will do the rest

If you want the reason its because dolby digital is sent in a single stream, whereas pc audio is multichannel (different channel for the different points e.g L&R is through one channel, Left&right surround through another etc etc)

 

[crispy]

Yeah thought so.. DD is much smarter tho

I can probably get the OS to upsample all sounds that are not surround...

Well its working nicely now

Except the speakers aint that high quality, but i can always buy some others which i actually try before buying (got the system quite cheap, 705£ for it all)