Help on Surround Sound System

[Jeff234]

Ok, on my home entertainment system in my basement I have a 5.1 Chanel Surround System. Right now it only works with my DVD Player. What I'm trying to get is so that i can watch TV with 5.1 Sound. I know that some channels support it. Like NESN, whenever i watch the Red Sox games it always says, " Presented in 5.1 Surround" on the bottom. I have an S-Cable hooked up from my DVD Player to my TV but that didn't do anything. Any help would be Highly Appreciated!

[tesco]

by "watch TV with 5.1 Sound" do you mean watch CABLE tv?
If so you need to have either digital cable or satelite, and a tuner that supports 5.1, and you need to hook it up to your tv/stereo using an optical cable. You won't get the 5.1 through the 2 rca connectors (red/white) or through coax (cable wire).

By "s-cable" i'll assume you mean s-video.
s-video is video only, it doesn't transfer any audio.

[Jeff234]

Ok, I do want to watch Cable TV in 5.1. I have a cable box and Yes the S-Cable is in fact a S-Video Cable. I'm still a little lost in how to set this up though.

[tesco]

Just standard cable or do you have digital or satelite?
If it's not digital or satelite then you can't get 5.1.

[lynx]

Just to clarify what Rossco is saying:

Every bit of your system has to be capable of handling and passing on 5.1 sound. Any part that isn't compatible breaks the chain.

[Jeff234]

i have Comcast cable box, no sattilete

[ciram]

I was thinking about the same thing recently. After a lot of thought and research I ended up buying a pair of wireless Sennheisers. With the integrated surround feature, their sound is more realistic than all the 5.1 speaker setups I tried at the stores.

May be worth checking out as an alternative.

[mbucari1]

I think there are devices that will split 2 channel audio input into 6 channel. Couldn't tell you more than that though.

[Jeff234]

would i need an L/R audio cable from my DVD player to my TV?

[tesco]

would i need an L/R audio cable from my DVD player to my TV?the dvd player has 0 to do with your cable.
Also, the l/r (white/red) "composite"/"rca" cables cannot transfer 5.1 only stereo (2 speakers).
You need to hookup using something like optical:
http://z.about.com/d/hometheater/1/7/A/9/digitalopt2.JPG

[Chewie]

On some DVD surround setups you can get 'butchered' surround, as I do, by setting the DVD to 'TV' mode and activating 5.1 on it.
It's not real surround, merely stereo through the four satellites with nice bass, but it improves the atmosphere somewhat.

[accat13]

As stated previously to receive true 5.1 sound you need A digital cable box or satellite. A 5.1 amp or receiver using optical or coax to hook up the audio...Even your dvd player has to be hooked up with digital or coax (audio cables) to transmit the 5.1 signal to your amp or receiver....Ps if your system is fairly new it may also contain hdmi which carries both the digitial audio and video.

[Jeff234]

yea but the only doubt i'm having is that the speakers are connected only to the DVD player. soo....

[Jeff234]

Bump

[harrycary]

As others have posted you must have a digital audio signal to process
5.1 surround sound. There is no other way.

Red/white audio cables are for analog signals and is 2 only channels(left & right).

5.1 Surround Sound is comprised of 6 discrete channels(front left, front right, center, right rear, left rear & subwoofer) and is carried in digital form.
Thus you must connect all of your audio components via RCA/digital coax cables or an optical cables.

If you don't have a digital cable box, a digital satellite receiver or an HD TV tuner (built-in or external) you are shit out of luck.

There, now you should be able to figure out on your own.