5.1 Surround from 3.5mm stereo jack?

[Jim_and_Evil]

I have a Harman/Kardon AVR 1565 5.1 receiver, and an HP Pavilion s5610f (I resurrected from a bloodhound) that can output true 5.1 from its ALC662-VC1 integrated audio. It does not however, have output for Coaxial and Optical. And I heard that even if any unit ala Blu-ray, DVD player, or Game Console can output 5.1, it only sends the signals through the former formats. My laptop does not have 5.1 support, and while my receiver has logic 7 processing to 5 channel surround, hearing DVDs with 5.1 through the LT lacks the impact as it sounds as if I selected the 2.0 stereo track and "forced" it to 5.1.

So does that mean I would only get 2.0 from the audio jack on the back of the PC even if it natively supports 5.1?

 

[Jim_and_Evil]

I realized this was posted here accidently instead of the home audio section. If this is an issue, a mod can move it to the correct spot. Sorry about that!

 

[Alec Mowat]

That's exactly correct.

You would need three separate mini jacks.

Only digital supports 5.1 straight through, HDMI fiberoptic, or coaxial.

 

[Jim_and_Evil]

Thanks for the reply!

So if it doesn't have coaxial and optical and I need three separate mini-jacks, how would I get those three into the single jack in my receiver? Also, since the audio is integrated, would I be able to get 5.1 sound from a USB 2.0 connector (since its digital) that converts it to coax or optical? (if such a thing exists)

Sorry this got in the wrong spot, what happened was I was in the home audio section and tried to post my question, then when I hit submit the whole page froze up. IE said there was a problem with the page and had to refresh. after refreshing, I relized it was not in the correct spot so I looked and it somehow got in the home theater section. IDK how it happened, but if its a problem it can be deleted and reposted again.

 

[Alec Mowat]

Thanks for the reply!

So if it doesn't have coaxial and optical and I need three separate mini-jacks, how would I get those three into the single jack in my receiver? Also, since the audio is integrated, would I be able to get 5.1 sound from a USB 2.0 connector (since its digital) that converts it to coax or optical? (if such a thing exists)

Sorry this got in the wrong spot, what happened was I was in the home audio section and tried to post my question, then when I hit submit the whole page froze up. IE said there was a problem with the page and had to refresh. after refreshing, I relized it was not in the correct spot so I looked and it somehow got in the home theater section. IDK how it happened, but if its a problem it can be deleted and reposted again.

Three into one? You can't, otherwise I would have lied in my first post.

USB Sound cards? yes you can. Not using your onboard though, you'll need a new soundcard.

http/www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-Blaster-Surround-System/dp/B0017QQQAE

 

[americanaudiophile]

Your receiver does not have a discrete 5.1 channel input so you cannot hook up the HP PC to it and get digital surround sound. Best you can do is hook up 2 channels and set the receiver to one of the analog surround modes.