HDMI Through Laptop, TV & 5.1 System

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

Dear Gurus,

I have just bought a laptop that supports HDMI out.

Now I wanted to use it as HD player. Presently I connect it to a LCD HDTV using HDMI cable. Both audio & video gets transmitted.

But the problem is, audio is only 2 channels. Even the output from TV is 2 channels.

I want to connect it to 5.1 system since HDMI carries 5.1 sound.

Please help me in this issue.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Please post your complete configuration. Do you have a receiver with 5.1 Speaker Sytem and with HDMI Input?

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

I dont have any 5.1 receiver system as yet. But what I dont know is if I put my HDMI cable to the receiver then what will go to the TV.

I want to have both 5.1/7.1 sound as well as picture in TV.

My laptop has Nvidia GForce GT330M which supports 7.1 output thru HDMI, but my TV has only 2 channels.

Though I have old 5.1 systems, it does not have analog/digital 5.1 input. 5.1 in that only plays through DVD. Since it is old it does not play .mkv files.

Hence was seeking a solution.

Edited October 4, 2010 by Maulik.Parekh

[rajanmehta 4,056]

If you have a receiver which is HDMI capable, then it will have both HDMI In and HDMI Out ports. HDMI In will take your laptop input and decode sound in 5.1 or 7.1 as per feature of your receiver and no. of speakers attached to it. HDMI Out port will be used to pass on Video to your TV. Some Receivers will allow Component Out port also to be used for passing video to TV with HDMI Input as Source.

If your TV has only 2 audio Channels, you cannot have 5.1/7.1 sound in it even after using HDMI.

[xuketo 7]

Consider buying a 5.1 channel USB sound card.

[Like http://orders.ebay.in/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ImportHubViewItem&itemid=290481112416 ]

You must be able to find it in a local store for one third that price.

You can connect your speaker system directly to you laptop via this.

This should be the most cost effective solution, IMO.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

:previous:

This may not work for a true 5.1 Surround sound if one goes by the following description given on product page,

In digital playback mode, it receives audio stream form PC via USB interface and transmits audio data according to the AES\EBU, IEC60958, S\PDIF cnsumer interface standards. Only R L channel PCM audio in 5.1 channel can be conveyed in digital playback mode.

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

Ahh.. Thanks a lot for this information....

Can you suggest me a good receiver .. and approx price range for the same .. so that I can start exploring these devices.

I saw some Pioneer receivers but they seem to be very expensive .. from the photos & size !!!!!!

Any help of yours in this regards would be very useful to me.

Thanks again for prompt reply.

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

@ rajan bhai,

by the product description when speakers are connected through S/PDIF interface u get 2.1 sound i.e when digital transmission is involved.

But when we have analog amplifier with speaker then this sound card will give 5.1 output.

Please correct me if I am wrong !!!

[xuketo 7]

In analog playback mode, it supports 6 channels codec for analog playback

Maulik, what kind of speaker system do you have ?

If it can take analog 6 channel input from three 3.5mm TRS jacks you should be good.

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

The system I have is panasonic SA-HT520 brought by me in 2001.

It is 5.1 channel HT system but it doesnot have analog 5.1 inputs.

Inputs are all 2 channels and 5.1 can be played back only through DVD.

But picture quality with DVD format is bad on HDTV.

Hence we can think I dont have any speaker system and will have to buy an entire new speaker set.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

@ rajan bhai,

by the product description when speakers are connected through S/PDIF interface u get 2.1 sound i.e when digital transmission is involved.

But when we have analog amplifier with speaker then this sound card will give 5.1 output.

Please correct me if I am wrong !!!

See in the description it says "In digital playback mode, it receives audio stream from PC via USB Interface". Then it says only R L Channel PCM audio in 5.1 channel can be conveyed in digital playback mode. So when you will connect this to this laptop through USB, it will play stereo only.

The Device has Line In. If you connect this to Line Out or Headphone Socket of your Laptop, again it will receive Stereo Input. Because in a single analogue port, you cannot transmit 5.1 Channel Data. This input it may output through its Front Out, Rear Out and Cen/Bass out but it will be Stereo audio multiplexed to 5.1 and not true 5.1 Audio which you want to enjoy in original DVD with 5.1.

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

Ok then what are the good HDMI receiver options available for me ..

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Ahh.. Thanks a lot for this information....

Can you suggest me a good receiver .. and approx price range for the same .. so that I can start exploring these devices.

I saw some Pioneer receivers but they seem to be very expensive .. from the photos & size !!!!!!

Any help of yours in this regards would be very useful to me.

Thanks again for prompt reply.

Unless you are a true audiophile and have very good budget, i will not recommend HDMI Receivers. You also need matching 5.1 speakers. You also need to have space to put receiver and speakers in your room as well as a sufficient size room without much obstructions to enjoy it. Once you go into Receiver and speaker chase, believe me your budget will keep on shooting. Again suggesting you on Receivers is very difficult because there are so many of them with various budgets and many people have individual choices also as far as audio is concerned.

Instead why don't you explore good range of Upscaling HDMI Home Theaters available in Sony,LG, Philips and Samsung with good features and the range starting may be at around Rs. 15,000/-.

[vll 1]

go for denon or onkyo both are good. i have intial model of denon 1609 around 25k and i attach laptop hdmi to reciever and enjoy 5.1 sound but these is intial so this is not having vieo upscaling. and ask your doubt here http://www.hifivision.com/

[rajanmehta 4,056]

@Maulik.Parekh

I received the following offer from Futurebazaar for Philips HTS3510/98 300W Home Theater only at Rs. 8,990/- alongwith free Sony Ericsson K200i GSM Mobile Handset.

I have checked the specs of home theatre. It is quite impressive HDMI Upscaling 1080p Home Theater with good features.

Link for Futurebazzar Offer http://www.futurebaz...ers%2BPromotion

Link for Philips HTS3510/98 Home Theater http://www.philips.c...3510_98/prd/en/

Checkout. I think this is perfect for your home theater at very good cost alongwith a mobile free.

[SumitVerma 187]

First clear your thoughts what exactly you want, whether you need a System or just 5.1 output.

As far as recievers are concerned, there are a lot choice available between which the good ones with reasonable prices are Onkyo, Pioneer, Yamaha.

I have Yamaha with Paradigm speakers and they are some serious business though they are a bit expensive but is worth.

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

@ rajan bhai/ Sumit ,

I have seen 1080p upscaled movies but they are not that impressive.

Since I have medias that are 1080p in true quality upsclaing doenot justify the quality that it available from true 1080p.

Since I can transmit video in true 1080p from my laptop I need a sound system to complete my experience.

Also please have a look @ this

http://us.store.creative.com/Sound-Blaster-XFi-Surround-5.1/M/B0017QQQAE.htm

availale on rediff for Rs 4390.

[SumitVerma 187]

Save Money, Buy a Receiver as you have to buy system already or buy a home theater which provides HDMI in.

Check again that can you only out 2.1 or 5.1 is also possible with some software?

[rajanmehta 4,056]

@Maulik

From reading this entire thread, i conclude that there is lot of confusion and misconception. Lets clear everything.

I have seen 1080p upscaled movies but they are not that impressive.

Quality of upscaling depends a lot on the chips used for that inside DVD Player. Quality DVD Players from Pioneer, Philips, Sony etc. do a remarkable job of upscaling and the output is almost near HD Quality. Again it depends whether you have seen the upscaled movie on HD Ready or Full HD LCD Tv. HD Ready also takes 1080p input but it does not have Full pixels required in 1920x1080 i.e 1080p resolution at the panel level. So it extrapolates the missing pixels data digitally from the nearby pixel. Result, though it plays 1080p movie, the result is never the same as playing true 1080p on Full HD LCD Tv.

Since I have medias that are 1080p in true quality upsclaing doenot justify the quality that it available from true 1080p.

When you are saying you have true 1080p media, it means that either you have Original Blu Ray Discs or you have downloaded Full Blu Ray Disc movie untouched and uncompressed. Does your Laptop have Blu Ray Drive? As far as downloaded full blu ray movie is concerned, typically it will not be less than 25 GB in size. Have you this size media? Anything less in size which you may have downloaded and which is designated as 1080p is not true 1080p. This are compressed through softwares with sizes varying between 4 GB to 8 GB. This is not true blu ray 1080p.

Since I can transmit video in true 1080p from my laptop I need a sound system to complete my experience.

Again refer above for what is true 1080p. As far as sound is concerned, you mentioned in one of your earlier post that "Hence we can think I dont have any speaker system and will have to buy an entire new speaker set". If this is the case then any good 5.1 speaker system is not going to cost you less than Rs. 5,000/-. The creative device you mentioned costs Rs. 4,390/-. So you will end up spending Rs. 8,390/-. Now for Rs. 8,990/- you are getting a quality full featured philips HDMI home theater with speakers alongwith mobile. Another aspect is that though we all are very excited when we have HDMI Laptops and want to play movies on that, generally speaking a dedicated DVD home theater will always give far better visual quality because it is designed particularly for this purpose with lot of hardware chips and less of software based playing. In PC or Laptops this is not the case. One wrong setting somewhere in your graphics setting or DVD Software Player and your visual playing quality will differ vastly.

If you want to spend more and go for Receiver.

Look no further. Pioneer's 2010 range of receivers are feature reach and excellently priced. Pioneer's VSX-820-K retails at US Dollar 299 and has feature set at this price range unmatched by any other. Link For Pioneer VSX-820-K

http://www.pioneerel...20-K.Kuro?tab=B

If you opt for this you will need a power converted as all US Models will operate on 110 Watt whereas we in India have 240 Watt.I dont know whether this is available in India or not. Even if it is available, it will be priced horribly going by the past pricing of Pioneer Receivers in India. You can get this from US through Shop Your World Website which operates in India and you can make all payments in rupees to them. Customs and everything is their hassle. You will have to buy a matching 5.1 speaker set with this. Can't give you any suggestion for speakers as good quality brand name speakers which can truly realise the potential of this receiver may start from Rs. 25,000/- and above and there will be vast choices available. You will have do good amount of homework by visiting various AV Shops testing the speakers personally and finalize one which you like the most.

Phew!! I hope all your doubts are answered and you have a clear picture now.

Edited October 12, 2010 by rajanmehta

[Anupe 14]

Not sure if any of this info will help, but just to give you a heads up for the computer/ media entertainment rig in my room, albeit a little old, but working superbly, and what I have used to connect and play back media on both my computer and blu ray player.

Audio connections:

Desktop computer with Creative Audigy 2 ZX Pro sound card, THX certified and capable of 7.1 surround connected to Creative DDTS-100 Decoder which has options to connect 3 component and 3 optical audio link inputs lines and has a toggle to switch between desktop soundcard and any other peripherals that are connected to the decoder.

PS3 console connected to Decoder via optical out for 5.1 output

Decoder is connected to Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1 THX surround sound.

Optional toggle switch on speaker audio controller to upscale 5.1 or 6.1 input to 7.1

Video connection:

Desktop graphics card connected via DVI output from Graphics card to 26" LCD monitor having 1920x1200 screen resolution.

PS3 console ( for blu-ray and up-scaled dvd playback) connected to monitor thru HDMI with audio channel disabled as the PS3 audio output is fed to decoder thru optical link.

This set up gives me an option to playback media files (mkv, et al) from my computer itself, or switch to loading blu ray or dvd disks on the PS3 console to get best bang for the buck as far as output is concerned, both on the audio and video front.

It might be a tad expensive and most probably the decoder might be extremely hard to source as well, as I think it has been pulled out of the market. But this has been a great set up for me so far.

Hope it helps.

[Maulik.Parekh 34]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for this lenghty write-up .. Appreciate your pains.

I get .mkv files which are typically 8-9GB in size with all extra features removed, keeping video to 1920*1200 & 5.1 Audio.

Since my lappy has got graphics card supporting 7.1 out & Full HD resolution & my HDTV is also Full HD, I was looking for a solution.

I thank you all for the valuable inputs, now I will move to a couple of shops to check decoders/HT systems if any available for cheap.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Checkout Onkyo HT-S3300. This is available in India officially with warranty at approx. 25k. It covers all your needs and a pretty future proof with HDMI 1.4a (Latest version of HDMI), HD Audio etc.

Onkyo HT-S3300 Spec Link http://www.us.onkyo....***=Systems&p=i