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james
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Hi guys,
When building a HTPC running XBMC, what do you do with the audio receiver? Connect it to the TV or the HTPC? If PC, what exactly do I need hardware wise to accomplish this?
First let me clarify what I have. I have those old-style bookshelf speakers that use regular speaker wire. I connect them to a 2 channel stereo receiver. And the receiver is connected to my TV' with a red/white RCA cable. I live in an apartment so I don't plan on ever having a better audio system while I'm living here, it's more than adequate for me so I don't want to invest in some surround sound hardware for my HTPC build that won't be put to use in the near future.
That said, what would be an appropriate way to connect this audio system?
Appreciate any help, thanks!
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You'll probably need a mini (3.5mm) stereo jack to L/R RCA cable. Most likely your motherboard will have a 3.5mm output for stereo sound, so you use that and connect the other end to your receiver (assuming you have an open input). For video, you can either use the HDMI or VGA jack on the motherboard and connect up to your tv (again, assuming you have an TV with one of those inputs).
It's a little less elegant than just using HDMI to connect to the receiver and then on to the TV, but it will work nonetheless.
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james
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2012-05-21, 03:05
(This post was last modified: 2012-05-21, 03:09 by james.)
Thanks for the reply. So if I understood correctly, I have two choices:
- Connect motherboard to audio receiver
- Connect audio receiver to TV
What would be the advantage of connecting the receiver to the motherboard? Would it have better sound?
For video, I have a video card sitting around that has a HDMI output, I plan to use that.
Edit: I think this is where I'm getting confused. If the HDMI cable is connected from TV to video card, would the PC transmit audio data or is it JUST video? If it's just video then my only choice would be to connect to the motherboard right?
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We have a room in the house with a similar setup to yours. We have the Wii, an HTPC and cable hooked into three different inputs on the TV. Thw Wii is component video/analog audio, The HTPC is hooked in via HDMI and the cable via coax. There is a single analog (red/white) output to a simple bookshelf-type stereo with two speakers. When either the Wii, HTPC or cable is the selected input, that is the sound that comes out via the output.
HDMI carries both video and audio on a single cable. If your TV functions in the manner I've described, you should be able to just run HDMI from the PC to the TV and when that input is selected, the sound will be output via your current analog to stereo connection. You should verify that's what will happen for an HDMI input (check the owner's manual).
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Right. I may have misunderstood a little. So you're using the audio output on your TV to feed the audio to your receiver? If that's the case, then do as Dougie Fresh described. I just got the wrong impression from your OP. One HDMI cable is all it takes, and then keep your current connection from TV to receiver.
