Xbox / Sky+ to Surround Sound Nightmare

confusedtechy · 16-11-2009, 8:09 PM

Hi,

I'm in desperate need of assistance. Please Help!

I currently have an Xbox 360, Wii, Sky+ HD and I want to connect them all up to the surround sound. (The Wii, I'm not that fussed about, but if it can be done then fantastic)

My TV is an Hitachi L37V01UA and my Home Cinema System is a Philips HTS3164

What is the best way to connect them all up to give the ultimate Cinema/TV/Gaming experience (well the best that can be achieved with the Hitachi TV and Philips Home Cinema)

I currently have Sky connected directly into the surround sound as i've not been able to manage to connect it all together so far with the cables that I have.

My system is connected up as follows.

My Xbox and Wii are currently connected to a Component Switch which is connected to the TV. My Sky is connected via HDMI to the TV and the Philips system is connected to the TV via HDMI.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yours,

ConfusedTechy

11neil11 · 16-11-2009, 8:24 PM

You don't seem to have your xbox, wii and sky+ connected to your home cinema. So they will all output sound through the tv but your DVD player would output sound through home cinema speakers. I have mine set up like this - ps3: connected via optical to home cinema (audio) and hdmi to the tv (video), v+ box connected to tv via hdmi and to home cinema (via optical switch with ps3) using optical lead. Hope this helps.

davepuma · 16-11-2009, 8:30 PM

I'm afraid it doesn't have optical inputs so you won't get discrete multi channel surround sound but it has an auxiliary (AUX) analogue audio input. Therefore if your TV has analogue audio out (red/white), I would connect everything to the TV and then run the audio from the TV to the home cinema system using an RCA phono (red/white) cable. This will give you a pseudo surround effect taken by mixing the 2.0 stereo signal.

Make sure you connect to an output on the TV and not an input.

confusedtechy · 16-11-2009, 9:12 PM

Thanks.

I've tried what you said, I think

But I'm not getting any sound from the surround sound now.

I've got the PB Y PR from my switch going to the AV3 PB Y PR inputs on the TV. The audio from the switch to the TV in the AV3 audio inputs.

I've got audio out (or at least I think it's audio out) going from the TV to the Surround Sound. I've tried different combinations to test and none work.

I've looked at a manual on the internet for my tv.

See following link http://www.hdtvreview.com/pdf/hitachi-l37v01-manual.pdf (pg 7)

Going by this I have them in all the correct places. (H) is my connection from TV to Surround Sound. and J & I are the Component Video and Audio inputs I've used.

Like I said earlier, I have the dvd player connected up by HDMI (as it is an upscaling system) The other HDMI socket is still occupied by the Sky box

davepuma · 16-11-2009, 9:19 PM

Do you get Freeview audio from (H) on the home cinema system? Have you selected the AUX input on the home cinema system?

confusedtechy · 16-11-2009, 9:25 PM

My Freeview doesn't work, so i'm not sure about that.

Aux is set on the dvd player. So in theory it should work.

Unless the connections are completely wrong, but I followed your instructions and looked at the diagram of the connections for my TV. I just haven't a clue.

I've just put everything back to the way it was, so at least I have something working and the audio wasn't working on the TV for the Xbox, so I've just had to connect that to (H) for it to work.

confusedtechy · 16-11-2009, 9:36 PM

Is there any kind of switch / box that I could purchase that would allow me to connect it all up? I'm happy to do that if it's easier.

davepuma · 16-11-2009, 9:46 PM

Perhaps the TV only outputs audio from its built in Freeview tuner and not from external sources? I'm guessing but if you're saying that no audio was present, then I suspect that is the case. If your Freeview was working you would be able to prove that. Another thing to check is the TV's audio settings menu, in case there is a setting there to activate the output but I'm sure it would be active by default.

TBH, you're looking at upgrading to a system or separates with sufficient inputs for your current and future needs. Home-cinema-in-a-box / All-in-one solutions are not suitable for multiple sources as they are limited in terms of inputs and functionality and are only really designed to be used with their built-in player.

You can get phono switches if you want to share the AUX input for your sources but in the end, you are not getting true surround sound this way.

davepuma · 16-11-2009, 9:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by confusedtechy

I've just put everything back to the way it was, so at least I have something working and the audio wasn't working on the TV for the Xbox, so I've just had to connect that to (H) for it to work.

I don't understand why you had to return everything to the way it was, the only change was an audio cable going from the TV to the amp, wasn't it? If the audio wasn't working for the Xbox 360 on the TV, why was that? You must have changed something, which may or may not explain why you didn't hear anything from the Xbox360. As I said you do not need to change anything other than connecting an audio cable from the TV.

Have you tried connecting the source's audio output direct to the AUX input (then select it) to ensure that it is working?

confusedtechy · 17-11-2009, 7:15 PM

Hi,

Thanks DavePuma for your help with this.

What I meant was last night was that I've put the audio cable back into the skybox for now until a solution can be found.

I found that when I plugged the audio cable into the TV Output that no sound came from any of my equipment. I will have a look at the settings like you suggested. Failing that I will have to leave it and eventually invest in a better system.

Thanks again.

Confusedtechy