TV only has an optical out. Help connecting to PC 2.1 speakers

GreeboGumjob

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Hi everyone.

This is my first post, and hopefully someone can help me with this problem I've been pulling my hair out over for the past week. Hope it's in the correct place I posted on too (feel free to move if not).

So, around a year ago I got a new TV. Its is an LED one, a Samsung UE46B7000. A great TV. I thought. Recently I also bought a set of 2.1 speakers for my PC. Certainly not a superb set of speakers, but they suit me well enough for now. Seeing as the TV's built in speakers are pretty crud, I thought it might be nice to hook up my new PC speakers to the TV, for a nice sound quality. This is where the problems started. Normally I would just plug them into the headphone jack on the TV, but alas, there isn't one (?!?). In fact the only audio out on the TV is a digital optical out one, which I'm quite clueless about.

Therefore, my question is, what would be the best way to connect my TV to the speakers? So I can watch TV, play consoles and watch movies via DVI/HDMI connection to my PC? I'm hoping I won't have to pay out too much! Thanks for the help though. Would be a great help.
 
oh dear, there must be a headphone jack !
look a bit more ?
 
Thanks for the help guys.

Skyline, I've checked many times and there isn't one. Apparently not all TV's have them now.

larkone, thanks for that info. I'll admit I'm not too sharp with all this audio stuff, but I'm going to do some research, cheers. The speakers connect to the PC via red and white cables, that join into one green plug that fits into the PC.
 
The DAC recommended by larkone is probably the best way to get sound from your TV to the 2.1 speakers. But something to think about...

Some TVs only give output on their optical out for signal from the TV's internal tuner. So if you just connect TV to DAC and then DAC to speakers, then you might not get the sound from external devices (consoles, PC) without manually changing cables. You can buy switches to connect more than one device though.

Your TV's manual should tell you what conditions your TV will give optical output under.
 
Use the scart socket with an adapter to connect to your speakers. scarts are for in and out hopefully all the pins are connected. I keep posting this and no one has contradicted this so far.
 
The output pins aren't always connected. And if they are, it may still suffer from the same problem as optical, in that it only outputs from the TV's internal tuner.
On both counts, the TV's manual will give definite answers.
 
I seem to recall that on these new slimline TVs with SCART Adapters, the output pins aren't wired and can't be used to pass TV out. It's not really mentioned in manuals either so it's up to the owners to try it using a switchable SCART adapter and phono cable to see if it works. SCART is slowly being phased out so I'm not surprised to learn it isn't used as a TV OUT option.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.

I tried the manual but it really is very little help. I have a budget of around £150, so would it perhaps be better to buy a 2.1 speaker set designed for TV?

Basically, I'll be watching freeview, playing XBox360, watching movies from my PC connected to TV via HDMI/DVI, and listening to music through my PC. Ideally, I'd like to have all those come through a decent-ish set of speakers, preferably 2.1, as my room isn't too big. I'm not after anything too fancy either, just as long as it can do the job :)

Suggestions for the best set-up are much appreciated.
 
Thanks mate, that does look nice, but yeah, perhaps a little over budget for now. Wilol keep a note though.

Never actually tried a soundbar, but I've seen them about and they do look quite interesting. If it could do everything I needed, I'd certainly give one a try.
 

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