Surround Sound/Optical Output - Please Help

[LouD86]

Afternoon All,

Hoping someone could guide me a little. When it comes to home entertainment, im hopeless! Just purchased a cheap TV for the den, so I can play xbox, or watch a dvd without clogging up the living room, and ive been looking at surround sound systems.

Ive noticed a few have optical outputs etc mentioned. I have no idea what this means.

All I want to do is plug is all in, turn TV on, get it through surround, when xbox is on, get it through there, and my tivo box aswell. Does this Tv have an optical output? I may be looking at the wrong info

TV; http://www.tesco.com/direct/technika-39-c273-39-fu...

Or any other advise on how to get the right surround sound. £100 max really, anything is better than the speakers on the TV

[probedb]

The TV doesn't have surround so you won't get it, just stereo. Assuming your XBox, DVD player and TIVO all have HDMI then you can plug them all into the TV and you'll get sound

If you want fake surround then go for a cheap soundbar (mayeb http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Channel-HT-CT60-Surro... ) which would cost about £100.

[LouD86]

Soundbar sounds like the job then!!

Thank you ever so much, quiok, simple and easy!

[Zod]

probedb said:

The TV doesn't have surround so you won't get it, just stereo. Assuming your XBox, DVD player and TIVO all have HDMI then you can plug them all into the TV and you'll get sound

If you want fake surround then go for a cheap soundbar (mayeb http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Channel-HT-CT60-Surro... ) which would cost about £100.

Freeview HD has DD 5.1 on quite a few programmes.

[probedb]

Zod said:

Freeview HD has DD 5.1 on quite a few programmes.

What's that got to do with physically getting surround out of the TV? Most stereo TV is Pro-Logic encoded so has surround when decoded.

The OP wanted to get surround sound.

[Zod]

probedb said:

Zod said:

Freeview HD has DD 5.1 on quite a few programmes.

What's that got to do with physically getting surround out of the TV? Most stereo TV is Pro-Logic encoded so has surround when decoded.

The OP wanted to get surround sound.

Most new TVs have an optical output that will send a 5.1 stream to a receiver.

[FlossyThePig]

Zod said:

probedb said:

Zod said:

Freeview HD has DD 5.1 on quite a few programmes.

What's that got to do with physically getting surround out of the TV? Most stereo TV is Pro-Logic encoded so has surround when decoded.

The OP wanted to get surround sound.

Most new TVs have an optical output that will send a 5.1 stream to a receiver.

The TV in question only has coax and 3.5mm audio out and no Freeview HD. The manual I came across had no useful info about the coax out as it said it could be connected to a soundbar or plugged into an amp (that seems incorrect to me).

[C&C]

FlossyThePig said:

The TV in question only has coax and 3.5mm audio out and no Freeview HD. The manual I came across had no useful info about the coax out as it said it could be connected to a soundbar or plugged into an amp (that seems incorrect to me).

Digital coax out is a valid method of connection for delivering suround sound signals to an amp/processor. Basically it does the same as an optical Toslink connection.

The TV manual doesn't give any more information about what signals it can actually deliver via this output - i.e. whether it can deliver a 5.1 signal or just delivers 2 channel over the output, but the digital coax medium is capable of carrying full surround signals.

Only issue may be finding a soundbar with digital coax input, as looking at a few, the optical Toslink input seems more comon than digital coax. You could always get a coax to Toslink converter I suppose (although that will add a bit more cost and another box into the equation).

ETA - Wiki link re. multi channel sound SPDIF on optical and coax

Edited by C&C on Monday 22 April 18:23

[Zod]

If there's no Freesat or Freeeview HD, the TV won't have any multichannel signal to output.

[LouD86]

Hands up, Im lost!!

Basically, give up on the idea? Simple solution? Maybe just get a nice 2.1 set up, purely to give more volume during films, the piddly speakers on the tv get scared with any bass

[TonyRPH]

According to the manual this set has coaxial digital out and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

manual said:

Sound Outputs 1 x Coax Audio output** , 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack

So, the OP could either connect a sound bar with a coaxial digital input, or simply use a stereo amplifier fed from the 3.5mm headphone socket, into the "Aux" input on said amplifier.

• assumed to be a digital output - contact the manufacturer / distributor to confirm.