Help with LG Bluray Home Cinema

[meddyuk]

Hiya.

I'm after some help with my surround sound as its not working as well as it should.

I've got a LG Blu-ray Home cinema 5:1 set up. I also have the PC via HDMI 1 into the Panasonic Viera TV; I've got the Satellite Top Box going into HDMI 2 on the Viera.

The PC is connected via the black line out lead to a switch box and the Top Box is connected by Red/White Audio leads to the switch box, which is then connected by Red/White audio cables to the back of the LG Blu-ray home cinema unit.

When ever we play movies from the PC the surround will be intermittent and really only ever comes out in stereo from the front two speakers. I've checked the cabling of the speakers and have proved the surround sound ability of them all.

Is there a better way i can hook this all up. I've had a look at the back of the LG Blu-Ray box and there is a HDMi port out to the TV, but i believe that this is only if you wish to actually watch Blu ray discs from the unit.

 

[bigboss]

Won't it be just because the film audio is coded that way? My surrounds fire up only when the film scene demands surround effects.

 

[kikiso]

Hi meddyuk, I can't seem to load the manuals for the LG and I don't have one myself, so you need to establish if it has HDMI inputs. You are effectively only feeding stereo input from your TV and this can't produce genuine 5.1 sound. Instead, you need to feed any HDMI directly into the LG and then switch to whichever source you want to watch on the LG using the4 LG remote, the TV remains switched to the watch the LG. This all assumes the LG has the ability to handle the inputs and switch between them.

 

[meddyuk]

Hiya all and thank you for the replies.

I'm not feeding anything from the TV into the LG box, as i'm not bothered about watching anything from the LG. I only ever watch Movies and TV shows from the PC, which acts as a media centre and i also watch the Satelitte Top Box, both go into the TV via HDMI.

The LG home cinema is only used as an amp/medium for the surround sound.

If the PC is connected via line out to the surround sound using a 3mm to Audio jack (red/white) this should satisfy the 5:1 shouldn't it?

 

[bigboss]

Audio jack can only carry stereo sound.

 

[kikiso]

Yes, the only way to get 5.1 is either by HDMI, optical coax (sometimes referred to as a TOS link), or digital coax, Some PC soud cards can ouptut optical, you need to read your PC manual. The SKY box can output optical as well as HDMI. Either way, a 3.5mm jack connection will only provide stereo.

Let us know what the LG provides in terms of inputs and we may be able to offer further ideas/guidance.