Laptop as media PC - suggestion required

[kvm]

Hello everyone

Am planning to setup a laptop as a media player to play both music and movies.

For music: USB -> DAC -> AMP --- seems straight forward, no major issues.

For movies: Laptop HDMI -> TV for video; but how do I get 5.1 audio? Will the USB be able to stream 5.1 audio and if so what are the right s/w and h/w solutions? I am looking out for a good solution to provide 5.1 audio digital to my AVR input. If not are there any good laptops with digital audio out that can be hooked to AVR directly?

I am looking for a laptop based solution than building a dedicated HTPC.

Any suggestions/ current setup directions appreciated from our esteemed FMs.

regards

 

[gauthamnaidu]

Hello everyone

Am planning to setup a laptop as a media player to play both music and movies.

For music: USB -> DAC -> AMP --- seems straight forward, no major issues.

For movies: Laptop HDMI -> TV for video; but how do I get 5.1 audio? Will the USB be able to stream 5.1 audio and if so what are the right s/w and h/w solutions? I am looking out for a good solution to provide 5.1 audio digital to my AVR input. If not are there any good laptops with digital audio out that can be hooked to AVR directly?

I am looking for a laptop based solution than building a dedicated HTPC.

Any suggestions/ current setup directions appreciated from our esteemed FMs.

regards

For 5.1 sound try

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Sound Card | Creative Labs Online Store

Amazon.com: Zalman ZM-RSSC External USB 5.1 Sound Card: Electronics

 

[007india]

I would suggest, buy a laptop with HDMi & min 2GB graphics memory and array of USB 3.0. Make sure it has Dolby digital logo in it.

5.1ch, depending on the source, the laptop can output HD video and multi channel audio via HDMI port itself. The same you can use for both movie and music itself.

Use software media players like Power DVD and VLC player. They have the option to stream 5.1ch audio if its available with source. Just plug the HDMI from laptop to AVR and you are done. I don't understand why do you need USB for audio.

Hello everyone

Am planning to setup a laptop as a media player to play both music and movies.

For music: USB -> DAC -> AMP --- seems straight forward, no major issues.

For movies: Laptop HDMI -> TV for video; but how do I get 5.1 audio? Will the USB be able to stream 5.1 audio and if so what are the right s/w and h/w solutions? I am looking out for a good solution to provide 5.1 audio digital to my AVR input. If not are there any good laptops with digital audio out that can be hooked to AVR directly?

I am looking for a laptop based solution than building a dedicated HTPC.

Any suggestions/ current setup directions appreciated from our esteemed FMs.

regards

 

[sl4y3r]

Any new laptop with an HDMI port will be able to output lossless audio using the right codecs / software. But if you intend on going the 3D route make sure you have a good powerful video card that supports HDMI 1.4a.

 

[Santy]

For movies: Laptop HDMI -> TV for video; but how do I get 5.1 audio? Will the USB be able to stream 5.1 audio and if so what are the right s/w and h/w solutions? I am looking out for a good solution to provide 5.1 audio digital to my AVR input. If not are there any good laptops with digital audio out that can be hooked to AVR directly?

I guess you have to connect your laptop to AVR through HDMI and then from AVR to TV. That is how normally AVRs are connected. HDMI carries 5.1 signal (DTS or Dolby). No need for any additional sound card. The software player can be set to bitstream the audio.

 

[sl4y3r]

I guess you have to connect your laptop to AVR through HDMI and then from AVR to TV. That is how normally AVRs are connected..

That's right, unless you your TV has optical out, you can use that route. Many TV's do not decode/passthrough DTS, also, im pretty sure HD audio will not be possible via a toslink optical cable . So do the connection Santy has detailed for.

 

[kvm]

Many thanks gauthamnaidu, 007india,sl4y3r & santy for your replies. Unfortunately my AVR doesn't have a HDMI input (its a 10yr old onkyo..) -- hence my need to stream 5.1 thru USB itself or by other means. Sorry, my bad, I should have probably stated before itself.

Well, gauthamnaidu - thx for the suggestion. saw mixed reviews about creative gear - any folks here using the same and any feedback is much appreciated.

alternatively, are there good laptops with co-ax digital audio output or any accessories that can be hooked to the lappy to deliver the same...

many thanks in advance,

 

[Maxprocrj]

Macbook pro

 

[asliarun]

Many thanks gauthamnaidu, 007india,sl4y3r & santy for your replies. Unfortunately my AVR doesn't have a HDMI input (its a 10yr old onkyo..) -- hence my need to stream 5.1 thru USB itself or by other means. Sorry, my bad, I should have probably stated before itself.

If you want 5.1 audio output from your laptop, whatever be the connectivity (HDMI, etc.) you'll still need to feed that output into something. Meaning, you can't directly hook up the output from your laptop into your speakers.

You're going to need some kind of an AVR or surround preamp. If you already have an AVR but it doesn't support HDMI, you can possibly buy a surround preamp that accepts HDMI input, and sends out 5.1 channels of audio. You can then feed these channels into your AVR which can act as a power amplifier.

 

[pradhan]

i am using my laptop for playing bluray and rip.....very simple setup ...
Option 1.hdmi to avr to tv ....
option 2 hdmi to tv for both sound and video and tv digital out to avr....

please check spec of your tv if its optical out support 5.1 audio...
I do this with my lg tv setup which have 5.1 optical out and if i am playing rip on hdd through tv....

Many thanks gauthamnaidu, 007india,sl4y3r & santy for your replies. Unfortunately my AVR doesn't have a HDMI input (its a 10yr old onkyo..) -- hence my need to stream 5.1 thru USB itself or by other means. Sorry, my bad, I should have probably stated before itself.

Well, gauthamnaidu - thx for the suggestion. saw mixed reviews about creative gear - any folks here using the same and any feedback is much appreciated.

alternatively, are there good laptops with co-ax digital audio output or any accessories that can be hooked to the lappy to deliver the same...

many thanks in advance,

 

[Deleted member 45006]

Many thanks gauthamnaidu, 007india,sl4y3r & santy for your replies. Unfortunately my AVR doesn't have a HDMI input (its a 10yr old onkyo..) -- hence my need to stream 5.1 thru USB itself or by other means. Sorry, my bad, I should have probably stated before itself.

Well, gauthamnaidu - thx for the suggestion. saw mixed reviews about creative gear - any folks here using the same and any feedback is much appreciated.

alternatively, are there good laptops with co-ax digital audio output or any accessories that can be hooked to the lappy to deliver the same...

many thanks in advance,[/QUOTE
I don't think any problem in getting any cheap USB sound card with optical or coaxial out which from eBay as you just need some converter which would do a bitstream. Or m I wrong?

 

[kvm]

thanks maxprocrj, asliarun, pradhan & alby tommy for your replies.

yes, I have AVR but it doesn't accept HDMI and I don't think my Sony LCD has a digital audio out too (need to check though).
What am looking for is a good quality (I don't mind it being cheap, on price front though ) USB converter to generate bitstream either thru optical/ coaxial as alby rightly said.

@Maxprocrj: Mac solution - is a different world (could be exciting), but I am kind of born/ brought up in the windows world and all my hardware is windows based today. So a platform change is the last thing on my mind...

Having said, "Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Sound Card" seems to do the trick of generating 5.1 out of optical. Pl let me know if anyone used the same.

regards

 

[Santy]

I think you have few options

HDMI to Coaxial converter like this
or
The one you mentioned
Creative USB Sound Blaster X Fi PRO Surround 5.1 Sound Card | eBay

I suggest to get the Creative laptop sound card.

This also seems to be another option (from Monoprice) though it does more than what you need.

3X1 HDMI Converter Switch HDMI, DVI, Component (YpbPr) w/ R/L Stereo Audio, and SPDIF to HDMI

In addition to sending the audio output on the HDMI channel, the converter also sends it simultaneously to an Optical Digital (Toslink) output, so you can send the audio to both your AV receiver over Toslink and your TV over the HDMI cable.

 

[asliarun]

thanks maxprocrj, asliarun, pradhan & alby tommy for your replies.

yes, I have AVR but it doesn't accept HDMI and I don't think my Sony LCD has a digital audio out too (need to check though).
What am looking for is a good quality (I don't mind it being cheap, on price front though ) USB converter to generate bitstream either thru optical/ coaxial as alby rightly said.

@Maxprocrj: Mac solution - is a different world (could be exciting), but I am kind of born/ brought up in the windows world and all my hardware is windows based today. So a platform change is the last thing on my mind...

Having said, "Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Sound Card" seems to do the trick of generating 5.1 out of optical. Pl let me know if anyone used the same.

Hi KVM

I am still not able to understand how you will amplify the 5 channels of sound. Does your avr accept 5 input audio channels?

What I am saying is, even if you are able to extract 5 audio channels from your PC, you will still need to amplify it. And only a modern avr can do that unless I am missing something obvious.

And if you are going to use a newer avr for the amplification, you might as well feed HDMI into it and let it do the audio separation.
regards

 

[kvm]

Thanks Santy for the suggestions. I guess, creative is the one that clearly matches my requirement. Am only wanting/waiting to know if anyone has tried it and found it good for 5.1 or not...

Hi asliarun: probably you missed my earlier posts. I do have an AVR that does the 5.1 processing. I need a sort of converter that takes USB 5.1 audio from laptop (during movie playback) and generates 5.1 either out of co-ax or optical ports to connect to AVR. Unfortunately my AVR doesn't have HDMI input which would have simplified a lot! Creative seems to have the right match, for now.

regards

 

[Santy]

What I am saying is, even if you are able to extract 5 audio channels from your PC, you will still need to amplify it. And only a modern avr can do that unless I am missing something obvious.

Arun, you mean old AVRs dosen't amplify?
I do think you are missing something here.

With the creative sound card, OP can connect the AVR in two ways.
Connect decoded 5.1 analog output from sound card to AVR using RCA cables or
Connect AVR with sound card through its optical/ coaxial output and bitstream the audio
[ whichever delivers better SQ ]

 

[gauthamnaidu]

Many thanks gauthamnaidu, 007india,sl4y3r & santy for your replies. Unfortunately my AVR doesn't have a HDMI input (its a 10yr old onkyo..) -- hence my need to stream 5.1 thru USB itself or by other means. Sorry, my bad, I should have probably stated before itself.

Well, gauthamnaidu - thx for the suggestion. saw mixed reviews about creative gear - any folks here using the same and any feedback is much appreciated.

alternatively, are there good laptops with co-ax digital audio output or any accessories that can be hooked to the lappy to deliver the same...

many thanks in advance,

a friend of mine uses sucha setup for gaming..
i think he's pretty much happy about it..
atleast he doesnt complain...

but again..it all comes to expectations and satisfaction of individuals...

 

[asliarun]

Arun, you mean old AVRs dosen't amplify?
I do think you are missing something here.

With the creative sound card, OP can connect the AVR in two ways.
Connect decoded 5.1 analog output from sound card to AVR using RCA cables or
Connect AVR with sound card through its optical/ coaxial output and bitstream the audio
[ whichever delivers better SQ ]

Yes, my mistake, Santy. Haven't used old AVRs so couldn't visualize the setup.

Thanks for clarifying as well, kvm.