Hi. I am attepting to find a good quality home theatre system that can work with both my Xbox (a digital optical connection), and my laptop's sound card. The laptop has 3 coloured (red, blue and green) connectors that allow 5.1 audio output. The red one is a SPDIF, the blue is microphone in, and the green is stereo out. The software programme for this sound card (Realtek 97c 5.1) allows these connections to become 5.1 somehow.
Is it possible to obtain a home theatre system that has BOTH the optical AND 3 coloured connector inputs? Can the SPDIF be used instead?
I am really stuck at a dead end with this one and would greatky appreciate it if someone could help me out.
The SPDIF is the only connection you need, the XBox will do 5.1 through the optical, you may need a mini-din to RCA adapter for the "digital coax" connection from the laptop provided it is a true digital output.
Some sound cards do get 5.1 out of 3 connectors on analog 5.1 speaker sets by using the line in and line out as rear/front and the 3rd connector as sub channel. Your laptop documentation should let you know for sure if that output is "digital" and you probably have to set that option in drivers control panel. Make sure you get a "digital coax" adapter vs a regular mini din to RCA adapter as the cable impedence is different.