Need AV receiver

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was wondering if you guys knew of a low cost av receiver. i just got a new hdtv and it doesnt have the correct audio out i need to hook it up to my pc's x-fi extreme gamer soundcard. i run everything through my pcs soun even my surround sound in my room. the av receiver should have a few inputs along with a rca audio output and hopefully a hdmi output for video or if not hdmi i could use component output as its just a 26 inch lcd 720p curtis model number LCD2603A. i need to hook up a few consles like a 360 and ps2 along with a few older ones like snes and n64

 

That depends on what you mean by low-cost. Also, what kind of connection does your sound card need? Is it just RCAs? Most any receiver should have RCA, and at least a few HDMI connections. But the more you are willing to pay the better the options for connectivity and for better sound quailty.

 

soundcard has the standard 3.5mm jack but i have an rca to 3.5mm cable with 2 rca connectors on one end. im not asking for a high priced av recevier with all the bells and whistle i just need something thats not going ot cost me an arm and a leg. all my tv has for the audio output is a spdif connector and the spdif connection on my sound cars is audio out only so thats not going to help me much. well if you can think of an av reciever that has spdif input and rca output i could use that instead to hook it up to my pc considering the tv has no headphone jack.

 

There are typically one or two opitical connections on most receivers, even inexpensive ones, so I don't think that will be a problem for you, (often they are just marked DVD). I take it that you are just using the DVD player in your computer, rather than a separate, stand-alone player. But you have have to have the cable that supports the S/Pdif protocol (it may have come with your sound card). Look for the orange RCA connections.

This may be of help:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mce/expert/connect_av.mspx#EYE

 

no i didnt get the cable with my sound card. and yeah i am basicly using my pc for all my media needs including the dvd player. heres the soundcard i own http://us.store.creative.com/Sound-Blaster-XFi-XtremeGamer/M/B000J1F1BI.htm and the speaker system i have is the logitech x-530 system

 

I don't see the opitical connection on there. You will probably have to use the RCAs, which should not be a problem.

My personal preference for receivers are Denon or Yamaha, but Onkyo and Harmon/Kardon are good as well. What kind of speakers are you going to drive?

The connection can be a coax as well.

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Topken - This is what you need:

http://www.google.com/products/cata...dule&hl=en&cid=2199444873096938525&sa=title#p

This is really a flexible set-up, since you can use either Coax or optical

 

the speakers ive got are the logitech x-530s for my bedroom and thats where ill be sticking the av receiver as for the spdif output on the card its the first jack considering it doubles as my microphone and line in jack as well as the spdif output.

 

Yes, but you won't be able to plug the coax/optical cable directly into the sound card without some kind of adaptor. A regular RCA cable is only analog, not digital, and will not carry the full S/Pdif signal if I'm not mistaken. You need the right protocol for the Dolby/DTS signal, but I could be wrong. As for the powered computer speakers, those are low-fi speakers, so I don't think the sound quality of even a low-end receiver will be an issue, unless you plan on upgrading the speakers in the future.

Are you just going to plug the sub into the receiver and let the sub power the sats? The sats only carry about 7 or 8 watts and that's into 4 ohms. I get the feeling I'm missing something important in what you are doing here. I took this to mean that you wanted to run a digital/DTS signal from the computer into the receiver with the TV plugged into the receiver via HDMI. I suppose you can still run the powered speakers into the sound card, but then you will not be using the signal processing/amplification of the receiver, since the sound card would be providing the audio directly to the speakers for the computer. You would only be using the video processing of the receiver via HDMI. But I get the feeling I'm missing something. I apologize, Topken.

 

I do not know much about sound the two way you want to do it.

But is there no lag in this setup? I do not want you to buy the set to find out that the sound is one step behind the TV?

You can run a dvd in the pc and use the sound of the set connected to your pc while your graphics chip uses the tv as second display. That will work.
You want to use the sound from the tv and play it trough the pc to your suround set.? One question: does that single IN 3,5 jack not use stereo sound only?

 

There could be, but it might be very small. I've never really tried a setup like this.

I know he should be able to get the sound from his computer DVD player through his AVR, but if the amp is not going to process the signal from the TV, but just as an HDMI pass-through (possibily?), the audio signal from the TV will have to find it's way into the sound card input, I think, and the video card will have to handle the picture.

 

heres what i was hoping to do. i was hoping to push the sound from the tv to the av receiver and hook my consoles to the receiver as well then push the sound from the reciver to the pc and let the soundcard and settings i have push the sound out through the speakers. as for the speakers them selves the three 3.5mm jacks for hooking it to the pc are in the front right sat and not the sub. as in letting the pc do the audio processing and not the av receiver unless you guys know of a better solution thats not going to cost me a bundle to get working correctly. think of it this way i use my pc as a multimedia pc basically.

 

Is a pc speaker set with optical in no solution?

 

lets just say im on a limited income and i can barely afford a few things right now. in the futre it mabe a possibailty if i can get the money saved up for them. i got this set of speakers for only $80 at walmarts and they are really great sounding to me for what i use them for. i normal use a pair of headphones for playing my pc games but my emulators use the speakers and so does my music and any shows or movies ive bought on dvd.

 

It does not sound as if the receiver is processing much of anything. Unless I'm missing something, have you considered just plugging your TV directly into the computer? If there are S/PDIF ports on the TV, you should be able to go directly to your sound card and graphics card, I would think. Are those ports coax or optical on the TV?

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I was checking around and found this Pioneer. It's got a very good reveiw from a good audio site, (these guys know their stuff), and it's got both coax and optical S/Pdif on the back panel. Very good price for this much AVR.

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/receivers/pioneer-vsx-520-k-fl

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/...0-k-fl/VSX520k_back.JPG/image_view_fullscreen

 

ive only got a spdif out rca type connector on my tv and the only spdif on my pc is an output only and i dont think my soundcard could handle the input fromt he spdif connection. as for my graphics card i only have a geforce 7600 gs still havent got the money for the new 9600 gt yet but im working on it. this kinda stink that my tv dont have the right audio outputs like my old crt had otherwise i would just use the same cable i used with the crt which is a rca to 3.5mm cable

 

Topken - What color is the RCA on the TV? IF it orange it is actually an S/Pdif coax.

Nevermind, I already have it. It is coax, but your TV also has HDMI, which is what I would use for the AVR.

http://review.zdnet.com/product/flat-panel-tvs/curtis-lcd2603a-26-lcd-tv/33965217

 

the spdif is black in color

 

You posted at the same time I did. It is coax (see above).

 

lol the hdmi's arent ouput they are input. im needing the sound fromt he tv to go to my pc so i can use my 5.1 logitech 5.1 speaker system. the only input on my sound card is a standard 3.5mm line in and microphone in and it doubles as the only spdif output. iff i really need to i can use the audio out on my pc and hook it to eaither the tv vi the pc input then run the spdif out from the tv ot he av receiver and get new speakers to use with the receiver. but i want ot do that im going to need about $300 for the receiver and then whatever the cables and speakers are going to run me. but ide rather use what i have but that might not be feasible with what im needing. i was hoping to do this for cheap but it doesnt look like im going to be able to. as i said i use headphones for my pc games but my speakers for my emulators and everything else like music and movies.

 

Yes, you will need the inputs. You are going from the DVD in the PC, to the AVR, to the TV, for playback of DVDs. That's your video playback. I think your TV video broadcast should go directly to the video card, if possible. Right?

Don't forget about the Creative Module plug-in. It's only $14.95.