Connecting PC to TV

ViperGTI

ViperGTI

New member
So I've been kinda sick these last two weeks and since it is weekend again and I can mostly remain horizontal, I'm thinking to maybe go out and get a wireless controller and a long HDMI cable so that I can play PC games in front of my TV (with Steam Big Picture and controller support and all). (Since I can't really do much else anyway)

Problem is the sound. The TV only has one audio output which is optical, an input that my DVD surround system does not have and my TV's internal audio is complete crap. Even for normal TV it has to go through the surround system because it is pretty much useless.

Since the HDMI cable carries sound and video, does anybody know of some kind of device / gadget that can serve as a gateway between the PC and TV / sound system? Basically it must take HDMI input (from PC) and output to both HDMI (back to the TV) and I think it is called RCA (to the sound system).

I will eventually get a decent / newer surround sound system, but I'm still saving up eBucks. :)
 
What GPU do you have and have you checked your Control panel for you default playback device? Set that to HDMI as your first try bud.
 
ViperGTI said:
So I've been kinda sick these last two weeks and since it is weekend again and I can mostly remain horizontal, I'm thinking to maybe go out and get a wireless controller and a long HDMI cable so that I can play PC games in front of my TV (with Steam Big Picture and controller support and all). (Since I can't really do much else anyway)

Problem is the sound. The TV only has one audio output which is optical, an input that my DVD surround system does not have and my TV's internal audio is complete crap. Even for normal TV it has to go through the surround system because it is pretty much useless.

Since the HDMI cable carries sound and video, does anybody know of some kind of device / gadget that can serve as a gateway between the PC and TV / sound system? Basically it must take HDMI input (from PC) and output to both HDMI (back to the TV) and I think it is called RCA (to the sound system).

I will eventually get a decent / newer surround sound system, but I'm still saving up eBucks. :)
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You'll have to get a conversion box somewhere in between, since HDMI is digital and RCA is analog, or get a second cable to carry sound. The second cable should be the cheaper option, but not quite as practical..
 
wait your tv already has surround sound? Then surely just plug in the cable and it will play through the current Tv sound?
 
Avatar said:
You'll have to get a conversion box somewhere in between, since HDMI is digital and RCA is analog, or get a second cable to carry sound. The second cable should be the cheaper option, but not quite as practical..
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You know... I can be such a bright spark sometimes (sarcastically speaking). Turns out the simplest solution (that never occurred to me), is going to be the easiest. I'll just get a second cable and plug it into the S/PDIF of both the pc and sound system.
Thanks
 
ViperGTI said:
You know... I can be such a bright spark sometimes (sarcastically speaking). Turns out the simplest solution (that never occurred to me), is going to be the easiest. I'll just get a second cable and plug it into the S/PDIF of both the pc and sound system.
Thanks
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Simple solutions are always the best.
 
ViperGTI said:
You know... I can be such a bright spark sometimes (sarcastically speaking). Turns out the simplest solution (that never occurred to me), is going to be the easiest. I'll just get a second cable and plug it into the S/PDIF of both the pc and sound system.
Thanks
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Glad I could help! :D
 
This is actually working pretty awesome (with Steam Big Picture mode)... It crashes a lot, but when it is working, it is pretty awesome.
 
ViperGTI said:
This is actually working pretty awesome (with Steam Big Picture mode)... It crashes a lot, but when it is working, it is pretty awesome.
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Steam Big Picture mode is awesome :D Such a simple addition and yet makes so much sense with all the controller enabled games :) Their whole integration with making the chat and achievements looks pretty much like a console are pretty good, although their keyboard idea takes a while to get used to :/
 
ViperGTI said:
1920x1080
Running 2x MSI Geforce 560GTX TI Twin Frozr IIs in SLI.
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Seriously it should not be crashing as you mentioned earlier, stupid question but do you have the ( latest is not always best ) optimal drivers for your cards?
 
Roomys_ZA said:
Seriously it should not be crashing as you mentioned earlier, stupid question but do you have the ( latest is not always best ) optimal drivers for your cards?
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Noooo... I only upgrade drivers if I really need to. Have had too many issues with keeping drivers up to date and then trying to fix the issues. I upgraded drivers earlier this year, but that's it.
 
ViperGTI said:
Noooo... I only upgrade drivers if I really need to. Have had too many issues with keeping drivers up to date and then trying to fix the issues. I upgraded drivers earlier this year, but that's it.
Click to expand...

Another silly question ( god i hope your not running Win 8 ) but how much ram do you have and....FFS list your PC specs please :)
 
I7 2600K
20Gb RAM
Windows 7 x64

I am however pretty sure the problem is with Steam... Everything else works 100% without crashing. Just Steam crashes when in Big Picture mode, either somewhere while playing the game or when closing the game because by the time I'm done playing and exit to Windows, steam is gone. It doesn't bother me though since it doesn't actually switch back to Windows when Steam crashes, so I'm not getting interrupted and I'm ok with that.
 
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