no sound from home theatre system

Kitty Lau · **27th July 2006, 12:43 PM**

I have connected my MCE to my television using DVI -> HDMI cable to see video.

The audio I am using a 3.5mm from PC to RCA on my television, so sound from MCE is playing into my television speakers.

When I'm watching television (not through MCE) I can turn on my home theatre speakers (integrated dvd speaker system) and hear sound from all speakers becuase my TV is connected to home theatre speakers with RCA cables

When I'm using my MCE (or even XP), I can hear sound through my television speakers, BUT I cannot hear the sound through my home theatre speakers. . To get around this, I have got a 3.5mm splitter, so I've got audio cable from PC to my television as well as a cable going to my home theatre (however have to use the auxilary input to get sound out).

I thought that by having sound to my television, this would give the sound to my home theatre speakers. Is this right? If so, then why not working.

badapple · **27th July 2006, 01:19 PM**

Hi Kitty,

I think this would depend on your particular TV.

Some TV sound outputs (in fact most of them) only carry the onboard sound out from the internal tuner(s).

Some do have the ability to passthrough sound from other input devices but this is rare.

There may be a setting in the TV' s menu system to facilitate this, but you would have to refer to the manual.

Z0r0b · **27th July 2006, 01:34 PM**

A 3.5mm -> RCA (with splitter) is far from optimal as far as connecting a MCE PC to an amp goes. Have you tired connecting only the 3.5mm cable to your amp just to see if that works? Perhaps the splitter is faulty or the signal to your amp is too weak. A better solution would be either coax or optical to your amp (assuming your amp is 5.1).

Kitty Lau · **27th July 2006, 03:42 PM**

Sorry I might not have been clear.

I have my television connected to my amp, so when I'm watching my normal set top box television (nothing to do with HTPC), sound can come from television speaker and amp speakers.

This does not work when I'm watching television through MCE or XP

So get work around this, I have on my PC a 3.5mm splitter so that there is ability to have two 3.5mm connections.

I have 2 cables both cable has 3.5mm on one side and rca (red, white) cable on other end

I have plugged one cable from the splitter (back of computer) to rca on my television

I have plugged other cable from the splitter (back of computer) to rca on my home theatre amp.

This is only way I can get sound from my HTPC to both my television and amp speakers.

I might have to read my television manual after seeing BadApples comment.

Z0r0b · **27th July 2006, 03:58 PM**

I understood exactly your setup before the detailed explanation.

My point was that it's not the best way to do it. Splitters will decrease your output volume, hence why i said to try connecting your MCE direct to your amp to check whether that works (without using the splitter). If it does, then either your splitter is decreasing the MCE output volume too much, or your splitter could be faulty. Also have you checked the volumes on your PC to make sure you stereo out isn't too low or perhaps muted? Is the cable plugged in to the correct output of your soundcard?

The ideal connection (assuming you have a surround sound amp - do you?) would be 3.5mm -> RCA on your TV, plus Coax/Optical -> AMP. This way there is no splitting as you have independent connections. This is how i have mine connected. I can listen in stereo on my TV (although it's usually muted), or anything up to 5.1 audio (depending on the source) through my 5.1 amp.

Kitty Lau · **27th July 2006, 05:52 PM**

Yes I do.

I will try this.

thanks you Zorob. (cute name)

Z0r0b · **27th July 2006, 06:07 PM**

You're welcome! Let me know if you need any more help.