Multiple Audio Input Single Audio Output

[Djinni]

Setup:

2x PC towers.
1x TV (5 channel Optical Out (TOSLink) or 2 Channel stereo out.
1x Creative Inspire T6300 (5.1 Surround)
1x Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme audio pci express

What I want to achieve:

Sound from any source can be played on the speaker system at any time, even at the same time.
We aren't planning on doing anything stupid (like playing music from 2 different PC's at the same time and expecting to hear it come out crystal clear) but it would be nice not to have to switch between sources whenever we wanted to use voice on one machine, or listen to the TV.

My initial thought was that I could use the Line-in from PC2 to the sound card on PC1, with the optical out from the TV to the optical in on the sound card.
However in practice, I have so far been unable to get any useful sound from the optical in port.

[Skytip]

Belkin RockStar Multi Splitter

[Wildtree]

PC and Audio that's usually a crappy combination.. Always challenging.
Else a splitter, or a few (depending on the cables needed) is the way to go.

[Djinni]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-MixIt...dp/B0017VKV2I/ ?

I suppose theres no reason it wouldn't work in reverse. Would need 3 of them though. And would still be down grading the TV to 2 channel sound from 5.1 output.

Guess I'd also need some more cables.


Which brings me to:



+ 41.65 7x 5 Meter 3.5 Audio Cable
+ 24.09 3x Belkin MixIt Color Range Rockstar Multi 5-Way Splitter
---------------
+ 71.69

Thats a lot of money for 1 of the the 3 audio sources to only be 2 channel stereo sound.

[lockblock]

And would still be down grading the TV to 2 channel sound from 5.1 output.

I'm curious how you are getting 5.1 from the tv to your t6300 speakers? All the pictures I have seen indicate it only has 3 analog connectors. That being said you must already own some kind of D-A converter that supports dd5.1 or you're upmixing it from the computers optical input.

[Denpepe]

According to this thread the optical in does not support 5.1 sound.

[Djinni]

I'm curious how you are getting 5.1 from the tv to your t6300 speakers? All the pictures I have seen indicate it only has 3 analog connectors. That being said you must already own some kind of D-A converter that supports dd5.1 or you're upmixing it from the computers optical input.

Currently, I have not yet succeeded. Hence the thread ;-)

According to this thread the optical in does not support 5.1 sound.

According to that thread that was a driver/codec issue back in 2011. Not a case that the hardware does not support it, although I have found nothing on the creative website to indicate one way or the other.

What I do know is that the TV has:
dts 2.0 + Digital Out / DTS Premium Audio
DTS Premium Audio 5.1
And an Optical out connector, leading me to believe that the TV is capable of outputting 5.1 sound on the TOSlink.

When I bought the sound card, I was lead to believe that it would support a 1/2/2.1/5.1/7.1 digital input/output. (It also doesn't make sense to me to build hardware that would support 7.1 out, but only 2 in on the same controller.

Currently all I get at the moment when I try and loop the Digital In to Analog out through the sound card is white noise with what appears to be something that almost sounds like what's on TV, but you can never quite be sure.
Hence why the current solution only accounts for a 2 channel stereo out from the TV through the single analog out connector.

[lockblock]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/keywords=digital%20audio%20decoder
Just make sure you buy one that supports dolby digital 5.1 (ac3) decoding as that is what broadcast TV uses.

I know these are expensive but it's the price you pay with an odd setup like this.

[Saphyron]

technically yo could make it yourself.

Just quickly made this in paint. Its the sort of thing I did in school


Basicly you have a remote control or do it on the box itself.
You then choose which one goes active and the rest are inactive.

Should work perfectly fine.
Won't work with 2 active at same time ofc.

but you can make it yourself its not really that hard.

[Djinni]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/keywords=digital%20audio%20decoder
Just make sure you buy one that supports dolby digital 5.1 (ac3) decoding as that is what broadcast TV uses.

I know these are expensive but it's the price you pay with an odd setup like this.

Hmm, not sure how one would use that...

I don't know why its so odd wanting to output multiple sources to a single speaker system.
Granted when I asked about this in Richer Sounds they were initially very confused, and then started pointing me towards £900+ DAC's that still didn't do the job properly.
Had one of these before in my original house before we moved where you would just plug optical or 3.5mm jacks into the wall and it would come out in every room in the house. You had such a socket in each room and was a nightmare when people wanted to play different things.

- - - Updated - - -

technically yo could make it yourself.

This does seem like something I'm going to have to do some research into and give a try.

[Saphyron]

Would not surprise me if something like this did not exist already but you would need a:
printboard.
toggle switch
a box
female jack for input and output
wires
and proper tools for putting it together.

or just hire a guy and give him the explanation

[Djinni]

Would not surprise me if something like this did not exist already but you would need a:
printboard.
toggle switch
a box
female jack for input and output
wires
and proper tools for putting it together.

or just hire a guy and give him the explanation

Any particular reason I have to use a switch?
Can't I just mix all the inputs together?
Although to be honest at that point it is just the basically the same as the belkin solution with a single box instead of 3.

[lockblock]

What I linked earlier just enables you to use your TV with analog computer speakers.

[Saphyron]

Any particular reason I have to use a switch?
Can't I just mix all the inputs together?
Although to be honest at that point it is just the basically the same as the belkin solution with a single box instead of 3.

Well don't need to use the switch you can use something else that would give the same result. I just took whatever I knew would work.
And no unless you want all the sounds to go through at same time putting all input together will be horrible.

with a switch mechanism you can control which sounds go through.

edit: also with the belkin solution its switched around. belkin takes 1 input and gives 5 output.

Best way would to build a digital system. the one I linked is just the simplest form you can make it.

[Denpepe]

Any chance you can hook up the tv to one pc and get both of those signals toghether to the other pc?

[Saphyron]

Any chance you can hook up the tv to one pc and get both of those signals toghether to the other pc?

think you need a capture card for that one i'm afraid.

[Djinni]

also with the belkin solution its switched around. belkin takes 1 input and gives 5 output..

The bekin solution is most likely just a bunch of wires connecting to another bunch of wires, no chips or anything intelligent, its just sending an analog signal to multiple locations.
No reason to believe it wouldn't work both ways round.

- - - Updated - - -

Well don't need to use the switch you can use something else that would give the same result. I just took whatever I knew would work.
And no unless you want all the sounds to go through at same time putting all input together will be horrible.

It may do. But I have no real intention of trying to play music, watch tv and watch youtube or whatever else on each device at the same time.
I just want to avoid the hassle of remembering to switch between each audio source.
Certainly I don't expect to do anything different to what I already do, other than being able to hear the TV through the surround speakers instead of the built in ones when playing on a console or watching live broadcast TV. (At the moment I just switch it to play from the PC for anything I already have)

[shaw0050]

Does the PC without the sound card have optical audio output? And how is the TV connected (to the PC with or without the soundcard, and is audio going over HDMI?)

[Djinni]

PC1 (with soundcard):
Asus P8Z68 V-PRO
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme audio pci express


PC2 (without soundcard):
ASROCK FM2A88M EXTREME4+ MOBO
7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec)
5x 3.5mm sockets
1x optical out


Currently:

PC2 is only using headphones.

TV is connected via optical out to optical in on PC1's soundcard. (I have not yet proven that this connection actually works though)

If it means spending no more money, I can live with just using the standard 2 channel stereo out from PC2 and connecting it to the line in on PC1.

Here is an audio recording of what I get when I select listen to the optical input from the TV:
http://blog.refreshprojects.com/downloads/TVOutput.wma
For anyone interested the TV is playing "The Walking Dead Season3, Episode 1"

[shaw0050]

PC1 (with soundcard):
Asus P8Z68 V-PRO
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme audio pci express


PC2 (without soundcard):
ASROCK FM2A88M EXTREME4+ MOBO
7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec)
5x 3.5mm sockets
1x optical out


Currently:

PC2 is only using headphones.

TV is connected via optical out to optical in on PC1's soundcard. (I have not yet proven that this connection actually works though)

If it means spending no more money, I can live with just using the standard 2 channel stereo out from PC2 and connecting it to the line in on PC1.

Here is an audio recording of what I get when I select listen to the optical input from the TV:
http://blog.refreshprojects.com/downloads/TVOutput.wma
For anyone interested the TV is playing "The Walking Dead Season3, Episode 1"

That's pretty unusual. I used to use optical out from my Xbox 360 to the optical in on my Sound Blaster Z so I could use my computer speakers with absolutely no issues (not even a delay). There might be an issue on one of the ends of that connection; have you tried listening to anything else through the optical in on your soundcard?