Get more from your home entertainment system by setting up your PC running Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with surround sound. When you connect your surround sound system to your Media Center PC, you’ll bring your movie watching, music listening, and gaming experience to a new level.
Depending on your sound card, you may need to connect the Media Center PC to your speakers using either a single digital connection or a series of multichannel analog connections.Ultimately, both types of connections result in surround sound audio from the DVD or HDTV media you are playing. The main difference between the two is where the decoding of the surround sound signal takes place.
When using a single digital connection, the sound card in the Media Center PC passes the surround sound signal directly to the receiver to decode the audio and play it through your speakers.
With a multichannel analog connection, the sound card decodes the surround sound signal, and then passes the decoded signal to the receiver. The receiver then outputs the sound to the appropriate speaker for the surround sound effect.
If you have a sound card that supports a single digital connection, it has an output for either a coaxial audio cable or Toslink optical cable.
For step-by-step instructions about how to connect your Media Center PC to a receiver with a single digital connection, go to Connect and configure digital surround sound.
If you have a sound card in your Media Center PC that supports 5.1 multichannel analog, it will have separate mini-jack inputs for each speaker type. For step-by-step instructions on connecting your Media Center PC to a receiver for multichannel analog, go to Connect and configure surround sound for multichannel analog.For digital audio connections, you can use either a coaxial or Toslink optical cable (but not both). Both connections support Dolby Digital (5.1, 7.1), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), and Digital Theater Systems (DTS).
The coaxial cable plugs into the orange color-coded RCA connection on your receiver and Media Center PC.
 The Toslink optical cable plugs into the small black square connector on your receiver and Media Center PC.  In some cases, the sound card in the Media Center PC may output the surround sound through a 1/8-inch mini port. If that’s the case, you may need to use a mono-to-mono plug adapter, with a 1/8-inch mini plug on one end and an RCA phono jack on the other. - Use either a coaxial or Toslink optical cable to connect the Media Center PC to the receiver.
- On your receiver, change the input to the surround input that you just connected to.
Use a mouse and keyboard to configure the sound card. The following example describes the settings for a SoundBlaster Audigy sound card from Creative Labs, but any sound card with 5.1 (or greater) digital outputs will work.
To configure the sound card, you will need to:
- Enable digital output
- Disable AC-3 decoding
- Open the Play Control dialog box (also known as Master Volume) by double-clicking the volume icon in the taskbar on the desktop.
- In the Play Control dialog box, click the Advanced button at the bottom of the Play Control column. If that button is not displayed, click Advanced Controls on the Options menu.
- Now select Advanced to open the Advanced Controls for the Play Control dialog box.
- Select the Digital Output Only check box in the Other Controls section.
- Click Close to exit the Play Control dialog box.
When AC-3 decoding is disabled, the sound card can pass the native Dolby Digital 5.1 signal instead of a Pro Logic signal. To see the options described below, both the Creative Audio HQ and Creative Surround Mixer software must be installed. Keep in mind that these instructions only apply if you have a Soundblaster Audigy sound card installed in your Media Center PC.
- Open the AudioHQ application, and double-click Speaker.
- With the Creative Surround Mixer dialog box showing, select 5.1 Speakers from the Speakers list.
- Select the Digital Output Only check box.
- Click Settings.
- Select the Bass Redirection check box. This will allow the sound card to pass the low frequencies to your receiver as well.
- Clear the AC-3 decode check box.
- Click Close, and then click the X button at the top-right.
- Use your mouse to open Media Center. To do this, click Start, click All Programs, and then click Media Center.
- On the Media Center Start menu, click Settings, click DVD, and then click Audio.
- Click Settings.
- On the Settings page, click DVD.
- On the DVD page, click Audio.
 - The decoder properties dialog box will open. If the Not Designed For Media Center dialog box appears, click View Now to open the decoder properties dialog box.
- On the Audio menu, click Speaker Setup.
- In the Speaker Setup dialog box, under Connected to, make the following selections:
- Click a receiver.
- Select the Via an SPDIF cable check box.
- Click OK to close the Speaker Setup dialog box.
- Click OK to close the Properties dialog box and save your changes.
- Press the Green Start Button on the remote to open the Media Center Start menu.
- Select Settings.
- On the Settings page, select General.
- On the General page, select Media Center Setup.
- On the Media Center Setup page, select Set Up Your Speakers.
- In the Speaker Setup Wizard on the Choose number of Speakers page, select 5.1 or 7.1 surround speakers, depending on your home theater environment.
 - On the Test page, select Test to play an audio test file, and ensure that everything is set up correctly. For example, if you selected 5.1, the sound should travel from the left speaker, to the center channel speaker, to the right speaker, to the surround right, to the surround left and finally the subwoofer. If the sound does not travel from speaker to speaker in that order for 5.1, you will need to check the settings in the MPEG-2 decoder or the settings on your receiver.
When you have completed the wizard, you’re done! Digital surround sound from the Media Center PC to the receiver is now set up!
For multichannel analog surround sound, you need three stereo-mini-to-stereo-RCA cables for a 5.1 speaker configuration and four stereo-mini-to-stereo-RCA cables for 7.1.  The color-coded RCA connectors are still red and white, but instead of having the left and right channels, you will have the following: C (center), FR (front right), FL (front left), SL (surround left), SR (surround right), and SW (subwoofer). Speaker configurations in the 7.1 setup will have one additional pair–SLB (surround left back) and SRB (surround right back).
The stereo-mini connectors will plug into the outputs of your sound card, and the RCA connectors will plug into the multichannel inputs on your receiver.
For a 5.1 configuration, connect the cables as described below:
- The first cable is used for the front left and right channels. The stereo-mini will connect to the front L/R output of the sound card in the Media Center PC. The RCA connectors will connect to the front left and right ports of the multichannel input on the receiver.
- The second cable is used for the surround left and right channels. The stereo-mini will connect to the surround L/R output of the sound card in the Media Center PC. The RCA connectors will connect to the surround left and right ports of the multichannel input on the receiver.
- The third cable is used for the center and subwoofer channels. The stereo-mini will connect to the center/subwoofer output of the sound card of the Media Center PC. The RCA connectors will connect to the center and subwoofer ports of the multichannel input on the receiver.
If you are setting up 7.1, follow the 5.1 setup described earlier and to that setup, add a fourth cable for the rear surround left and right channels. The stereo-mini will connect to the surround center L/R output of the sound card in the Media Center PC and the RCA connectors will connect to the surround back left and back right ports of the multichannel input on the receiver.
After you have connected the cables, you need to change the input on the receiver to multichannel input.
- To access the decoder settings, use the mouse to open Media Center. To do this, click Start, click All Programs, and then click Media Center.
- On the Media Center Start menu, click Settings.
- On the Settings page, click DVD.
- On the DVD page, click Audio.
- The decoder properties dialog box will open. If the Not Designed For Media Center dialog box is displayed, select View Now to access the decoder properties dialog box.
- On the Audio menu, click Speaker Setup.
- In the Speaker Setup dialog box, make the following selections:
- Under Connected to, click a receiver.
- Under Speaker Sizes, click Large in the Front, Center, and Back lists.
- Select the Subwoofer check box.
- Click OK to close the Speaker Setup dialog box.
- Click OK to close the Properties dialog box and save your changes.
- Press the Green Start Button on your remote to open the Media Center Start menu.
- Select Settings.
- On the Settings page, select General.
- On the General page, select Media Center Setup.
- On the Media Center Setup page, select Set Up Your Speakers.
- In the Speaker Setup Wizard on the Choose number of Speakers page, select 5.1 or 7.1 surround speakers, depending on your home theater environment, and then select Next.
 - On the Test page, select Test to play an audio test file, and ensure that everything is set up correctly. For example, if you selected 5.1, the sound should travel from the left speaker, to the center channel speaker, to the right speaker, to the surround right, to the surround left and finally to the subwoofer. If the sound does not travel from speaker to speaker in that order for 5.1, you will need to check the settings in the MPEG-2 decoder or the settings on your receiver.
When you have completed the wizard, you’re done! Surround sound for multichannel audio from the Media Center PC to the receiver is now set up!
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