How to get surround sound from a laptop to receiver

[silvercity]

Hi all...newbie here and I have a few questions.

I have a projector with no HDMI (Epson powerlite 83+) which I connect to my laptop via a vga cable with an hdmi adapter. My laptop does not have vga port and it only has one hdmi and usb port. The sound is then connected from my laptop to a receiver with a rca cable (via the laptop headphone jack). From reading online, I just found out that this only transmits 2 channels. I plan on changing the receiver to a new one that has an hdmi port. I read that hdmi supports 5.1. However, my laptop only has one hdmi port. Can I buy an hdmi splitter and have one cable going to the projector and the other to the receiver? Will this work? Is there any other way to get surround sound? Should I look for something specific in the new receiver that I want to buy?

On a side note is it best to get an amplifier and receiver or just a receiver? I have two back speakers that are bose and two front B & W. I do like to listen to the radio as well and one day I plan on getting either a better projector or larger tv.

If you need more information let me know. Thank you.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi all...newbie here and I have a few questions.

I have a projector with no HDMI (Epson powerlite 83+) which I connect to my laptop via a vga cable with an hdmi adapter. My laptop does not have vga port and it only has one hdmi and usb port. The sound is then connected from my laptop to a receiver with a rca cable (via the laptop headphone jack). From reading online, I just found out that this only transmits 2 channels. I plan on changing the receiver to a new one that has an hdmi port. I read that hdmi supports 5.1. However, my laptop only has one hdmi port. Can I buy an hdmi splitter and have one cable going to the projector and the other to the receiver? Will this work? Is there any other way to get surround sound? Should I look for something specific in the new receiver that I want to buy?

On a side note is it best to get an amplifier and receiver or just a receiver? I have two back speakers that are bose and two front B & W. I do like to listen to the radio as well and one day I plan on getting either a better projector or larger tv.

If you need more information let me know. Thank you.

Your best option is Chromecast when you get a receiver with an HDMI input.

 

[silvercity]

Your best option is Chromecast when you get a receiver with an HDMI input.

Can you expand on that.....how would that work?

 

[-Jim-]

Install Power DVD on your laptop. It will play your video content and send HDMI surround content with support for DTS HD Audio and Dolby True HD Audio to a receiver and then you can output from the Receiver to the Projector. I do a similar pathway in my Man Cave system. No need to buy a HDMI splitter.

 

[TLS Guy]

Can you expand on that.....how would that work?

This explains it.

You can now stream Amazon prime by the way.

You need to use the Chrome browser. It is clever, as your laptop just controls the device, but your router streams straight to the Chromecast device.

The trouble is everyone is out of stock, along with everything else these days. China seems to be on strike, and the west is now useless. Pretty much in decline relying on retail and serving beer skittles and slops, and not much else. They call it the service economy, when in reality we are on the road to ruin.

 

[silvercity]

Install Power DVD on your laptop. It will play your video content and send HDMI surround content with support for DTS HD Audio and Dolby True HD Audio to a receiver and then you can output from the Receiver to the Projector. I do a similar pathway in my Man Cave system. No need to buy a HDMI splitter.

After I install Power DVD program I could still connect via the rca cable to the receiver? Why would I also need to connect the receiver to the projector after that? What does that do? Thx.

 

[silvercity]

This explains it.

You can now stream Amazon prime by the way.

You need to use the Chrome browser. It is clever, as your laptop just controls the device, but your router streams straight to the Chromecast device.

The trouble is everyone is out of stock, along with everything else these days. China seems to be on strike, and the west is now useless. Pretty much in decline relying on retail and serving beer skittles and slops, and not much else. They call it the service economy, when in reality we are on the road to ruin.

I have two older chromecasts would that work or it has to be the ultra? I would be able to cast only sound from a movie this way? The video I still want it to come out from the projector which I will connect to laptop only.

 

[Pandaman617]

After I install Power DVD program I could still connect via the rca cable to the receiver? Why would I also need to connect the receiver to the projector after that? What does that do? Thx.

By connecting the receiver to the projector you’re using your single HDMI connection to transmit the native multi channel audio which your AVR will than playback in its native format and you would than run your HDMI to VGA converter cable to your projector as the signal from your laptop still contains the video signal which will than be processed by the receiver and sent to its HDMI output port or port(s). The only possible issue I can think of is any sort of HDCP protection that may give you headaches outputting from your receiver via HDMI which certainly has HDCP in its newest iteration as the signal will be altered to a VGA d-SUB 15 pin. Worst case if you’re running a Windows based laptop depending on your GPU there’s plenty of in depth methods to bypass HDCP protection all together if need be.

 

[Trebdp83]

Great suggestions provided a new receiver with HDMI ports is put in the mix. Some info about the laptop would be helpful as well. Sorry, welcome to the forums.

 

[-Jim-]

After I install Power DVD program I could still connect via the rca cable to the receiver? Why would I also need to connect the receiver to the projector after that? What does that do? Thx.

The reason to transfer the signal via HDMI into the receiver is because using RCA connections limit the sound to lossy codecs (no lossless DTS HD Audio, Dolby True HD Audio, etc. A codec is a device or computer program which encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ) Your sound is limited to the lossy codecs such as Dolby Digital & DTS. Almost everyone can hear the difference between a lossy & a Lossless codec with decent equipment. The OEMs, in concert with the Movie and Recording industry, agreed to limit in this manner to prevent recording of digital signals of copyrighted material. HDMI "handshaking" as referred to above is to confirm lossless digital material is not being illegally (?) recorded.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[Wardog555]

Guys. Chromecast does not support lossless audio of any kind. If it did I wouldn't have bought myself a Nvidia shield.

Simple solution here. Projector with hdmi. Av receiver with hdmi. Plug device Into reciever. Reciever into projector. And done. All with hdmi cables. Don't make this complicated and stop using equipment that's not compatible with your requirements which it appears to be 1080p at a minimum

 

[lovinthehd]

Simpler solution is not to obsess beyond cd level

 

[BMXTRIX]

*sigh*
Connect your computer, via HDMI, to the AV receiver. You shouldn't have much issue sending audio (in full surround sound) to the receiver doing this.

Then the OUTPUT of the receiver (that's the V portion of the AV receiver's name!) will carry video to your projector.

You will still need the HDMI to VGA adapter, but instead of putting that on the laptop's HDMI output, you put it on the AV receiver's HDMI output.

Then you can hook up other sources, however you may like, to the AV receiver. You can use a Roku, ChromeCast, game system, and more.

Be aware, that HDMI may carry some copyright protections. Your HDMI to VGA adapter may ignore those, or deal with those, but HDCP protection means that you shouldn't be able to play certain content using a analog connection like VGA. Sometimes this presents an issue. So, a display device (projector) with HDMI should correct for this problem if it occurs. It may be one of the only reasonable solutions.

Be aware, a used 1080p projector may be out there for around $250-$300 from a brand name. Most manufacturers have brand new 1080p projectors starting at around $500 or so.