I am in need of some advice. I am attempting to build a surround sound system in my new home. Back in the late 90s and early 00s i was really into home audio but haven't really been keeping up. So this is what i am trying to do.
I have a Samsung TV (UN82NU8000FXZA) which i drive with a custom built PC. I have no cable TV, no DVD/Blu ray. I only stream and watch movies via my library on google/play. Currently i have a 2.1 system plugged into my computer but it is severely lacking (it is a fairly nice system, just not designed to fill a large room with decent audio). What i would like to do is be able to run a HDMI cable from the wall behind the TV, up to the attic and back down an interior wall. I want to do this so i can build a custom enclosure and store the PC inside. My hope is to have nothing under the tv (it is wall mounted) with the center channel mounted below and two front speakers on the side. I am trying to make this as clean as possible.
Now where i really need help is how do i connect my PC to a receiver. I spoke with a guy a best buy (please do not mock me i live on the southern border and it is the only place local i could think of to ask) who told me i could simply connect a HDMI cable to my ARC plug and (I have verified my TV does in fact support arc) and run it to the receiver. Looking into this idea i discovered ARC may or may not support Dolby surround sound. Can anyone verify if ARC will support a 5.1 system? If not does anyone have any suggestions on how to accomplish this? I would like the receiver to be on in the same enclosure with the PC which means if i did ARC it would require another 50 ft cable to run from the TV to the receiver (which i'm OK installing if i'm sure this is the best route and it will accomplish what i'm trying to do).
The computer is running a AMD 8320 8 core processor (it is older i know but has worked like a champ for me) with 8gbs of ram and a 1080ti video card. The audio is currently run through the onboard (mother board is a ASUS M5A78L)
I am planning to run speaker wire in a similar manner to eliminate all signs of wires but this isn't a big deal, just labor intensive.
Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.