Computer to 7.1 HTIB connections

[onedimeshort]

I recently purchased an Onkyo HT-S5100 and plan on using it with my computer. I have a Creative Labs Extreme Gamer X-FI 7.1 sound card, along with the Home Theater Cable that Creative sells. The harness has three 1/8" male plugs that will go to eight male RCAs. I've seen the diagram to hook this up to the back of the receiver. Where I get lost is trying to figure out how I might connect my screen to the receiver. The Onkyo has three 1080P HDMI Pass Through Inputs (assignable), along with one HDMI output. For the time being I have NO other devices I want to hook up (no DVD player, no DVR, no game system, ect...). I just want to know the best way to marry the receiver to the computer while I get the most out of the audio and video capabilities of both. Of course, I want to hear 7.1 while playing movies, and would like all the speakers hittin' while I play the occasional game. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

If you won't be hooking up any other video sources, then it's probably best to just connect the computer video output directly to your display. If you would prefer to run it through the Onkyo, we can help you out with that - just let us know what sorts of video outputs your computer has, and what video inputs your display has.

BTW, are you sure that harness doesn't have four 1/8" male connectors on it?

 

[onedimeshort]

Hey ~ Thanks for the welcome, and the quick reply. The video card on my computer has three outs... DVI, VGA & S-Video. Two of these are being used (I run dual monitors), only the s-video is un-used. The new sound card has four 1/8" outputs, along with a single VGA output (?what is the VGA out for?) My primary monitor has a DVI, VGA and two HDMI inputs. And yes, the harness only has three 1/8" jacks.

 

[Adam]

Do you have the Fatal1ty version? That's the one that I've found that has the connection that you've described. If so, that connector that looks like a VGA jack isn't one - it's a different type of connector. Also, that card has a digital audio output - you could use that to connect to the Onkyo if you wanted.

 

[onedimeshort]

Yes, it's the Fatal1ty card. So, I won't need that jack (cool, one less cable to buy - I still wonder what it's for). Is there any point (without any other video devices hooked up) in using the HDMI out from the Onkyo to go to the monitor?

 

[Adam]

I couldn't tell exactly what that VGA-looking port was for. Sometimes they are for game controllers, but the description didn't make it sound like it was for that. It might say in the instruction manual.

Regarding running video through the Onkyo, I don't see a lot of value to that if you don't need to - but you might need to. If I understand your descriptions, you only have an S-video output left to run to your display, but your display doesn't have an S-video input. Therefore, you would need to convert the S-video into another form. If that's the case, and you have questions, I'll look further into your Onkyo receiver. It may be able to convert S-video to HDMI, and that may be of use to you.