how to get audio out of vaio fz180???

[kled54]

Hello and i wish you guys might help me,
I bought a new vaio fz180 and i want it to play my first BR disc on it which it was(ghost rider: ) ) anyway.!..
my problem is that if i connect my laptop to my 32" bravia HDtv using my hdmi cable i will get the picture but i will not be benifiting from a 5.1 surround sound from my sony home theater...
so...is there a way to get a HD picture out of my vaio to my HDTV..... and at the same time a 5.1 channel sound out from it (or from the tv) to my home theater??????????
i thought of using component cables from my HDTV to my home theater but my home theater can only have OUT component interfaces not IN

Any suggestions will be much appreciated
thanks a lot

[dpomp]

wow ive been on this forum for about a year now and you're the first person i know to change the font type/size. most i've seen changed is color.

[miloman]

Your laptop is probably able to send an optical signal through the headphone-out. You will need one of these:
http://www.panda.nl/product_info.php?products_id=208
When you plug it in you will probably get a pop-up. Select digital-out, and connect a toslink, and connect to your HT.

[JadedRaverLA]

WTH? I was going to point you to monoprice to grab a mini-jack to SPDIF cable, but I double-checked the specs and the FZ-series headphone jack does NOT double as a SPDIF output. That's fairly ridiculous.

The only other options are getting another soundcard, or getting an HDMI splitter or switchbox that has its own SPDIF output.

For a soundcard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102020

The cheapest switchbox I've seen with SPDIF output is: http://www.hdtvsupply.com/2x1-hdmi-switch.html

The external soundcard is cheaper, but you may find the switchbox more useful if you have a second HDMI device that you need to extract the audio from also. BTW, I'm assuming you've got an optical or coax SPDIF input on your home theater receiver as well as Dolby Digital/DTS decoding for this to work.

[miloman]

Just go ahead and grab an adapter. The specs of my MSI PR200 (12.2" with HDMI) do not mention an optical out either, but it has one (ALC888). Works like a charm.

[dadkins]

Cannot say about what audio is on the FZ, but pretty sure it will output through the HDMI.

Various settings will appear only when the HDMI is connected to a reciever or HDTV.
Once connected, see what your options are in Control Panel> Sounds.

Also, some playback software can affect the audio(like PowerDVD Ultra)

As for optical on a VAIO... is there a constant red light next to the microphone/headphone jacks?
If yes, that is the SPDIF/Toslink Optical jack.

Optical Out:


EDIT: What model of FZ180 is it? E? U?

I don't see it listed as having an Optical out.
Once connected to the HDTV go through the playback software settings and the machine's sound settings.

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by miloman

Just go ahead and grab an adapter. The specs of my MSI PR200 (12.2" with HDMI) do not mention an optical out either, but it has one (ALC888). Works like a charm.

I wish that were the case, (and I agree many notebooks don't really mention the capability, but yet have it), but I did some research on the FZ series and many people are complaining that the headphone jack can't be used for optical digital output... including from some people who have tried.

So, I'm definitely assuming that only the HDMI output can be used for digital audio output on that model.

[miloman]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

I wish that were the case, (and I agree many notebooks don't really mention the capability, but yet have it), but I did some research on the FZ series and many people are complaining that the headphone jack can't be used for optical digital output... including from some people who have tried.

So, I'm definitely assuming that only the HDMI output can be used for digital audio output on that model.

OK, that's a real bummer... So you either need a receiver with HDMI in/out, that relays the digital HDMI signal to the output, or the splitter somebody metioned.
A while ago I was searching for a kind of HDMI-splitter cable to get a separate SPDIF but never found one.

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by miloman

A while ago I was searching for a kind of HDMI-splitter cable to get a separate SPDIF but never found one.

I linked to one above. $150, though. And that's on the "cheap" side for those.

[miloman]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

I linked to one above. $150, though. And that's on the "cheap" side for those.

Yep found that one also, but I mean it must be possible to have only a splitter cable. The digital signal is one of the wires, and together with a ground signal it should be enough to connect to a HT.