Hooking up PS2, Gamecube, & Xbox to a Home Theater system

 

New member
Username: Manabyte

Post Number: 2
Registered: Jan-05
Hey guys. I'm an audio n00b and I have a bunch of questions about how to hook up these three systems to my receiver. I want to know what settings will get me the best sound for my current situation. Here's how I have my current setup:

Playstation 2 - Standard RCA cables going direct into my TV

Gamecube - Standard RCA cables going direct into my TV

Xbox - Component cables going direct into my TV

I know that the PS2 and Xbox have optical OUTS, but I only have optical IN in my receiver. I currently have my Hi-Definition cable box using the optical IN and my DVD player using the digital coax IN. I know that the PS2 and Gamecube only support Dolby Pro Logic IIx with games (excluding DVDs and certain cut scenes). I've heard people say to connect only the video to your TV and hook the audio cables direct into receiver, but I don't know how I could do that. My receiver sits on top of my rear projection TV and the input jacks on my TV are at the very bottom. You can't split the individual wites on any of those three systems' cables more than a few inches because they're all molded together until the very ends. So my questions are:

1) Since using the optical cables would be the best solution, is their an optical jack splitter, kind of like RCA jack splitters? If so, do you lose any signal or quality doing this?

2) Does it affect the sound quality if I connect the audio to the TV and then go from the TV into the receiver versus connecting the audio directly into the receiver?

3) With PS2 and Gamecube, will I still be able to take advantage of games making use of Dolby Pro Logic IIx using just the RCA cables (and I mean games specifically coded to use it, not surround sound emulation)? If so, does it matter whether the audio is hooked up directly to the receiver as opposed to the TV and then to the reciver?

4) With Xbox, will I still be able to take advantage of games of games using Dolby Digital 5.1 using RCA cables? If so, does it matter whether the audio is hooked up directly to the receiver as opposed to the TV and then to the receiver?

5) What about the receiver settings? I can set individual inputs to Dolby Pro Logic IIx, 5ch/6ch, and Stereo. There are also sub-menus under the Dolby Pro Logic IIx (like cinema, games, music, etc...).

I'd really appreciate any and all help I could get here. Thanks!

 

Bronze Member
Username: Tipstir

Post Number: 49
Registered: Sep-04
Here take a look at this picture:

Rear hookups
http://www.smarthome.com/images/8291SD4_back_big.jpg

Front View
http://www.smarthome.com/images/8291SD4_big.jpg

If the receiver you doesn't have enough inputs and outputs you can use the above device to extend your equipment.

Again the sound from the XBOX, P2, GameCube on what type of game you have and what is was encoded with Audio wise.

If I was like you and had the extra cash buy the connections for S-Video for all 3 boxes if available, otherwise go standard video and analog stereo audio.

 

Fitzchivalry
Unregistered guest
great solution however the price is a bit steep. You can put that money towards a better reciever really. In my case Im considering purchasing a theatre package with only one optical digital input. And 2 audio line in jacks (im guessing analog?) But I need to connect 2 digital devices to it.

Should I skip the system altogther and look for something with better connectivity?
 

Fitzchivalry
Unregistered guest
with the ps2 you can strip the video cable away from the audio rca cables, however (see below) it wont make much difference really.



Also the rca cables are analog standard so I dont think you can get dd, dts ac3 etc out of them. They transmit standard analog I think
 

Unregistered guest
The PS2 doesn't output any better than stereo sound (with Dolby Prologic II encoding sometimes) except during cut-scenes and when playing DVDs. For that reason, use your optical input for the XBox, and just hook up your stereo audio cables from the Gamecube and PS2 to the receiver's normal audio inputs (if you have enough). The Prologic II decoder, if you have one in your receiver, will give you nice surround sound effects during gameplay on the PS2 and Gamecube, and the channel seperation on the XBox will be decoded via your Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder.
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