Laptop surround sound to old tv amp?

Ok this is my situation, I will be buying an m15x and self modding a 5870 into it, all great and dandy but this shuts off the hdmi surround sound (sounds like a driver problem or something), so luckily these laptops still have computer surround sound, the 6 headphone jack output. My amp does not support that, nor does it support hdmi for that matter(but with the hdmi I could have gotten a converter to optical audio to make it work).

So my question now to all of you is, is there a known converter to take the 6 headphone jack surround sound output and turn it into TOSLINK optical audio?

If there is please link, or if there is another solution to keeping the 5.1 intact without turning it into faux 2.0 surround sound please link or explain. Anything would be nice.

FYI just for those who need to know the amp specs, its an old sony surround sound in a box, supports co axil (red and white) "faux" surround sound, I say faux because the coaxil surround sound emitates 5.1 by splitting 2 channels into 5, its not the real deal and you cant get good localization( if someone was talking in a game and you spun in a circle the audio should transfer from one speaker to another around the room, co axil wont do this). It also has 1 optical audio port which does successfully keep 5.1 channels of audio intact, so this is obviously my only option, unless I go buy a new amp which isnt in the quest right now.

 

The surround sound is a digital out correct? I mean it is a stereo Jack that outputs digital.

 

I assume so, you should have it on your laptop, its the string of audio connections on the right side of the laptop, 6 in total i believe, each one carrying a different speaker.

 

Well I dont know about the new M15x but the old M15x had one of the 3.5mm ports which doubled as a mini-toslink port and if you put a mini-toslink cable into it then it sent a toslink signal down the cable (like the macbook ones). It'd probably be worth looking into that.

 

Reopening, does anyone know if any of the 3.5mm ports on the new m15x is usable for min optical audio

EDIT: I read through the manual and it didnt say anything about it, and I talked to an online rep I dont think she knew or not . All it says is the last port is 5.1 out compatable, I dont know if it means all 3 or used for it or just the one is a mini TOSLINK (optical audio)

Bump , can anyone that has the m15x-R2 confirm it has a mini TOSLINK on the right side

 

From what I can see, for the m17x, the audio out from the stereo jacks is all analogue. Which is too bad since if one did feed out a digital s/pdif feed it would be very easy to convert it to an optical signal.

 

According to my Features Comparison:

Audio: (Note: Volume control on touchpad)

• Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
• (Note: No Digital Audio Out, only Analog 5.1)
• Two Built in Front Speakers

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Thanks for the answer Marvie, helps me make a decision one m15x or m17x

 

Daranik I thought your question was interesting. I found this device that converts HDMI to optical but the price is hefty at $169

1x1 HDMI Audio Converter. Extract audio from HDMI to Optical Toslink. Full 1080P resolution.

I think the mini jacks are all analog. If someone does confirm one is mini toslink that would be interesting.

The other choice would be to use a Creative or Logitech 5.1 speaker system but that won't sound as good.

On a side note, many of the new motherboards are offering 8 channel audio from mini jacks but that is a complete sham as there ARE NO 7.1 computer speakers availble from Creative or Logitech in North America. Evidently creative and logitech don't think there is a market for 7.1 speaker systems in North America. Someone should have told the MB manufacturers this. Logitech and Creative do have 7.1 models available in Europe and Asia. Most desktops sound cards have 5.1 optical out which is digital. The 8 channel via mini jacks on sound cards are almost always analog.

Dell is calling their sound board HD but really not sure what what formats it supports. Would like to learn more about this if anyone has any more details.

 

You could also just get an ExpressCard or USB "soundcard" which could output TOSLINK...