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    Laptop & 5.1 Audio

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Crotia, Apr 11, 2011.

  1. Crotia

    Crotia Notebook Consultant

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    I was wondering what the best solution for getting 5.1 audio out of a laptop is? My internal sound card on the VAIO SB is intel HD audio which I think does support 5.1, however there is no outputs for the speakers.

    I was thinking a USB sound card, but it seems like a waste if the internal one supports 5.1
     
    Crotia, Apr 11, 2011
    #1
  2. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    Can you use HDMI?
     
    namaiki, Apr 11, 2011
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  3. Crotia

    Crotia Notebook Consultant

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    Thats what I was thinking, but I've got 3x 3.5mm jacks for my speakrs (they're PC speakers). Don't know how I'd plug em in :p
     
    Crotia, Apr 11, 2011
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  4. Lieto

    Lieto Notebook Deity

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    I am actually interested as well :D
     
    Lieto, Apr 11, 2011
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  5. Crotia

    Crotia Notebook Consultant

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    Whoa! That would be great except they're 125$ on ebay!! :O
     
    Crotia, Apr 11, 2011
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  6. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    How much is a 5.1 USB sound card on eBay?
     
    namaiki, Apr 11, 2011
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  7. Crotia

    Crotia Notebook Consultant

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    a no-name one is 6$ lol. I bought one but the drivers were really sketchy and i'd like to avoid installing unnecessary drivers if possible
     
    Crotia, Apr 11, 2011
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  8. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    Can it be used with the drivers that come inbuilt with Windows?
     
    namaiki, Apr 11, 2011
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  9. Crotia

    Crotia Notebook Consultant

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    When I plugged it in, windows started instaling drivers automatically - however it didn't allow for 5.1 audio. When I installed the drivers for the card I had to manually change the speaker setup from 2 to 5.1

    I should probably add that when I try to open the GUI for the sound card drivers my computer freezes for ~20 min before the control panel actually opens :S
     
    Crotia, Apr 11, 2011
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  10. Crotia

    Crotia Notebook Consultant

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    I found some things to the audio decoder buts they were only for 2.1 and gave RCA outputs - I don't know why something similar couldn't be available for 5.1 or 7.1 :S
     
    Crotia, Apr 26, 2011
    #8