Connecting ProMedia 5.1 Ultra speakers to my TV

[wkohse]

I just bought a new samsung LCD flat panel(http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LN32A450-32-Inch-720p-HDTV/dp/B00141AYIC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1224629230&sr=1-1) and have a set of 5.1 speakers laying around which I havent really gotten a whole lot of use out of. I want to hook them up to my TV but I am having no luck with google. Both the TV and digital cable box have optical out and analog out and I was wondering if there are any suggested decoders out there I can use. I know creative has this(http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=4&subcategory=136&product=9468) but it seems like they are sold out everywhere and obviously not produced anymore. I have previously hooked the speakers up to a digital tube TV using RCA to 1/8in headphone jack and then three splitters but that straight connection caused horrible humming in the speakers. Could anyone suggest a good decoder box or other method for hooking my promedia up to my TV?

Thanks, -Will

[Mister_Clean]

Decoderes are few and far between for these, I just saw one sell on Ebay for $200 so I do not know what to tell you there and i have not looked into it much myself, what i did which was much more cost effective was I bought a couple of the Klipsch GMX 5.1 systems and they have the decoder built right into them and accept the Optical digital signal as well as the Digital (RCA) Type connectors and like all Klipsch products, they sound good.

[wkohse]

Yeah it seems that decoders are somewhat rare now which I do not understand. Is it because most computer speakers have built in decoders? The scenario I am in is more of a use what I already have instead of just letting it sit around and age. Because of that I don't really want to buy another set of speakers. Do you think an external sound card would work instead?

[Mister_Clean]

If that sound card has 1/8" stereo connectors for front, rear and center channels, then yes, it "should" work, if not i can tell you that you can sell the system you have now for more than it will cost you to replace it with a GMX 5.1 system.

[BERTUZZZZi]

So if i wanted to connect my ProMedia 5.1 Ultra to TV/PS3/xbox360/computer... the only way is to use the digital decoder from creative which is discontinued??? I have the X-Fi platinum sound card with the drive bay... will RCA / optical work too?? and if so, how do i change wut the speaker is outputing (TV / Computer)

[dgoreck]

I know this is a late reply, but maybe someone will see when searching later on.

Two real options, and I have done both and use the second one.

1.) Klipsch DD5.1 Decoder unit. Stopped making a long time ago, hard to find. I mainly used when I had the 4.1 setup to get it to work with 5.1 material. Nice box.

2.) Technics SHAC-500 decoder unit. This is what I currently use, and have been using for about 2 years. with my Ultra 5.1's. This does DD and DTS 5.1 decoding, has 2 Toslink and 2 Digital Coax inputs, but 1 of each is shared. So you have 3 inputs to use. I use little 1/8" female to Male RCA Stereo connectors from the output to link to my control pod. I keep the pod at max volume, 80, and do all control via the technics remote.

I have my HD-DVD player, PS3 and HD-DVR connected the three inputs, and use a 4x1 Monoproce HDMI switcher to ouput the video to my LCD HDTV. So yes, you will ahve switch audio and video seperately.

Ebay is your best bet for to acquire either one.