Audio and speaker input and output question (1 Viewer)

[ijr1508]

I would like to buy a blu ray player but I'm trying to figure out how to connect my speakers before I buy. I have an old sony dvd 5.1 surround player that has recently stopped accepting dvds. I noticed that most blu ray players output audio in either optical or coaxial. The input on my sony player is RCA left and right, white and red. It also has video component in as well.
So here's the question: If I get a bluray player with coaxial output, how do I convert to RCA? And if I'm playing a dvd with 5.1 surround, will the coaxial carry the true 5.1 and will the RCA receive the true 5.1 without decoding the 2 channel to some fake 5.1? Can I get one of those coaxial to 5.1 decoders? Like this one
Also, does hdmi carry audio and is it 5.1.

 

[gartronics]

You can't run coaxial to RCA, it will just sound like a garbled mess if you do. The coaxial output is Dolby digital and needs to be decoded. They do make bluray players that have RCA output for audio. Keep in mind that it will down mix your true HD and DTS audio to a pro logic 2 surround. On the HDMI question, Yes, HDMI does carry the audio in it's digital form. If the source audio is 5.1 it will carry it, but just like coaxial you have to be sending the signal to something that can decode it. It also carries the full HD video. My advice to you is if you really have to have Dolby true hd sound than buy a receiver that has the true hd decoder in it and has the optical input. Or a bluray home theater system. It's just like your dvd system but plays bluray and has decoders built in. If that is too pricey and you can be ok with pro logic 2 surround than just buy a bluray player that has RCA output. Hope this helps you.

 

[ijr1508]

Thanks, that helps a lot. I think I'll just get a dvd home theater system or maybe I can find a newer used bluray system.
Also, if I want to play something on my laptop , I'll take hdmi from my laptop to my tv, what about audio (again). The only audio out is the headphone jack, which will prob. loose the 5.1. So can I take video/audio to the tv with hdmi, and then back to my player with something like optical, and still have true 5.1? Kinda confusing to me. And does anybody know if the laptop will output 5.1 anyway? (maybe this is the wrong place to ask)
I got this about my soundcard from system info:
Name IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
Name Intel(R) Display Audio
Name SRS Audio Essentials

 

[Selden Ball]

Computers with HDMI or DisplayPort "video" outputs usually provide both audio and video signals using that same connector over the same wires. If you're running Windows, connect your laptop's HDMI port to your TV and then look to see if the TV is shown in the audio "Playback devices" menu. That menu is available if you right-mouse-button-click on the speaker icon at the bottom right of the screen. It's also what's shown if you select the Sound menu in the Control Panel. (Also, make sure you've updated to the most recent video driver.)
Unfortunately, most TVs provide surround-sound on their digital audio outputs only for TV channels which have been decoded by their internal tuners. They only provide stereo for external devices.
If your laptop does support multichannel audio over HDMI, you'll need to invest in a receiver which also supports decoding multichannel audio over HDMI. Some of the early receivers with HDMI only passed it through to the TV and did not decode HDMI audio themselves.