Best Way to Hook Up my Audio (1 Viewer)

[DylanScott]

Alright, I'm completely new to this Home Theatre stuff, about as new as they come. I'm going to build myself a budget home theatre that I can take on to college when the time comes, it's going to be small and cheap (very cheap). That said, I will be using cheaper components, so as much as I'm sure that will make you High-End guys' teeth clench, I have neither the funds nor the space to bump up the quality. I'm a pretty tech saavy guy, so with luck I won't get lost with the replies.
My plan is as follows:
Olevia 27" HD LCD TV
Mac Mini
Creative Inspire 5800 5.1 Speakers
Xbox 360
The Mac Mini will be the center piece of the system, used to watch DVD's and play assorted media. The Xbox 360 will be used to play games, and I'll look into streaming media there as well. I might find that I can use the Xbox 360 as a media center and my PC for work, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. My main problem is hooking up the audio.
The Creative Speakers are usually used for a PC but I'm hoping they can be used with a TV as well. My goal is to have the Mac (or PC perhaps), and the Xbox be hooked up the the TV, and have the speakers be hooked up to both to work when the respective machine is running. The only way I can think of this now is by hooking up the Xbox 360's HD AV cable up regularly (it uses two RCA cords for audio), and the Mac Mini via the DVI port, and have cable running the standard audio out jack into the RCA jacks for the computer input, using a cable that will split that. I could then have the same style of cable running the RCA output from the TV to the standard audio jack on the Speakers, herein lies the problem: To get the 5.1 surround sound, the speaker's have 3 jacks, front, rear, and subwoofer. I would only be supplying one input. While I could get a USB sound card for the Mac Mini that would supply the necessary outputs, I don't really care about the surround sound on the Mac, being as I won't be playing games on it, and DVD's could be played on the Xbox 360. I know that the Xbox 360 is capable of 5.1 surround sound, and I believe that it somehow supplies it through the two RCA cords. My question is this, what would be the best way to hook up the audio for my system?

I'm sorry for the long post. I just tried to explain everything as best I could. I'm also sorry if there is a very obvious solution to this, as I said I'm about as new as they come, but you've got to start somewhere eh?
Thanks for any replies.

EDIT: After some research, I 've found Creative's solution, the Creative Decoder DDTS-100. It accepts three RCA inputs as well as a computer output and routes it all to the speakers. The $150 price tag is a little steep, but I guess I could save up for the sound system. So I guess my question is now, is there a cheaper alternative?

EDIT 2: I'm afraid I keep answering my own questions. My final question is this: Will this Creative Inspire GD580 Speaker System accept the inputs from the Xbox 360?

EDIT 3: Sorry for wasting anyone's time, I've figured it out myself. The system I just posted will accept not only Analog-Line-in, but Optical which I can output from the Xbox HD AV Cable.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Dylan,

You’ll probably have better luck getting responses about this at our Computers and HTPC Forum, since your question has nothing to do with regular home theater hardware.

That said, from what I can tell from the parsimonious info at the Creative link you provided, the GD580’s Decoder Unit has both digital coax and optical inputs. If your Xbox has a digital output, you’re in.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt