Expert: Wayne Tapia - 12/27/2009

Question
hi Wayne, i just got a new TV for christmas, it is an LG flatron 22". i have it working fine, except that i would like to remove the 5.1 speaker system from my Computer and connect it to my TV. what i am wondering is what adapters i need. my speaker system has three jacks, a black one, a green one and a yellow one. these are all just basic 5mm jacks which are in the back of my computer.
whereas on the back of my tv i have none of those color jacks. if there is an adapter i could use, that would be useful... and if not then i will try something else..

regards
Ben

P.S if you need a picture or details of the jacks in my TV then i will be happy to oblige.

Answer
Hi Ben,

Unfortunately, this is more than likely not possible. As of yet, there are no televisions that have surround sound output to my knowledge (and I work in this industry). If you have a cable box or receiver that has surround outputs, this may be possible, but simple adapters will not work in this case (TV directly to the full set of surround speakers).

Devices that support surround sound output will specifically have these types of outputs - either digital or analog - and will be labeled as such. Your television may have a digital output on the back, but I'm 99.9% sure that this will be a 2 channel digital output, not a surround output.

If you have a surround receiver, you could send audio from the rear of the TV into it, and then the receiver could decode any Pro Logic Surround that may be in the programming. You then could use the computer speakers from the receiver's pre-outs with the use of female mini jack to 2 male RCA adapters(typically, the mini jacks are assigned center/subwoofer, left/right front, left/right surround).

I hope this helps you out.