This is perhaps more of a hardware question, but I'm not sure where else to ask. I do run Vista Home Premium (does that allow me into the club? hee hee)
I own a Sony Vaio VGN-FW140E laptop, which has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a HDMI port. Basically, I want this thing to play audio on some speakers, which are 5.1 surround sound.
I know I would be able to use the headphone jack via a mess of cables and adapter boxes, but won't this will reduce the wonders of 5.1 to 2.1? I figured I could use a "(green)3.5mm to (red and white)RCA" Y-cable and then a "(red and white)RCA to 3-3.5mm cable" adapter. This would give me the one 3.5mm to three 3.5mm conversion I need. (For some reason, I couldn't find any adapters that give a direct conversion.)
On Amazon, you can search for:
Cables Unlimited AUD-1205-06 6-Feet Pro A/V Series 6-Feet 3.5mm to RCA Stereo Audio Cable
and
5.1 Game Console Adapter Convert Rca Plugs To A Single 1/8
Those are what I was planning on using, or something similar.
Now, I been glancing every now and then at this HDMI port on the side of my laptop, wondering what hidden powers it has. Would it be possible to play just audio through it? i.e. find some sort of HDMI to 3-3.5mm converter box? I don't know very much about HDMI, (I don't have an HD TV or Blu-ray player, etc.) but I believe it can pump out 5.1 sound.
Does anybody know anything about this? If not, does anyone know of another forum that addresses topics like this?
By the way, I have a Reltek Highdef audio driver if that makes any difference..(how good of a sound card is that anyway?)
please tell me if you need any more information. I await your advice.
Thank you,
A