Can Red & White RCA produce Dolby 5.1

[Renlan]

I only have 2 digital inputs into my home theater system(one optical and one digital coax). If I hook up a 3rd componant using the standard red & white RCA jacks. can I get Dolby 5.1 out of them????

Thanks

[Kaboom]

if your reciever supports it, you can get a lousy, miserable, fake and disgusting imitation of surround sound through specific processing. It will route the voice to the center speaker, and use the rears for "echo effects"
in my experience, all this does if **** up the image VERY badly and distort the music because of the processing.
Stereo music is best listened to in stereo

[markw]

I only have 2 digital inputs into my home theater system(one optical and one digital coax). If I hook up a 3rd componant using the standard red & white RCA jacks. can I get Dolby 5.1 out of them????

Thanks

Those are two channel analog feeds. You can get Dolby Pro Logic and it's enhancements (DPLII, DPLIIx) but not true 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS.

[noddin0ff]

I only have 2 digital inputs into my home theater system(one optical and one digital coax). If I hook up a 3rd componant using the standard red & white RCA jacks. can I get Dolby 5.1 out of them????

Thanks

The answer is 'Yes'. You can get 5.1 with RCA jacks, BUT you need to to have the 5+1 analog outs from your source AND 5+1 analog in's on your receiver. This means that your source (DVD player) is doing the DD or DTS digital to analog conversion, rather than your receiver (which is what happens with the current digital in's). When you say 'red & white' RCA jacks that suggests that you only have left and right jacks (stereo) and not the full set including center and sub.

[paul_pci]

What the other responses didn't even mention is that I believe you can get a digital switcher, not unlike a USB hub computer users use, to switch between digital inputs in your very scenario. Unfortunately, I don't have a handy web link to provide you, but I'm sure someone on this board could direct you to what I'm talking about. Or maybe I just need to be carted off in a tight jacket.

[Renlan]

Thanks, the back of my TV is wired like the Enterprise after a battle with the Klingons. I was looking for a way to make it easier to record on my DVD player without moving cables around. All I had left was Red & White for input. SO I guess my recordings will have to be in stereo unless I want to switch cables around every time I record something. Cant have my cake and eat it to I guess. Also, I was told I needed the Optical or digital coax but salesman are salesman and I didn't believe them.

[noddin0ff]

paul_pci made a good point about a switcher. Radio shack can sell you a box to switch between coaxial inputs for very cheap (<$20).

[hermanv]

The red and white jacks comming out of your TV may or may not already have 5.1 information extracted. In other words they may be designed to feed front left and front right speakers instead of providing all the stereo information for a post processor to extract ambience information and drive your surround system. Notice I said ambience, you can not recover true surround from 2 standard audio channels.

Most of us use external audio processing (i.e. a multi channel reciever) to provide sound for home theater thereby solving this problem. They all have record loop outputs and will even switch the stuff automatically for you.

I know it's asking a lot but you could try your TV's manual.