XBox 360 and my PC Speaker setup.

Bogart

So, what with the price drop for the XBox 360 and everything I might actually be picking one up. However, HD TV's still cost £assrape and I don't really fancy that, so I'll be picking up the VGA cable and playing games through my shiny monitor. All well and good and the 'plug VGA into back of monitor' set-up is easy enough for a doofus like me, but how do I get my PC speaker set up to work with the 360? It's a (fairly old but still decent) 5.1 surround sound set-up (green, black and yellow inputs in the biiiig speaker, five little speakers scattered around my desk) and the VGA cable unhelpfully comes with a two (red/white) jack output audio option. How to make the two fit?

I've googled around on this, and the best explanation I could find seemed to assume that you got a nifty little adapter with the VGA cable that would take the two output jacks on the VGA cable and let you plug the adapter into the microphone slot on the PC. Then, with a little fiddling (and with the PC always on) the sound from the 360 would come through the speakers as desired. Explanation here. However, I don't think that the VGA cable actually comes with this adapter (at least not any more, and not in the UK), so I'm unsure of where to pick it up (or what it actually is, or whether this is the right option for me).

So, VGA output into green/yellow/black input speaker system. Answers should be phrased as if you're talking to a retard, and large numbers of capital letters and technical names in close proximity should be avoided. Also, I'm in the UK, if that fact makes any difference to the matter (if cups of tea are involved, I'm sorted).

Thanks in advance.

Qs23

You're sort of doing what I am doing.

I've got the VGA cable hooked up to my monitor, but I don't have the 5.1 speakers.

I can tell you though what the name of that little dongle is. now I know that you don't want a technical name but here it is anyway "2 x RCA Female to 1 x 3.5mm Male". I think that the common name for it is "Stereo RCA to stereo phono" or something like that.

But I'm guessing that since you have green yellow and black going into your speaker system, that you've got an old logitech 5.1 system.

So you could try this from Amazon.

Granted, every single time you want to switch from the computer to the 360, you'll have to unplug the cables from that box and plug them back into the computer.

But at least that's an option

Bogart

Hmmm. I can't find that item on Amazon.co.uk (and the USA listing says it won't ship outside the US), but I'll have a scout around to see if I can pick it up from somewhere else. Or I'll just get the dongle thingy you mentioned. Thanks for that.

SporkAndrew

Uh, the VGA cable does come with that little dongle adapter if you buy the official Microsoft one.

I know because I've got it.

Bogart

Then I guess I'm golden. I didn't think it did because it was absent from every picture of the thing on online sites, and when I went into actual stores no-one had any in stock for me to pore over (and no-one behind the counter knew anything about it).

So, cool. I'll pick up the Microsoft VGA cable, stick the two outputs into the dongle, plug the dongle into the microphone slot on my PC and play the 360 with the PC on. It's not ideal (I reckon I'm still going to try and hunt down that nifty device Qs23 pointed out and skip out the PC entirely), but it should be better than using an SD TV. Cheers, guys.

corcorigan

You'd be better getting stereo speakers, especially as that's all they'll be playing anyway. Then you don't need your computer one either.

Qs23

corcorigan wrote: »

You'd be better getting stereo speakers, especially as that's all they'll be playing anyway. Then you don't need your computer one either.

Ya know, i don't know why I didn't think of that. Does the 360 only output in stereo or is there another way that I don't know about?

AngelHedgie

Qs23 wrote: »

corcorigan wrote: »

You'd be better getting stereo speakers, especially as that's all they'll be playing anyway. Then you don't need your computer one either.

Ya know, i don't know why I didn't think of that. Does the 360 only output in stereo or is there another way that I don't know about?

The 360 also outputs digital audio via Toslink.

corcorigan

AngelHedgie wrote: »

Qs23 wrote: »

corcorigan wrote: »

You'd be better getting stereo speakers, especially as that's all they'll be playing anyway. Then you don't need your computer one either.

Ya know, i don't know why I didn't think of that. Does the 360 only output in stereo or is there another way that I don't know about?

The 360 also outputs digital audio via Toslink.

That needs an amp (or a sound card) that receives it though. Usually fairly expensive. Analogue is stereo only as far as I know.

(how did I spell 'on' as 'one'? sigh)

Esh

Just plug and unplug the speakers from computer to 360. A lot easier than having to play with your PC always on. I did the same thing with a monitor and my 360 and just using common sense went to Radio Shack and engineered a wiring solution using a couple of adapters.