How can I get my Panasonic Home Theater System to give surround sound when only watching TV?

Question

I just recently purchased a Panasonic TH-50PX75U Plasma and the Panasonic SC-PT650 Home Theater System. I didn't want to pay for the installation so we did it on our own. The only problem e have encountered is we can not get the surround sound to work when just watching cable or playing video games. It only works when using the DVD player. Is there a way to make it work?

Answer 1

u gotta get some audio cables (red, white) to plug into your surround sound and cable box

Answer 2

To get surround sound, you need to connect your device (DVD player, Wii, cable box, etc.) to the theater system using a proper cable.

The standard red and white audio cables will give you stereo - but not surround sound.  You must use either an optical audio cable (also called TOSLINK by Sony) or a digital coax cable (usually a cable with an orange RCA-style connector.)

For each device, connect the video cable(s) to your TV, and the audio cable to your home theater system.  Some devices don't support surround sound, but you will still get better sound out of your home theater's speakers than your TV's.

For maximum flexibility, you can also connect your device's audio cables to your home theater system AND the TV.  Again, be sure to use a cable capable of supporting surround sound for the home theater system.  For your TV, the standard red and white RCA cables are fine.  This means that the audio signal will be going to both the TV and home theater system at the same time.  This way you can choose which speakers you want to use.  Just turn down the volume on your TV if you want to use the home theater system's speakers, or things may sound a bit odd having both sets of speakers going at the same time (not that this will hurt anything.)

If you are watching cable without a cable box, you will need to check if your TV has a set of audio-out ports.  Some TVs will just have a set of stereo RCA jacks, while others may have an optical audio output.  You'll need to connect your TV to the home theater, and when you want the cable TV's audio to come from the home theater speakers, tell the TV to use this port.  You'll have to check your manual on how to do this as each TV calls this something different.  Basically you want to tell the TV not to use its speakers, but pass the audio to an external source.

Answer 3

You must patch a signal from from either the tv or a cable/ satellite box. On the back of a digital cable or satellite box you will use a RCA stereo audio cable from the audio out connections over to the AUX 1, TV, or VIDEO 1 input on the back of your home theater system (usually color coded red and white). A better grade of audio is  Coax audio (orange) or Digital audio output. Sometimes these upgrade audio options require programming within the home theater menu.  

If your not using this option but rather a cable signal that does not use a box, run a RCA stereo audio cable from the audio output on the rear of the tv to the AUX 1, TV, or VIDEO 1 input on the rear of the home theater system.

Just keep in mind that most television programs are not recorded in surround sound. You will typically only receive a stereo signal for cable programming. Some premium channels provide surround sound with movies but your tv will need a digital audio output that uses a Toslink cable in order to support this feature.  Hope this helps!