Connection from Virgin+ HD box to Home Theatre System?

[NicDW]

Apologies in advance for the use of non-technical terms or if I have posted in the wrong forum.

I have an Alba Home Theatre System which I previously succesfully connected to my Sky+ box as it had the red and white audio cable connections. However, my new Virgin+ HD box (Samsung) doesn't have these connections. Is there anything I can do or do I have to buy a new speaker system? The Virgin box is currently connected to the TV via HDMI.

[jb66]

Do you have an optical input on your amp (spdif)

[admars]

does the tv have audio output sockets? connect that to the home theatre with same red and white phono cables?

alternatively does your tv have a headphone socket? get a lead with correct size headphone jack at 1 end, and 2 phono plugs at other end to plug into home theatre?

[NicDW]

No optical input on my amp unfortunately.

I have tried connecting the tv to amp via the red and white phono cables (i.e no direct connection from the Virgin box to the amp) but no success.

Do I have to change the audio settings on Virgin set-up?

[weesteev]

Your TV probably wont have these sockets as output conenctions as they are normally input only.

The Samsung V+ only supports optical output for surround sound, the older Scientific Atlanta box does support these connection types but it would be hit and miss getting an old box as the Samsung is now the primary V+ with SA models onyl being used when they are in stock.

If your Amp doesnt support Optical In, it may be a good time to invest in new Amp? You should be able to get a decent Sony amp for less than £200 (Ebay less than £100!)

[NicDW]

Thanks for the inbfo. Thought that might be the case.

Is there any way round it if I switch to connecting the Virgin box via Scart? I only want external speakers as the volume on my Bush S626 even on full is rubbish and I live on a noisy main road!

[multiskilled]

You could try one of these plugged into video scart output of the v+ box.You should still be able to use the hdmi connection at the same time.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29903

You will only need to plug the phono leads into your amp.There maybe a possibility of sound sync problems.

[NicDW]

Just to let you know that in the end I solved the problem by realising that there was headphone jack output on the TV, so I bought a jack/phono adapter for £7.99 and hey presto! The sound is not massively louder, but better than before and it was a cheap fix.

Still saving up to buy a decent amp!