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Need advice with odd gaming setup

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X82

n00b
Joined
May 24, 2010
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I need some advice on how to best wire up my gaming setup.
Next month I will be buying items to get my rig up to scratch. At the moment I'm mainly using my PC using my Samsung Syncmaster 22" and my creative usb headset.

The problem is, if I want to use run an xbox or ps3 into the samsung, it will of course output its sound via the hdmi. Meaning my usb headset is useless.
I managed to get around it by doing the following:

3mm headphones out on Samsung, into my line in on my sound card on my PC. Then set Windows to always listen to this port. It worked, but there was always a hiss and this buzz.

Is there a way, currently, of having it so I can play on my PC. Press a button and play on my xbox/ps3 through the same monitor and listen to the sound through my USB headset?

I'm more than willing to buy new equipment, so thats not a problem.
I know I can plug my usb headset into my consoles, but I would rather much prefer a hassle free setup. Maybe using optical input on my pc? Even though all optical ports on motherboards are OUTPUT. Then I would need 2, 1 for each console.

I am planning on getting a new headset which will be 5.1 and use the 3.5mm jacks on my new 5.1 sound card I plan to use. I'm hoping I can adapt any ideas to work with this.

Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
I'd say go optical from the console into a sound card, one which supports Dolby Headphone. Then get a proper set of headphones not some hokey 5.1 cans. This will enable the sound card to decode 5.1 from the console into Dolby Headphone. It will also be transparent when you want to use the same setup for PC gaming, and you won't get noise from the console as the link will be optical.

The problem comes with needing 2 optical inputs. Some sound cards (like my Sondigo) have optical inputs, but I've never seen one with 2. There are switching options for optical though, actual mechanical switches that run about 30 bucks for a 3 input model. Then you just need some cables. AuzenTech X-MERIDIAN and HT Omega Striker are two cards I can think of that will fit the bill. About $125 for either one. Both are very fine sounding cards, with a good set of headphones you have yourself a big upgrade in quality over your USB headset.
 
Thanks for the reply. Here is what my initial thoughts were.
Get a Roccat Kave 5.1 headset.
Creative Fatality 7.1 soundcard. Which has one optical input. Then as you suggested, use a switch to change the input from PS3 to Xbox.

The key for me, is hopefully, able to hear 5.1 in a headset. Some people claim its possible, some don't. Reviews i've seen for the Roccat Kave seem to point that for surround sound movies, its amazing. I will never be using external speakers with me setup, its headphones all the way.
 
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