X-Fi 7.1 "Home Theater Cable" (3x 3,5mm to 8x RCA): Where to buy? / Cable assignment?

[Tobias Claren]

Hello.


I am looking (very) desperately for a "Home Theater Cable" for the X-Fi:

Creative X-Fi 7.1 "Home Theater Cable"

Without this cable, this soundcard is useless and valueless.

Where can I find it? I can't find a copy from China (ebay...).
Do you know buying sources?
What is the cable assignment?

I can't contact Creative! It is terrible!
Where can i find hotline numbers?


Thanks,
Tobias Claren

 

[MattyMatt]

Did you ever get an answer on this, i may be able to shed some light on it if you haven't.

 

[Tobias Claren]

No, the problem still exists.

 

[MattyMatt]

Well what I can suggest to you, and this may sound a bit strange, but if you find 2x 4 pole cables (like the kind for an older stereo output for a video camera) and 1x 3 pole cables, you would effectively have the same thing.

For example:
2 of these (4 pole):
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3526374

and 1 of these (3 pole):
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3531174

Now, obviously these are just examples, but you get my drift... see if you got a local shack towards you, and they may very well have something in the camcorder accessory area, and in the home audio area that suits your needs....

OR

The other alternative... depends on what you are hooking all of this up to... but you could use a SPDIF connection (Digital audio), if you are hooking it up to a receiver/decoder.

Good luck
Matty-

 

[Tobias Claren]

I have read the jack configuration is not standard compliant.

I have three cables here for quite some time.

To test, I set the AV receiver (Onkyo TX-SR576).
But I can not combine the 7.1-multichannel inputs ("DVD") with an HDMI video input. I do not know how that goes.
That would be a new theme. Or someone knows the quick solution?
http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/onkyo_tx_sr576_rear_inputs_outputs.jpg

 

[TBennettcc]

It seems MattyMatt's solution should work quite well, provided you ring out each cable with a multi-meter and label each RCA jack...

Some links at Creative:

http://www.creative.com/soundblaster/products/musicmovies/article.asp?articleID=60487&categoryID=14

http://support.creative.com/Product...ster&prodID=14309&prodName=Home+Theater+Cable

Link which gives part number:
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=55018

Link to cable pin-out (Look under the '7.1 Sound Blaster Cards' sub-heading):
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=3069

This is a Google search for the part number: Click here

This is a Google Shopping link for the part number: Click here
(It only gave me two results, neither of which loaded. Maybe you'll have better luck.)

I have attached an image capture of the web page, just in case.

As far as HDMI, HDMI carries BOTH AUDIO AND VIDEO. So the receiver might be expecting the audio in from the same HDMI cable providing the video.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Tobias Claren]

Yes, HDMI carries video and DIGITAL audio.
The Onkyo TX-SR576 decode only up to DD-Pro.
Not TrueHD an DTS-HD.
For HD sound I have to use the analog outputs of the X-Fi.

The solution for the AV Receiver Problem:
Apparently I can only use the button "DVD".
Set HDMI2 to "DVD" button, then press "DVD", and you see the HDMI2 picture on "DVD", and hear digital HDMI sound.

Press the "MULTI CH" button, and you see also HDMI2, but you hear the multi channel analog input.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As for the wiring, since I've now tried it with the wrong cables. Strange, I bought wrong cable.
Why strange?

Title:
"3.5mm to 3 RCA Phono Plugs Audio Cable AV MP3" (June 2010 from "Tradekoo" on ebay):

|=|=|=|=>
|1|2|3|4

1: Ground
2: Yellow
3: White
4: Red
Wrong wiring
Who thinks the fact, that a cable could be wired incorrectly?!
Wired wrong, or do you see it differently?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I tested an old cable from the analog camcorder (pass trough test with multimeter).
The same wiring as indicated at Creative (seemingly standard AV cable wiring):

|=|=|=|=>
|1|2|3|4

1: Red
2: Black
3: Yellow
4: White

Correct wiring

Another AV cable also has the Creative/Standard-AV wiring.
Only these six short cable from China are wired incorrectly.

I have 6 of them ($ 8.51) from China.
Purchased on 19 June 2010. Until now not been tested.
I'll ask the seller "tradekoo" for refund.
Other shoppers must have had the same problem.

 

[TBennettcc]

Yikes. I was thinking to myself, "How can the cable possibly be wrong...? The colors don't matter..." The ground, unfortunately, does, as it will be the shroud connection on every RCA connector. I looked closer at the diagrams I posted. As it turns out, the ground appears to be the second ring connection, not the sleeve connection. Which sucks. Damn you, Creative!

If you have decent soldering skills, from my perspective, you have two choices:

1. Unsolder the original connectors Creative put on the card, and hard-wire the correct wires to the correct places on the card (or possibly add a 'more standard' interconnect which will let you disconnect the assembly)...

OR

2. Buy two of these:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/171-7435-EX/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMv0W4pxf2HiV7X8OZ%2bjzZHiSUEC9jNX59s=

... and then chop off the TRRS connector on your current cables, and re-solder the wires in the correct order to the new tip.

Both are messy, but they just might work. Good luck!

Edit: It seems like you may have found cables that work?

 

[Tobias Claren]

Yes, I found cables.
Normal camcorder cables.
Which corresponds to the wiring of Creative.
It seems that Creative has yet held to the standard.

I had bought 6 incorrectly wired cables.
Incorrectly wired at the factory.

 

[MattyMatt]

I gotta say, the odds of getting 6 incorrectly wired cables, is pretty small... but then again, my luck is just as bad.

Keep us posted on what works and what doesn't!

 

[Tobias Claren]

If the entire batch is wired wrong, I could also get 20 wrong.