Questions On Quality Of Laptop Sound And Video When Transferred To External Sources.

[Mobi]

Can someone please resolve my confusion?

Laptops have their own audio software, which is used when playing sound through their built in speakers and also when using the headphone socket.

My questions are:

1. When connecting from the headphone outlet to an external source (external speaker/amp system), to what extent is the quality of sound dependant on the lap top internal audio software and to what extent is it reliant on the external speaker system amplifier?

Media players loaded on laptops, such as WIN, GOM or VLC have their own EQ systems which can dramatically alter the quality of the sound. So what is at play here? The Lap top audio system, the external speaker/ amp system, or the media player EQ system - or do they all interplay with each other?

2. When playing audio and video via the laptop HDMI port to a Television, what video and sound systems are in play here? Is the sound purely reliant on the sound system of the TV or does the quality of the laptop audio software have any bearing on the quality? Similarly the video – is this reliant on the quality of the TV picture format, provided of course that the lap top can transmit HD video, or does the graphics card in the laptop have any effect on the picture quality?

These questions may seem obvious to those of you who know about these things but I would appreciate any ‘not too technical’ answers from anyone willing to educate a bit of a computer numbskull.

Thank you

[Darrel]

The speakers in laptops are understandably dire and this is the cause of the crappy sound they produce. You can test this by plugging good headphones into your laptop headphone socket.

Sound and video output via an HDMI lead (or via a spdif socket for audio) is digital and as such will be unaltered from the original if played back via a suitable digital amp/screen. Having good speakers will then complete the procedure and they are the only part of the chain that will influence the sound quality to any extent (unless your laptop is some no-name made-in-burma model that you bought for 5000B off the back of a songthaew). With a good source you should never use equalizers or software that manipulates the audio or video as this will only degrade the signal.

Done this way the output from your laptop will be every bit as good as a DVD or BluRay disk played back on a suitable stand-alone player, assuming that the source is of good quality of course, and not some naff pirated download.

[WhizBang]

1. When connecting from the headphone outlet to an external source (external speaker/amp system), to what extent is the quality of sound dependant on the lap top internal audio software

Pretty much 100%, I would think, as the speakers/amp only get what the headphones would have received.

2. When playing audio and video via the laptop HDMI port to a Television, what video and sound systems are in play here? Is the sound purely reliant on the sound system of the TV or does the quality of the laptop audio software have any bearing on the quality? Similarly the video – is this reliant on the quality of the TV picture format, provided of course that the lap top can transmit HD video, or does the graphics card in the laptop have any effect on the picture quality?

If true HDMI, then the TV/Sound System should be getting the best the video file can deliver.

[Sayonarax]

1. When connecting from the headphone outlet to an external source (external speaker/amp system), to what extent is the quality of sound dependant on the lap top internal audio software

Your on-board sound card does all the work. I recommend you don't play with the EQ on either the desktop program or the video player, as there really is no reason to. If you want a little more bass or treble, then use the simple EQ on your amp/deck.

Your PC decodes all the video and sound before leaving it. Your TV may affect the sound with its built in engines (e.g SRS sound, surrsound and EQ settings), and same apply's to the video.

[Mobi]

Many thanks for your expert replies. It is appreciated.

I think I have it pretty clear understanding of this in my ageing head now.

For the record, I have just purchased a new Acer model 5755G to replace the old Acer 4736 which had a disk crash after 3 1/2 years of constant use.

The new one has got pretty good specs and I was just wondering about the sound reproduction as it came with a generic audio driver but I have since loaded a Realtek audio driver which was on a 'driver CD' which came with the laptop.

[Darrel]

You could have just replaced the hard drive in the broken machine. This can be done quite easily.

The Realtek driver will probably be for the HDMI output rather than the speaker/headphones output.

[Mobi]

You could have just replaced the hard drive in the broken machine. This can be done quite easily.

You could have just replaced the hard drive in the broken machine. This can be done quite easily.

The Realtek driver will probably be for the HDMI output rather than the speaker/headphones output.

Yes, I had a quote for 3,000 Baht to replace it - and they put one in to prove it worked - but I decided it was time for a bit of an upgrade, so I splashed out on a new one. I might put a new drive in the old one later and keep it as a spare.