Dell S2409W + Xbox 360 sound query

Hey folks, I wanted to know how to simultaneously get sound from both my PC and my Xbox 360 when connected to my Dell S2409W monitor?

Currently I got my 360 connected via HDMI, so display is not an issue. For sound, I have to remove the speakers 3.5mm jack from my motherboard and plug it into the audio out port of my monitor to get the HDMI sound out for my 360. But toggling back and forth in this manner is a boring job.

So is there any way wherein which I can get my sound from both my 360 and my PC without having to unplugging & plugging the cable?

this solution will work only if PC is ON when you want sound from 360..

connect the audio output of 360 to Line-in (Blue audio jack generally) on the motherborard.. Go to audio setting and deselect mute on Line-in (muted by default).. also change volume to appropriate level.
(You will require a 3.5mm extender, or basically a cable with 3.5mm jack on both side.. making one of you own should not cost more than 10bucks for 2 3.5mm jack and Rs8-20/meter for cable depending upon quality)

this way the PC will output both sound inputs (from system and 360 via line-in)

you can mute any input (system OR/AND line-in) at any moment via sound control panel from within the system.

I don't have any audio output separately for the 360. I only connect the speakers 3.5mm cord directly to the audio out of my monitor and get the sound.

What I was thinking is, I believe my monitor has 2 sound ports, one is audio out and another is audio in; Both being 3.5mm jacks. So what if I could have my speakers 3.5mm wire connected to the audio out for getting sound from my 360 and purchase a 3.5mm male to male extender to be connected on the other audio port of my monitor and the sound port of my motherboard. Would that work?

connect audio out of monitor to line in of motherboard and speaker to line out (green) of monitor.

any input connected to audio input of lcd shall make the sound come from lcd

Thanks for the advice madnav. Please check the image below:



In the manual, it says:
2.) Audio PC jack
3.) Audio line out

I connect the speakers wire directly to my Audio Line out port on the monitor to get sound for my 360. So my main query was, can I buy a 3.5mm male to male converter,like this: eBay India: Audio Cable 3.5mm Stereo Male to 3.5mm Stereo Male - 3m (item 120492644344 end time 20-Nov-2009 17:42:53 IST)

and connect one of it's end to the Audio PC jack of the monitor (as shown in above image) and then the other end to the audio/line in port on the motherboard for my PC sound to work?

Sorry for being a royal pain, but I'm a bit too confused with all the naming scheme.

no the Audio PC jack sounds like it is to take input from PC, to eliminate other speaker systems and use LCD speakers as primary sound output for PC.

This should make it easy...
connect Audio PC jack and green jack on motherboard (for PC output) with 3.5mm extender.
Connect your speakers directly to Audio Line out on LCD.

I suppose there is a switch on lcd to select video input, xbox being through hdmi and pc through dvi/dsub.

I think the lcd will be configured to do the following by default:-
1) Turn off its internal speakers and bypass audio to external speakes whenever an external speaker system is connected to Audio Line out on LCD.
2) Select the default audio input via hdmi whenever hdmi is the selected video and switching back to Audio PC as the default sound input when dvi/dsub is selected as video input.

in any case, you will require the 3.5mm extender, just try both methods and see what works best for you ? (the method in previous post and the one in this post)

Summary: This method will let you switch audio directly by switching concerned video option...thereby eliminating the requirement of configuring audio from the OS. This method is rather hardware based without any requirement of software optimization (that is audio drivers in OS)

hope this works as expected.

That is exactly what I was planning to do as well. Thank for all your help. Appreciate it.

Lastly, when you say 3.5mm extender, you mean 3.5mm male-to-male cable right? like the one I mentioned on top?

errr... right.. i meant the 3.5mm male to male extender the whole time