Outputting the PS3 audio through your PC speakers

I wanted to add to my previous post regarding connecting your PS3 to a computer monitor.What about connecting the audio through to your your computer speakers as well?

Update: Read my detailed post about setting up a good surround sound system to enjoy not only your PS, but other inputs as well.

Well, it's possible, and there are various ways in which you can do this. Some are simpler and cheaper than others. I'll try to outline as many ways as I can think of:

• Headphones - OK, this does not route the audio through your speakers, but it is one of the simpler solutions. Once you've connected the PS3 to your monitor using an HDMI cable, you'll need to use the component cable (Red, White and Yellow connectors) that was packaged with your PS3. The other end of that cable should be a special connector that will go into the back of your PS3 (called AV Multi Out). Taking the red and white audio connectors, and purchasing a component to headphone connector for a few bucks, you can route the audio to a pair of headphones. You will also need a female-female connector between the new connector and your headphones. This should give you a good 2.1 channels of sound. If you choose this option, spend a few more bucks and quality headphones - this will significanly improve your gaming experience.
• Output through PC Speakers via component cables - using the same strategy as above, use the component cables that came with your PS3, but instead, we will take the component to headphone connector and plug it straight into the "Line In", on your soundcard. Now depending on your brand of soundcard and drivers/software avaiable, you will be able to play this audio input through your speakers. Look around in your settings to enable Line In, and output the audio through your connected speakers.
• Output through PC Speakers via Optical - The above options will only give you 2.1 channels of sound. If we use the optical audio output of the PS3 rather than then using the component cables, we could potentially get 5.1 channels of surround sound. (Provided your sound card can handle that, and you have the proper speaker setup). After connecing your PS3 to your monitor you will have to purchase an optical cable (not included with the PS3). Plug one end into the PS3 and the other into your sound card (again, you need a sound card that supports this). Depending on your drivers and software, you can route this audio to your speakers. Better yet, your soundcard is now receiving 5.1/7.1 channels of audio and with the proper configuration, you can enjoy rich surround sounds.

With all the above configurations, you should go into the PS3 settings to properly setup and configure the audio and video outputs. You will be able to switch the audio output from component to optical through this menu as well. Also, these are just substitutes (student budget solutions) to owning a full fledged audio/video system. Even though you won't get amazing results, they will be enjoyable none the less.

Problems???

There are a lot of variables that could be causing your audio to sound bad or not work at all. The best advice I can give you is to double check the connections, and test, test and test. Play around with the settings. As long as you remember what you've changed, you can go back and reverse them. Nothing is going to become permenant, so play around...you won't break it.

And as always, post here, and I'll do my best to answer your questions...