Coaxial and Optical together? (1 Viewer)

[nathan*]

I have a Sony HTDDW840 receiver and a new Sony Bravia 40 HdLCD.
The receiver has a Coax input labeled DVD/LD coaxial in, it also has a optical input labeled Video 2.

What I want to do is run HDMI from my dvd player to the TV and Coax to the receiver. So far so good for watching dvds or listening to cds with my dvd player...here's where my confusion comes in...can I also run optical audio from the TV to the receiver and hook it in via Video 2? Also, will everything from the TV be digital? or do I need to run the optical from the tv to the receiver for video 2 and also run L&R audio from the tv to the video 2 input also? (the video 2 input on the reviver has a/v and optical inputs, and the Tv has Optical and L&R analog audio out)The receiver has a setting that will take digital or analog whichever is available, so it leads me to think that it could handle the coax in from dvd...and then when I'm just watching tv it could handle either the optical or L&R analog audio.
...Or should I just use coax from the dvd and L&R analog audio from the TV and forget about digital out from the TV?

thanks in advance,
nathan

 

[Alon Goldberg]

Hi Nathan - To answer your question - there's no need to run both optical audio and RCA audio back to your receiver from your TV. One or the other will suffice, but of course optical audio is far superior.

However, most TV's are unable to pass DD5.1, so you may be losing some audio by outputing from your TV. A more desirable setup would be to run your audio straight from the cable box into your receiver.

Here's a diagram I drew up for someone else a while back that illustrates this setup:

 

[nathan*]

thanks for the quick response Alon.
I don't have a cable box, the TV has a cable card...so I'll just use the optical out on the Tv to the receiver. For what it cost, this TV better support DD5.1!

Will the optical out pass all audio from the TV to the receiver...even when the broadcast may not be digital?

thanks,
Nathan

 

[Alon Goldberg]

Well that changes things. Your TV will output digital sound over optical audio when a broadcast with a digital audio signal (PCM or Dolby Digital) is being received by the television tuner through the VHF/UHF or CABLE input. If the television broadcast does not contain a digital audio signal, then it's possible that no sound will be heard through this connection. A secondary analog connection would then need to be established to pass analog audio signals to the receiver.

 

[nathan*]

thanks, I guess I'll just hook up both optical and RCA from the TV to the receiver and let the switching begin. When I get my optical cable in(i just ordered it) I'll try it by itself first to see if any analog signals are not passed and let you know how it works out.

Thanks again,
Nathan