Configuring non 4k Receiver with Ultra HD Blu-ray player and 4k TV (1 Viewer)

[punman]

What I had done in the past with my standard HD (1080p) TV, was to run HDMI out from the cable box to the receiver's sat/cable "in". Then an HDMI from monitor "out" on the receiver to the TV (both ARC). Doing that, I got 1080p on the TV and good sound through my receiver. Doing that with my new OLED 4k TV I only get 1080p due to the receiver's limitation.

So what I did tonight is disconnected the HDMI from cable box to receiver and instead ran it from the cable box to an HDMI on the TV. Then I ran an optical cable from the TV to the receiver. I now get 4k showing on the TV and sound out of the receiver to 5.1 speakers. Only limitation is that the sound is not lossless but I doubt most cable shows and streaming are lossless anyways. At least I get lossless audio formats when playing Blu-rays on my X800 player.

Thanks to all who have commented so far. I will try this setup for a few weeks, then decide if I really need to upgrade the receiver. I might not need to.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Since you do some streaming anyway, why not just "cut the cord" (so to speak) and probably save some $ by ditching cable TV service (and replace it completely w/ streaming and whatever else)?

There are various options other that probably provide equal or better quality/service than your cable TV company whether that saves you all that much $ or not (depending on exactly what programming/content you want to keep)...

IF you don't already have a decent, standalone streaming STB/device, consider getting an AppleTV 4K or Roku (that will likely work better than your smart TV for streaming). Some cable companies (or even streaming services like SlingTV) actually even (occasionally) offer such devices at substantial discount if you go w/ their streaming services (for whatever length of time)...

_Man_

 

[Mike Up]

What I had done in the past with my standard HD (1080p) TV, was to run HDMI out from the cable box to the receiver's sat/cable "in". Then an HDMI from monitor "out" on the receiver to the TV (both ARC). Doing that, I got 1080p on the TV and good sound through my receiver. Doing that with my new OLED 4k TV I only get 1080p due to the receiver's limitation.

So what I did tonight is disconnected the HDMI from cable box to receiver and instead ran it from the cable box to an HDMI on the TV. Then I ran an optical cable from the TV to the receiver. I now get 4k showing on the TV and sound out of the receiver to 5.1 speakers. Only limitation is that the sound is not lossless but I doubt most cable shows and streaming are lossless anyways. At least I get lossless audio formats when playing Blu-rays on my X800 player.

Thanks to all who have commented so far. I will try this setup for a few weeks, then decide if I really need to upgrade the receiver. I might not need to.

Yep, remember I talked about how I did the same with my Denon AVR-2312ci here.

"I had my Denon AVR-2312ci hooked up to my 4K TV. The receiver only passes 1080p60 and 3D. My Sony X700 UHD Bluray player has "2" HDMI outputs, 1 for video to go directly to the TV and 1 for sound to go directly to the receiver. It's made to work with older receivers that are not 4K compatible. Your Sony 800M2 is the same, one step up from X700 with the addition of a full size chassis and DVD-A compatibility as well.

I ran all my 4K streamer directly to the television and set the television for bitstream and it downmixed DD+ 5.1 to DD 5 and sent the DD 5.1 through the TV's optical output to my receiver."

The problem doing that is if you need to make setting changes, it's difficult to do without the Denon's on-screen display on the TV. I worked around this using it's front panel display which was only fair as it doesn't show everything, and then talking to the AVR-2312ci through the web browser feature. Once again not ideal as you need to bring your laptop out. Using a phone was to sensitive for most things, screwing up settings more than making them better with fat fingers.

Using my Denon AVR-2312ci on the 1080p setup in my media room made everything so much easier to use. I use the new Denon AVR-S960H in the living room on the 4K Dolby Vision/HDR10+ system for the highest quality with my Sony UHD UBP-X700 Bluray Player, Roku, and Fire TV 4K Max stick.

Don't forget your X800 is a Universal Player that plays DVD-Audio discs and SACDs. I use my Denon Universal Player for DVD-Audio over HDMI (Doesn't allow SACD over HDMI) and my X700 Bluray player for my SACDs over HDMI (Converts from DSD to PCM).

 

[Mike Up]

Since you do some streaming anyway, why not just "cut the cord" (so to speak) and probably save some $ by ditching cable TV service (and replace it completely w/ streaming and whatever else)?

I got rid of Xfinity for many reasons. I had Hulu live but the DVR is very flaky missing recordings and then the delete function would not work. Guess these are common issues after searching the web. I ditched it because of that. I now have Youtube TV for under $70 and like it much better than Hulu Live. Dirt cheap next to Xfinity which was 2X as much.