[BushrodW]

Hello, all. Thank you for this Forum.

In short, my question is can HDMI audio be "split" from the signal?

Here's tbe long part.

My TV's "a/v controller," as Hitachi (model 42HDT51) calls it, has HDMI inputs and my surround sound processor (rotel 1068) does not. I was wondering if connecting HDMI direct from DVD player to the tv and connecting digital audio from dvd to audio processor would work.

I called Hitachi customer svc who didn't know and referred me to the dvd manufacturer, saying it could be dependent on the brand/model of dvd player used. My initial newbie/layman's thought was that HDMI is a standard and that such things would be determined accordingly. My second thought was why did I bother calling Hitachi customer svc with such a question? Another case of operator stupidity, I guess:-).

Regarding my dvd player - I have not yet bought a good one. In fact I don't know if I should just wait until the HD DVD format "wars" play out - but that's another discussion.

If it does indeed matter, I'll probably end up with a sub-$400 Yamaha or their the soon-to-be-released (by March 2005 per Yamaha customer svc) dvd s2500.

Thank You.

BW

[Charlie Campisi]

Welcome to the Forum! I may not be able to answer your question authoritatively, but I can guess, and if nothing else, get your thread bumped up. In short, I think you will be fine. I don't think you mean "split" the HDMI signal. If I understand your question, you want to know if you have your DVD hooked to the TV via HDMI will the DVD still be outputting an audio signal via the optical or coaxial connection to your receiver.

I suppose it would depend on the particular dvd player, but my guess is yes, it has to. For instance, my dvd player is connected to my tv via component video and good ol composite audio (stereo red/white). It is also connected to my receiver via an optical cable. I can get audio through my tv's speakers and/or my receiver. The audio signal goes to both simultaneously. Same for my satellite box. It is connected to the tv via component video and composite audio and connected to the receiver via optical. It all works fine.

[Dean_S]

Both of my systems are setup like (I think) you are saying yours is. The Video out on the DVD (In my case component not DVI is directly connected to the TVs) and the digital audio is connected to the receiver. Works fine on both of mine with no lip sync issues. I tend to prefer direct video connections b/c running them thru a recv or pre-amp can degrade the signal.

In this case, less might be more