Help! Creative Solutions for Zone 2 Audio w/ HDMI Connections (1 Viewer)

[Omid101]

First Post, Here goes...

My Setup:
Pioneer SC-37 Receiver
Rotel 5.1 Amp (Main Zone)
Rotel 2.1 Amp (Zone 2)
B&W Speakers Throughout
Sub HSU VTF-3 MK3
Niles Speaker Selector Box
XBox 360, PS3, DVR, Apple TV Connected through HDMI
Wii Connected through Components

I've been searching for a solution with no luck so far, so please help. I wanting to play any of the above HDMI sources (specifically Apple TV being most important) over my Zone 2 (that only accepts Analog like most receivers).

I understand I can run an analog cable from my DVR to the Receiver. But some of the above (ie Apple TV) only take HDMI (and I don't want to lose the HDMI quality by converting the HDMI to analog for my main zone. Is there a simple adapter that will allow for the HDMI to pass through without degrading quality AND have an Analog out as well (so I can connect it to an analog channel to play over my zone 2)? Or any other creative solution I might be missing that's clean and practical?

Thanks so much!

 

[conuronton]

I have run into this problem and I do not know of any adaptor.

Creative..... hmmm, you could run everything off of your A channel through a speaker selector (Niles) with volume controls. There is always a sacrifice! Another thought, you could convert your optical/digital coax audio out to analog, but you probably will gain nothing. I'm feeling your B&W's! I have a set of the DM604 S2 floor speakers bi-amped. Good luck, I none of these are really good solutions.

 

[CB750]

Like most with a Zone 2 I have run into the same problem. Thanks for the heads up on the Apple TV connections. The receiver manufacture that address and solves the Zone 2 Digital/Analog problem will have a real marketing and selling advantage over it's competition.

The only solution I found to get my Zone 2 to work with my Cable Box was to connect the analog out on the cable box with RCA cable to an analog aux input on my receiver and set the Zone 2 input to Aux. But that won't work with equipment that does not have analog outputs. This tends to defeat selling point of HDMI cable which was to reduce your cable management.

 

[jedorme]

I encountered exactly the same problem with hooking up a new Marantz AVR to HDTV's in 2 separate locations & wanting also to connect my new Apple TV to both using the Zone 2 capability. My AVR has 2 HDMI outputs so I thought it would be easy until I discovered that they work alternatively but not at the same time, but at least that allows an either/or use of Zone 2 with my Apple TV video. But I could find no way around the audio problem because of the restriction to only allow analog audio out to Zone 2. I ultimately hooked up my DirecTV sat box analog audio out to my AVR to provide that sound for Zone 2 but the only way I can use my Apple TV with Zone 2 is to use my wireless headphones connected to my AVR. Not the ideal solution but better than nothing.

 

[jedorme]

Omid101 - I forgot about this HDMI to component adapter that I found on the web that also converts the audio out to analog red & white RCA cables. Take a look here: http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdmi-to-rgb.html Not cheap but I understand it works well with the ATV.

Jed

 

[smithb]

Not sure I understand all the concern about degraded quality. Many people that do not have HDMI capable receivers for outputting Blu-ray audio do so by using the analog outputs from the Blu-ray player to their receiver with no perceivable differences in quality. As long as there are adequate DACs involved it should be fine. In addition, most Zone 2 setups that I know of are 2 channel. So exactly what is the expectation of taking a multi-channel HDMI signal and sending it to a 2-channel Zone 2? I may not know all the specifics to this situation but it just seems to me that the concern maybe not be as big as is being anticipated. At least if analog outputs are available. For devices where no analog outputs are available, that causes a different problem.

 

[Omid101]

Thanks for the responses!

Ultimately this is what I decided to do that will get me up and running my audio on Zone 2:

Cable DVR: Red/White Analog from the DVR to the Receiver (no problem).

Apple TV: Purchased a Digital Audio Decoder
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0021QBIBQ/ref=oss_product
Will hook up the optical out (in addition to the HDMI), plug into the adapter, and the analog red/white RCA's from there into a zone 2 eligible slot on the receiver.

Should work fine {fingers crossed} at that point...

 

[greentruck]

Omid101...I see this is an old post, regardless, did you happen to get APPLE TV running to ZONE 2 with this method? Mine's not working on my AVR791.
I bought an HDE Digital to Analog Audio Converter , I was assuming that setting ZONE 2 to V AUX at the front of receiver, and running the RCA's converted to DIGI right up to the APPLE TV would do the trick. Am I wrong? I'm not getting any sound.
Note that previously I was simply running an IPOD jack from V AUX into my IPOD and sound was playing in both ZONES perfectly.
Or does anybody else know a solution? I'm using the newest APPLE TV.
Thanks,
-Justin

 

[wynbnt]

I have run an optical to analog converter for zone 2.
Apple - HDMI to zone 1- Gefen D/A converter to zone 2 out of the Apple optical output .
About 70. bucks.
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Audio-To-Analog-Converter/dp/B0013LWK3A/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1335223022&sr=1-3

 

[wynbnt]

Just use the analog input that matches the HDMI input for your Apple TV on a Dennon.

 

[wynbnt]

Just use the analog input that matches the HDMI input for your Apple TV on a Dennon.

 

[Dr Fudge]

I have a two zone / two room setup - Yamaha RX-V667 - Apple TV Mostly stream Pandora for audio and use Apple TV for netflix etc Solution I came up with is to have the HDMI run from Applet TV to Yamaha to TV, then I have RCA cables running from the TV audio out back into the Yamaha audio in.... So If I want the same music in both zones I can set both zones to the RCA cables, or zone one to HDMI and zone two to the RCAs. This allows for control of audio in both zones from the iphone.