How to maximize sound and simplify switching sources? (1 Viewer)

[engineEar]

I have a new HDTV, a Yamaha receiver, HD cable TV/DVD box and an Xbox 360 with optical out. My Xbox and cable box both have optical audio outputs.

 

My receiver has ONE optical input. It also has a single digial coax input and that's about it....

 

The Xbox 360 audio output (RCA stereo) and Cable TV audio (HDMI) are going through the TV, and the TV optical out is connected to my older (circa 2003) Yamaha receiver. Obviously, this isn't ideal since I want to maximize sound quality from both audio/video sources.

 

I understand the "best" solution would simply have the outputs going from both Xbox and the cable box to the receiver, but I'm unsure whether I want to try to use an optical-to-digital coax converter box which I saw online, or try to use an optical splitter (which I'm afraid would not work when both the cable box and Xbox are on at the same time.

 

Another thing I find VERY annoying is having to switch both the audio and video sources separately. If I want to go from watching cable TV to watching a DVD, I have to click "TV input" to select the video and then click "Aux Input" repeatedly on my remote to select the corresponding audio. It would be MUCH easier if there were a way to simply click "Input" on the TV and have that also change the audio input on my receiver. So far I haven't found a way to do this, though...

 

Thanks for any ideas on how to easily maximize this while making switching between audio/video sources less cumbersome. I guess if I had to choose I'd opt for the best audio quality I can get, but having both pass through the TV is more convenient when switching sources and not having to futz with the inputs on the receiver.

 

[chuckg]

Sounds like you could use one of those fancy remotes that have "macros" or one of the Harmony remotes that do all the switching when you punch "Watch a/b/c"

 

One thing: the optical audio output on your TV only gives surround sound from the antenna input. Everything else audio-wise that goes through the TV first gets knocked down to 2-channel. thank you, copyright protection scheme!

 

Short of upgrading the receiver, the optical-to-digital coax is the only choice I see.

 

[engineEar]

Thanks for the reply - I've actually located a digital coax out on my cable box, so I have decided to simply run that to the receiver and use the optical out from the Xbox 360 to go into the other receiver input. It's still clunky to switch back and forth but at least the sound is in full Dolby on both sources, which is worth it.

 

[charly98]

you should take advise from some expert.