20 Year Old 5.1 Surround Sound System (2 Viewers)

[Greg Lovern]

I have a ~20 year old 5.1 surround sound system buried in the back of a storage room. It predates HDMI; the receiver's best audio connection is optical.

My television set has an optical output (Sanyo FW65R70F). Before I become a human backhoe and go dig it out, any thoughts on whether it would it work to connect the televsion to the receiver by optical cable, leaving the DVR, disk player, and XBox connected directly to the television by HDMI?

 

[JohnRice]

You won't get real 5.1. the TV will downmix the audio to 2 channel, then the receiver will decode it to pseudo 5.1 using Pro Logic II.

 

[Greg Lovern]

You won't get real 5.1. the TV will downmix the audio to 2 channel, then the receiver will decode it to pseudo 5.1 using Pro Logic II.

Thanks, but according to this article which I found by googling keywords from your answer, that may not be true of my set which was a new model introduced just last month:

https://www.avu.ca/audio/tv-preventing-enjoying-true-surround-sound/

Are there any movie scenes where I would be able to easily tell the difference?

 

[JohnRice]

Well, HERE is more info. Traditionally, very few TVs have passed 5.1, and you'll need to make sure you have the set configured properly, if it can. Generally, Sanyo TVs are considered "budget" so they will tend to lack some of the niceties of more expensive ones. If you set it up and when you connect the receiver, it tells you there is DD 5.1 coming in, then there ya go. In my experience, odds are against it.

 

[JohnRice]

Your other option, which eliminates the question, is if you can connect hdmi from the devices to the TV, and digital audio from them to the receiver, if you have enough connections. You'll have to change two inputs, but you'll be guaranteed 5.1 audio.

 

[Greg Lovern]

Thanks! I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[YANG]

You won't get real 5.1. the TV will downmix the audio to 2 channel...

My experience is different. Perhaps it's dependent on the hardware in the TV to divert the 5.1 audio through TV's digital output?
My A/V receiver is a PHILIPS FR996 as shown in the picture...

...which doesn't hv DPL2 to meddle with.
You're right that 5.1audio can get downmixed to 2 channel audio in some cases, but for me, that only applies when i chose DTS to deliver through HDMI connection to TV then to the A/V receiver. Almost 99% of the DD5.1 tracks delivered to the TV gets successfully re-divert to the A/V receiver successfully when DD5.1 track was chosen through BD/DVD players on physical media playbacks. DTS wise, collapse to 2.0 PCM that couldn't even trigger DD decoding.