Confused as to why my surround sound isn't working... (1 Viewer)

[cliff harris]

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate any insight into this problem I'm pretty new to home theater stuff, but I am a tech geek (computer coder). anyway...

I have this TV: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ULYKETW/
This BluRay player: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007QQZODO/
This HT system: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003H9NHWY/

Originally I had 2 speakers connected to the 'A' speakers input on the onkyo, then I added a subwoofer (which works great), recently I added 2 extra speakers that I wired up to the 'surround sound' connections on the onkyo.
If I play some blu-rays (star trek new movie) I get sound come out of the surround sound speakers. I *think* its correct, but frankly not mind-blowing. In normal TV use, the surround sound speakers emit nothing

My aerial is connected to the TV. My Bluray is connected via HDMI to the TV. The TV is connected via digital optical out to the optical in of the onkyo. I did it this way to avoid sound synch issues that I had with a previous TV.

When I play a 5.1 test video on youtube (i'v tried several) its pretty clear that the surround sound speakers emit sod-all, and instead that sound comes through the old left & right speakers.

What...if anything...am I doing wrong here? Is the HDMI cable taking the Surround Sound audio correctly to my TV? is it getting stuck there and not transfered down my optical? Is a setting wrong on the onkyo? I did notice that *nothing* came out of the SS speakers until I changed the input HDMI socket on the TV from the blu-ray suggesting the HDMI inputs are not all equal...

Any help, suggestions, or even just sympathy is much appreciated

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Yes, the surround sound is getting “stuck” at the TV. The problem is that TVs don’t pass a bitstream signal (which carries Dolby Digital surround sound) from any of their outputs.

Basically, you need to connect your gear to the receiver directly, and feed a video signal from it to the TV. The Onkyo should have an icon on its screen to indicate it is receiving a 5.1 signal.

However, you won’t be able to get any over-the-air TV programming in 5.1. That would require an outboard tuner connected (again) straight to your Onkyo. However, regular network programming doesn’t do much to utilize surround sound as it is, so it might not be worth it. TIVO makes a DVR that uses a TV antenna – pretty cool unit, we use one.

All is not lost, however. Your TV’s optical output can deliver Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound to the Onkyo. Not as good as Dolby Digital, but since network doesn’t fully utilize it anyway DPL should be fine. In my experience you don’t get much in the way of surround sound from regular TV programming anyway.

Bottom line, if you have no use for an outboard tuner of some sort, just connect the bluray player to the Onkyo and you’re good to go.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Mark-P]

I assume you have also gone through the setup menu of the Onkyo and configured it for the number of speakers you are using (as in center speaker set to "none")?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Cliff:

Welcome to the HTF!

 

[cliff harris]

Thanks for the reply. Yes... speakers set up ok on the onkyo. It looks like I just was unaware of what cables surround sound can and can not travel down. Its kinda annoying that home theater is so complex
My onkyo has an HDMI out, so I can set it up that way, I'll try it tonight.
Thanks for the explanation, I am a complete newcomer to this, and the back panel of a home theater system actually made my wife physically recoil in disbelief when she saw it .