Need help incorporating a Fire TV Stick into an older setup (1 Viewer)

[Thornhill]

Hello All,


I’m looking for a little guidance here.


I am having trouble incorporating a Fire TV Stick into my home theater setup which includes a 9 year old Panasonic Plasma model # TC-P58v10 and a 15 year old Rotel receiver model # RSX-1055. The specific problem I am having is getting digital sound. I think I may have figured out how to make it work, but I wanted to run it by someone before I spend any money to carry things out.


The Panasonic TC-P58v10 TV has 4 HDMI slots. I am using #1 for my DishNetwork, #2 for my PlayStation, #3 is where I have my Fire TV Stick plugged in. The Rotel receiver model # RSX-1055 will be used for audio only, because it does not have HDMI capabilities. The receiver has 5 digital audio inputs. Two optical and three coaxial. I have an optical cable for my DishNetwork, and an optical cable for my PlayStation. I would need to use a coaxial cable for the Fire TV Stick. Unfortunately the TV does not have any coaxial outs. I was thinking of using my TV’s Optical audio output and connect an optical audio cable to a digital audio converter and have a coaxial cable coming out the other side and going into the Rotel Receiver. Would that work to bring the Fire TV‘s sound through my speaker set up?


Here are pictures of the digital audio converter, as well as of the rear panels for the TV and receiver. Thanks for any insight anyone can provide!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

No harm in trying the converter. If it doesn’t work there is another option:

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Premium-Quality-Component-Converter/dp/B017LVMAWG

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Thornhill]

No harm in trying the converter. If it doesn’t work there is another option:

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Premium-Quality-Component-Converter/dp/B017LVMAWG

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Thanks for that. I feel like I'd be more inclined to use that if getting a video signal was the problem. Video displays perfectly. I'd just want to get sound through my speaker setup rather than through the TV speakers. I was hoping someone would let me know if they think what I'm trying to do will work in achieving that. I may just have to bite the bullet and try it out to see if it works. It's not a huge investment but I'd rather not spend the money if I'm off base.

 

[JohnRice]

What you suggest should work, but you'll only get 2 channel sound from the Fire TV Stick. If discrete surround sound is output, the TV will mix it down to 2 channel.

 

[B-ROLL]

Another suggestion would be to use an optical cable splitter

such as this one from Monoprice,

You would need to provide a third TosLink/optical cable and it it is intended to split the signal going out, but is does work both ways. The only concern would be to make sure BOTH devices being connected to the receiver are not sending a signal at the same time. I've done this in the past and it has worked well as long as only one source is on ...

 

[Thornhill]

What you suggest should work, but you'll only get 2 channel sound from the Fire TV Stick. If discrete surround sound is output, the TV will mix it down to 2 channel.

Well, I kind of thought that might be the case. It’s better than sound from the tinny TV speakers though. I think that might be the best with what I have at the moment. I really need a new receiver though.

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah, ideally you connect everything directly to the receiver, including the Fire TV Stick, but you need a receiver with hdmi.

 

[Thornhill]

Yeah, ideally you connect everything directly to the receiver, including the Fire TV Stick, but you need a receiver with hdmi.

I think this might do the trick:

 

[JohnRice]

His receiver doesn't have hdmi. Nothing will really accomplish the ultimate goal, other than a receiver with hdmi.

 

[Thornhill]

His receiver doesn't have hdmi. Nothing will really accomplish the ultimate goal, other than a receiver with hdmi.

I am thinking the item I posted will work because I can plug the Fire TV into it and the run an HDMI from it to the TV and a coaxial cable directly into my receiver. It should work just like the other two things I have plugged into the TV, and give me 5.1. I’ll see when I get it on Monday, I went ahead and ordered it to give it a try.

 

[JohnRice]

Oh, sure. I’d plug everything into it and not plug anything into the TV. Simpler all around.

 

[Thornhill]

Oh, sure. I’d plug everything into it and not plug anything into the TV. Simpler all around.

Gonna do that. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

 

[Thornhill]

So, I forgot to come back and say how things worked out. I bought the Tendak HDMI switcher with a digital coaxial out, the one I pictured in a post above. It did exactly what I needed it to! I now have my Fire TV Stick incorporated seamlessly into my HT setup and am getting 5.1 sound from it. If you need to do something similar I recommend it, or whatever is close to it. I can now go on saving $$ a bit longer for a new receiver.