Optical cable not outputting to HDMI devices (1 Viewer)

[Danijel Arar]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the long winded question - I hope I gave all the details needed.

So the Christmas season is now over, and I find myself with a new TV and HtiB sitting in my living room. I went budget for all the equipment, unfortunately it was that or nothing. Unfortunately I can't get audio to some of my devices if I use an optical cable.

TV - Sharp LC60LE55U 60" LED TV.
HtiB - LG BH7430PB 5.1 Home Theatre. (Its your basic BluRay/Reciever combo unit).
Xbox 360.
HD PVR Cable Box.

The TV has 3 HDMI in, 1 optical out, 1 component in.
The BluRay receiver has 1 HDMI in, 2 HDMI out, 1 optical in.

Setup 1: I basically had 1 HDMI running from the TV to the BluRay receiver and then had BluRay running out to the Cable Box and Xbox. This setup runs ok. I don't like this setup because when you exit to the home screen of the receiver and back to the cable box or the Xbox, sometimes there is an error with the handshake and causes the screen to go black with no sound - there is a white strip of static that runs up the length of the screen. The only way to get rid of this is to reboot the BluRay receiver and then all is well again.

Setup 2: I hooked up the optical out from the TV to the optical in of the BluRay receiver. I used component cables w/stereo cables for the Cable box into the TV. I used HDMI for the Xbox to the TV. With this setup I don't have to rely on running my video through the BluRay receiver and I can choose to have the system on or off for my audio. However for some reason I get audio on my Cable box without issue. But my Xbox has no audio from the HtiB, only from the TV speakers.

I was under the assumption with the digital cable, the HtiB would play any audio that plays on the TV from any source. But it seems its having some kind of conflict taking the HDMI audio and sending it via the optical cable. Any ideas?

Thanks for reading,
Dan

 

[schan1269]

Your TV either(it is in your manual)
1. Dumbs all incoming audio to 2.0 pcm
2. Needs to be 2.0 pcm before it gets there.

Not all TV can process DD from a source(regardless what that source is) and move it out as 2.0 pcm. It would have to be 2.0 pcm from the start(ability to play a source through its speakers is not the same capability as "passing it along").

What you should do is get a toslink switch to run all your audio directly from the sources(if your TV provides apps, and you use them...or OTA...it is also a "source").

Your HDMI inputs(which you have it backwards...your have 2 in and 1 out) only accept 2.0pcm cause your HTiB is blind to your sources...meaning your sources see the TV...ergo...dumb the audio to 2.0.

 

[Danijel Arar]

Makes sense, kinda annoying how some TV's will allow the HDMI audio to travel through the Optical and some won't. But then again that's what I get for going budget.

The toslink switch makes sense, at that point I can cut the TV out of the equation altogether and just have it running to the BluRay receiver.

Thanks for the help!

 

[schan1269]

That is the number 1 reason to not buy HTiB...having to work around its limited functioning.

TV are not designed to be the hub anyway. Even the ones that "can be"...

No DD Plus(Roku and other internet streams)
No DTS
No DTS HD/MA
No Dolby True HD