Receiver that will play audio from an HDMI source, and not just pass through to TV. (1 Viewer)

[ERFY]

Here's my situation:

I am setting up a new entertainment center. Here's my devices:

Satellite TV Box with HDMI out, component and toslink
AppleTV with HDMI out, component and toslink
Playstation 3 with HDMI out, component and toslink
Xbox 360 with component and toslink


My brother has essentially the same setup, but his receiver would not process or play audio from the HDMI sources. So for his PS3 and Satellite TV, he had to run the HDMI and then also the Toslink for the audio. We aren't very savvy with this and couldn't figure out why, but I basically found out that his receiver wouldn't decode/play the audio signal from the HDMI, it just passed it on to the TV.

How do you know if a receiver will do that? Ideally, I'd like to have something like the AppleTV just hooked into the receiver with HDMI (and then another HDMI to the TV), and have the audio play on TV, movies, and music.

Is this possible? The problem my brother ran into was that he had 3 Toslink devices (since the receiver wouldn't play audio sound), but the receiver only had 2 toslink inputs. So there was no way to have the audio from the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the Satellite all plugged in.


I don't know if I'm being clear, because really I don't know what I am talking about. It just seems like if I have a PS3 or AppleTV or Satellite box, if I plug their HDMI into the receiver, the audio should play in Digital 5.1, and the video should be sent to the TV at 1080p. But, that hasn't been the case on the 2 receivers he has tried (pioneer and yamaha, $300 range).

What do I do?

 

[Kelly Payne]

What model of receiver(s) does your brother have?

 

[ERFY]

It was the Pioneer VSX 917 KS
pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/AV-Receivers/PioneerReceivers/ci.VSX-917-K%7CS.Kuro

Said in the manual that if you use the HDMI for video you need to "run a seperate cable (optical or coax) for audio", and it was a real let down because he had 3 HDMI devices and only 2 optical inputs.

 

[Bluzman]

These will do what you want and also convert the component video from the xbox to a digital signal and send it to the TV on the HDMI cable (still need the TOSLINK for the xbox however).

Available now:
Denon AVR 2308CI
Marantz SR5002 (I think)
Onkyo TX-SR705
Sony STR-DG910
Yamaha RX-V663

Available soon:
Harman Kardon AVR 254
Pioneer VSX-1018TXH-K
Onkyo TX-SR606
Sony STR-DG920

 

[ERFY]

The Yamaha RX-V663 is standing out in my mind after reading about all the receivers in this range. I think that is going to be my pick.