Optical audio???

[freeze1090]

I have a 60in hd plasma with a sony blu ray and sony 5.1 surround.

i have a uverse box and the blu ray player hooked up to the tv via hdmi, and then digital optical from the tv to the surround.

Some dvds that we have, have surround sound optimizers, and as it goes through the setup it doesn't produce sound in the rear 2 speakers or the bass. but when watching the movie there is sound in the rear speakers and base.

I have heard that the tv will only pass 2 channel sound through to optical, is that what is causing it to not recognize the rear speakers? Why would it still play sound through the rear speakers?

I can hook the optical cable straight to the blu ray, but the surround system only has 1 optical input and i want to be able to use it for both the uverse box and blu ray easily.

and the surround system doesnt have any hdmi inputs, and has 1 hdmi out for the built in dvd.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

[02audionoob]

Maybe the sound you're getting through the rear speakers is just a 5-channel version of stereo. I have an old Denon that does that. As for connecting the audio to the receiver, how about a digital coax? Your receiver should have a coax digital input and seems like at least one of your sources...the U-verse box and the Blu-ray...would have a coax output.

[pixelthis]

I have a 60in hd plasma with a sony blu ray and sony 5.1 surround.

i have a uverse box and the blu ray player hooked up to the tv via hdmi, and then digital optical from the tv to the surround.

Some dvds that we have, have surround sound optimizers, and as it goes through the setup it doesn't produce sound in the rear 2 speakers or the bass. but when watching the movie there is sound in the rear speakers and base.

I have heard that the tv will only pass 2 channel sound through to optical, is that what is causing it to not recognize the rear speakers? Why would it still play sound through the rear speakers?

I can hook the optical cable straight to the blu ray, but the surround system only has 1 optical input and i want to be able to use it for both the uverse box and blu ray easily.

and the surround system doesnt have any hdmi inputs, and has 1 hdmi out for the built in dvd.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

GO TO RADIO SHACK or monoprice.com, saw a switcher for toslink connectors(optical plugs) at both.
And you have an HTIB (and I think you might) think about upgrading at least the receiver part.
Nothing wrong with HTIB if you are not interested in exacting audio, but a 5.1 receiver
is selling for pretty cheap right now.

[freeze1090]

It is a HTIB, but it is a true 5.1 receiver, its has no problem being recognized and putting out amazing 5.1 sound when the optical goes straight from blu ray to the surround.

The system is brand new and wasnt all that cheap and says it supports all the surround encoding, but its not a extramly expensive system either. It was around $800.

i had read some other forums and learned that many tvs only output 2 channel digital. but i dont know if that is the case with my situation.

Id love an incredible sound system, but i know that this system is limited and not prefect, but it does produce good sound. id just like to easily switch between my devices without unplugging and switching my optical cable all the time.

Im a beginner with home theaters but am knowledgeable about sound systems and technology, i just don't have the experience to set it up perfectly.

Thanks, im looking into what i can do to get multiple optical inputs to the receiver

[pixelthis]

It is a HTIB, but it is a true 5.1 receiver, its has no problem being recognized and putting out amazing 5.1 sound when the optical goes straight from blu ray to the surround.

The system is brand new and wasnt all that cheap and says it supports all the surround encoding, but its not a extramly expensive system either. It was around $800.

i had read some other forums and learned that many tvs only output 2 channel digital. but i dont know if that is the case with my situation.

Id love an incredible sound system, but i know that this system is limited and not prefect, but it does produce good sound. id just like to easily switch between my devices without unplugging and switching my optical cable all the time.

Im a beginner with home theaters but am knowledgeable about sound systems and technology, i just don't have the experience to set it up perfectly.

Thanks, im looking into what i can do to get multiple optical inputs to the receiver

YES, it will put out 5.1, but the amps are all on a chip(probably the same one) and your input/output options are limited.
I get it, you prefer things simple, but for the price (800) you could get some real
equipment, something with more than one digital input, for instance, something even the most basic 200 buck receiver has.(see below)
Anyway enjoy your stuff, and when the limitations get to be a bit much we will be waiting for you.
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...nkyo-tx-sr506s

[pixelthis]

You see, heres the thing, I understand the cheapjack approach for those who just want decent sound to go with their movies, but you are the second poster in a month
who has paid more than five hundred bucks for one(the last guy was trying to choose between two competing systems, both of which were basically the same rebadged
system).
This I dont understand at all.
The receiver link I put on my post, when added to some inexpensive speakers and a decent DVD player, wont come close to 800 bucks.
Kinda defeats the purpose, what?
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it..._c=site_search

[freeze1090]

Ya, after some research i discovered why this receiver is cheep, even though it sells for so much, lucky i didnt pay the whole price and got it for a less then half of what it sells at stores.

So after some research into the receiver iv found it decodes Dolby Pro Logic II(interpreters stereo into 5.1) and DTS(Sony of course). So if i play a dvd in the system its most likly not 5.1 unless its DTS.

Heres the question, the blu-ray decodes DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD, does this mean that the receiver can can play true Dolby surround over the toslink? Or is it using Dolby Pro Logic to simulate surround? Does Blu ray only output HD sound to HDMI? If so, what the point of toslink and coax?

I think thats all the questions i have.
Normally i would have done tons a research so i would know exactly what i was getting into, the deal came rather quickly and i didn't have the time. If id had the time id probably seen all these issues and decided to look elsewhere. But, i have this system and i would at least try to make it work as best i can.


I know yall have serious systems, but due to money constraints i cant spend all that much on a system, which is why i got this system to begin with. And know i know that the first thing ill do when i get some money set aside is upgrade the receiver, as the speakers are really vary nice and sound great.

Thanks for all the help. Im still learning here, but im beginning to understand.

[freeze1090]

Im sorry, I said that the receiver only decods dolby pro logic and dts, but it also decodes dolby digital.

Thanks

[pixelthis]

Im sorry, I said that the receiver only decods dolby pro logic and dts, but it also decodes dolby digital.

Thanks

Right, these receivers have decoding functions on a single chip, there is no such thing as
one that plays DTS but not DD.
ALSO this cheapjack receiver has multichannel "line" inputs, so if you get a BLU PLAYER with 5.1 out that decodes the new formats (like the new panny) then your receiver doesnt need to.
The one thing about HTIB that really pisses me off is how they say you save money, etc.
But really you get cheap crap at caviar prices, clock radio amps and no functionality.
You paid 800 bucks for yours , and no offense but WHY?
The two minor examples I showed took all of a minute to get off the web(polk speakers, onkyo receiver) and they didnt even come close to 800 bucks.
Think of how good you could do if you shopped?
Or did you get one of those "all in one" deals where a 400$ HTIB is touted as "800"
and put into a "package" with a TV?

[freeze1090]

as i said in an earlier post, i didn't pay full price for it, i got a really good deal and paid less then half.

Was it worth 350? Ya i think it was the best system i could get for that price, and im not really in a position to pay more then that. and i didn't get a chance to do as much research as i would normally, but I do know when the try and cram everything together for a cheap system, quality goes down. and i don't need a 800 dollar system, i just got a good deal.

Thanks for the info on the chips a decoding, now im just trying to work out how the uverse box is setup, it only has digital toslink out and when i connect that to the receiver it only gives intermittent DD signal(the DD light on the receiver flashes) with no sound. But Blu Ray toslink works beautifully(same cable).

Thanks for all the Help,
Im really starting to understand how all this works together.
Again, Thank you

[pixelthis]

as i said in an earlier post, i didn't pay full price for it, i got a really good deal and paid less then half.

Was it worth 350? Ya i think it was the best system i could get for that price, and im not really in a position to pay more then that. and i didn't get a chance to do as much research as i would normally, but I do know when the try and cram everything together for a cheap system, quality goes down. and i don't need a 800 dollar system, i just got a good deal.

Thanks for the info on the chips a decoding, now im just trying to work out how the uverse box is setup, it only has digital toslink out and when i connect that to the receiver it only gives intermittent DD signal(the DD light on the receiver flashes) with no sound. But Blu Ray toslink works beautifully(same cable).

Thanks for all the Help,
Im really starting to understand how all this works together.
Again, Thank you

Just enjoy what you have, at that price point its probably worth it.
My main system got ripped once, you wouldnt beleive the POS thingie I cobbled together
until I could afford to replace it.
One thing, you will get an idea of what is possible, and maybe get to dream a little.

[freeze1090]

Ya, im always dreaming of bigger and better things, but my wallet cant ever keep up haha.

After an update on the Blu Ray player i became aware of more options in the setup menu. including audio. Here i figured out how to output dolby and dts to toslink. and that allowed the receiver to reconize the singnal and give me true surround.

Thanks for all the help.