The TV does not have the ability to send audio back through the HDMI cable. Unfortunatley for the Audio and Video signals it's a one-way road through the HDMI cable from source to display.
Like Jim said, you can connect the digital audio directly from the source, or most TVs that have a built-in HD tuner should have a digital audio output (typically optical) that can be connected from the TV to your A/V receiver.
OneCall your answer is confusing. If you hook up an optical wire from the TV's optical out will you get a Dolby Digital signal from the cable box through the TV.
That's a very good question and the simple answer is Yes, you should get a dolby digital signal to your receiver using the optical output from the TV. However, there are some TVs that will downconvert the Dolby Digital Signal to two channel audio (because most TVs on have two speakers) which means that some TVs will only output a two channel/stereo signal from an external source (e.g. cable box) to the A/V receiver.
The best and shurest bet is always directly from the source to the A/V receiver.
Most of the TVs I have seen that have a built-in ATSC tuner have a digital audio output so they can output the Dolby Digital signal they receive with the over the air HDTV signal. In some TVs an audio signal received through the HDMI connection is not treated the same as a signal directly from the ATSC Tuner.
The main advantage to connecting from the TV to the A/V receive would be the ability for any audio source connected the TV to be heard through the same input on the A/V receiver.
I hope this helps instead of making it more confusing. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Also, on a side note, a Dolby Digital signal does not always mean multi-channel.
A Dolby Digital audio signal can consist of anywhere from 1 to 5.1 channels or more. So there may be occassions when your receiver displays Dolby Digital but you're only getting sound out of your Left and Right speakers.
It depends on how the audio track was programmed and recorded.
matt im trying to get the TV sound to come out of the AV receiver. i can get cable programming to come out of the AV receiver. my cable box doesnt have hdmi input, so i have the cable running thru AV receiver , then from the AV receiver to back of tv with regular AV cables, Red,white,yellow. im trying to get my sony ps3 to come thru AV receiver. hope this post makes sense.
i tried hooking the ps3 up thru the AV receiver but there is not sound. my AV receiver has the following hdmi slots 1-dtv/cable 2- dvd 3- hdmi out. so in theory i should hook the ps3 up to the AV receiver and then AV to TV via hdmi? is this correct? thanks for helping me its greatly appreciated
Your theory is correct. If you connect your PS3 out to one of your HDMI In slots, perhaps the DVD slot as the PS3 is an excellent Blu-ray player, and the HDMI out to the TV it will work. There are very likely to be some input assignment settings to be made but afterward you will be all set. If you do not know how this is done I can help you further if you give me your AV receiver's brand name and model number.
If you could let us know the brand and model of your receiver we could help a little more.
There are two options with your PS3. 1. connect HDMI from the PS3 to the A/V receiver, then connect a second HDMI cable from the A/V receiver to the TV. 2. Connect the HDMI directly from the PS3 to the TV. Then connect an Optical Digital cable from the PS3 to the A/V receiver for the audio.
Like Jim says, you may have to make sure the Digital Audio input is set to HDMI for that input instead of something else.
If your receiver only has HDMI switching you may have to resort to option 2. There are a few receivers that only have HDMI switching and will not pick up the audio signal from the HDMI input.
With a cable box or a PS3 you will need to enable the HDMI to out put a digital audio signal in there set ups. To use Time Warner as an example, using HDMI will give you a picture but no sound until you enable the digital audio out put for HDMI. PS3 is simular in that you need to tell it you want to use the HDMI.
According to the manual for your reciever you'll have to make a separate digital audio connection along with the HDMI. Your receiver will not pickup the audio from an HDMI input.
With you PS3 you'll need to use an Optical Digital cable.