Digital optical audio out on TV question.
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New member Username: CypherxrPost Number: 2 Registered: Jul-09 | Hello, I'm new here so please bear with me. My old Toshiba DLP finally lost it's light engine this past week so I'm planning on purchasing a Panasonic Viera TC-P54S1 54" Plasma TV next week. Upon further inspection the only audio output on the back is that of an optical digital audio output. Previously with my old TV, I had RCA cables running from audio out into my receiver. As in, I had my gaming systems hooked up through a selector box, with the output of that running into my TV. I also have DirecTV HD going through HDMI, my PC going through HDMI and my PS3 going through HDMI. My receiver does have a digital audio input on the back but I've never really messed around with it much. What my question essentially is, if I hook the TV's digital out to my receiver's digital in, will I be able to hear sounds from all the sources plugged into the TV (gaming system's through selector box, component connections and HDMI connections?) Thanks in advance for any help or advice that is given. |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2497 Registered: Feb-04 |
The only digital surround signal you will hear is whatever the digital tuner can pick up from over the air transmissions via antenna. The only other signal the TV's optical output will send is from digital HDMI sources, but those signals will be stereo only. The solution is to run all audio directly to your receiver, and forget about the TV's optical output. |
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New member Username: CypherxrPost Number: 6 Registered: Jul-09 | My receiver only has one optical input though.  |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2498 Registered: Feb-04 | They do make 3 in ® 1 out optical switches. http://www.mycablemart.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=826 |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2499 Registered: Feb-04 | These guys have the best price/service on most cables, including optical. http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229 |
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New member Username: CypherxrPost Number: 7 Registered: Jul-09 | Ah ok. Also, is it true the only way to get 7.1 true surround sound is through HDMI? |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2500 Registered: Feb-04 |
It depends on what you mean by "true". In addition to legacy Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, optical and coax connections can carry the extension Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES Matrix codecs. These codecs add a back surround, which is a matrixed channel derived from the R/L surround channels. The user can use either one back speaker (6.1), or two back speakers (7.1), but either way the signal is mono. DTS also developed their DTS-ES Discrete codec, where the back channel is actually a separate digital channel and is not derived from the two regular surround channels. DTS-ES Discrete can also be transmitted by both optical and coax connections. The newer high resolution codecs found on Blu-ray discs are a different story. Both the improved, but still lossy, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution codecs and the lossless codecs Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio can be carried only by HDMI, regardless of whether the decoding is done by the player or by the receiver. The back surround channels (6.1 or 7.1) are separate and discrete and therefore could be called "true". |
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