HDMI Audio question

[Zero]

Okay, I bought my new TV today. My question is this: If I plug in my PS3 and 360 in through HDMI, will my TV output Digital through the optical out? Or should I just plug them both in directly to the receiver? I ask that because my receiver only has two optical ports but I have three devices that I need to plug in.

[Stmfuller]

plug into your receiver if it can handle hdmi sound.
if you plug through the tv, you'll only get 2 speaker sound.

[bone_matrix]

if you plug through the tv, you'll only get 2 speaker sound.

Right, out of the tv speakers. He was asking if using the optical out port from the tv going to the receiver if the tv will send the surround sound signal. I don't know the answer, I have all those components to do it, but have never tried.

[Fubl]

Depends on the Tvs hardware also....

[Krispy]

Optical is digital. The problem is an optical cable doesn't have the bandwidth for some of the newer HD sound formats (only a concern for Bluray) but for video games it should be fine. That is assuming your TV processes surround sound. Only you can answer that.

[harle]

Optical is digital. The problem is an optical cable doesn't have the bandwidth for some of the newer HD sound formats (only a concern for Bluray) but for video games it should be fine. That is assuming your TV processes surround sound. Only you can answer that.Exactly. The only HDTV's I know that process surround sound from the optical port are DLPs and CRTs.

[KingGorilla]

Okay, I bought my new TV today. My question is this: If I plug in my PS3 and 360 in through HDMI, will my TV output Digital through the optical out? Or should I just plug them both in directly to the receiver? I ask that because my receiver only has two optical ports but I have three devices that I need to plug in.

I want to make sure I get this correct. You are running your PS3, 360, and your Cable DVR(I assume) as your three HDMI devices? These are plugged into your TV? And then you are using the audio out on the TV to run into a receiver with 2 optical Audio Inputs? Your receiver is not new enough to support HDMI, I take it?

This is a toughy. Your 360 does not have a built in optical out, only the component video dongle has that on it. And without the HDMI you are not going to play any HDCP locked videos(Netflix or HD-DVDs), it will have no effect on the games. What I am wondering is if you notice a discernable loss of quality in terms of interference between going directly to the receiver as opposed to running through the TV first?

But a rather simple option is to just buy a digital audio switch. There is one for 15 bucks on Buy.com
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=optical+audio+switch&oe=utf-8&cid=551648465072102292#ps-sellers

[muddi900]

If you are handy enough, you can mod you 360 component cable connector to use with the HDMI cable.

[Khrymsyn]

Zero, if I'm understanding correctly, I do not believe for most TVs it will work the way you are saying.

I too have an optical out on my TV. What I've found is that for Cable TV (as in, a coax cable goes directly into my TV, no cable box in between), I get 5.1 full surround on the channels/shows that support it. For any of my HDMI inputs, I get 2.0 Stereo sound only. The only way I get surround for my HDMI devices is to ALSO run an optical line from my device (for instance, my 360) directly to the receivier. Luckily my receiver can handle 4 optical inputs. =)

[KingGorilla]

If you are handy enough, you can mod you 360 component cable connector to use with the HDMI cable.

Don't all of those require knives? And ruining your component cable?