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General discussion

BluRay to TV or AV rec?

by volvogirl Jul 9, 2009 12:07AM PDT

I have a Sony PS3 BluRay player connected by HDMI to a Sony Bravia KDL-37XBR6 TV. TV is connected to a Yamaha RX-V661 AV Receiver by a Digital Optical cable. I read that the TV doesn't pass all the sound through the optical cable? Like it only sends 2 channels instead of the 5? Is that true? Would it really make a big difference to hook the PS3 first to the AV receiver and then the AV rec to the TV?

PS- I actually don't have all the speakers yet. I only have 4 connected. My 2 big original floor speakers and two extra I added as "presence L & R" speakers. So it probably doesn't matter yet. I guess my next purchase should be a subwoofer?

But my friend has a Sony Bravia TV and a BluRay player and is getting a Sony CT-100 soundbar. I had her get a Digital Optical cable too. I was planning on just connected the TV to the soundbar, but will it be a lot better to connect the BlueRay audio directly to it? If I do, it might be too complicated for her to operate it.

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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Same for Comcast Cable?
by volvogirl Jul 9, 2009 12:35AM PDT

Just read another posting here which said TV will only do surround sound when using the built in Tuner, any outside sources will only pass in stereo not dolby digital. I couldn't find any reference to that in my Sony TV manual. My Sony manual says the Digital Audio Out connects to the optical audio input of your digital audio equipment that is PCM/Dolby compatible. So is that JUST from the TV Tuner?

So I guess that will be the same for Comcast too? I should run the Comcast cable through the AV rec also?

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There is an esay way to find out.
by jcrobso Jul 9, 2009 3:16AM PDT

Just connect the digital audio cable directly to the AV receiver and compare the sound. Choose witch one sounds the best. John

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Try this instead
by Pepe7 Jul 9, 2009 3:19AM PDT

Please consider the below 'recipe' for connecting your A/V equipment. Sometimes, the extra spaghetti can pay off Wink. A lot of folks mistakenly try to use the audio out from the HD/TV back to the receiver when it's really not the ideal way to connect. The digital optical/toslink cable can pass along 5.1DD audio, but not always from the HDTV. Which Comcast box do you have btw? (I'm going to assume you have a Comcast issued Motorola HD DVR w/ HDMI out.) AFAIK your current components combined unfortunately do not allow you to enjoy DTS-HD audio of the blu ray, hence the use of digital optical connections for surround sound.

-Pedro

----------------------------------------------------------------
Comcast HD DVR(?) (digital optical out) --> (digital optical in) Yamaha receiver
Comcast HD DVD (HDMI out) --> (HDMI in) Sony Bravia HDTV

Sony PS3 (HDMI out) --> (HDMI in) Sony Bravia HDTV
"" "" (digital optical out) --> (digital optical in) Yamaha receiver

*You will likely have to re-assign the audio inputs on the receiver after re-connecting everything. This is covered in the user manual.

hth,
Pedro

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Pedro-Another Question
by volvogirl Jul 10, 2009 2:52AM PDT

Thanks for your reply.

Does the HDMI & Digital Optical Audio carry the same audio? Because the Yamaha manual seems to be that I'm just suppose to plug my PS3 into my Yamaha AV with the HDMI and then from the Yamaha HDMI to TV instead of your plan of opitical going to AV and HDMI to TV. The Yamaha handles both audio & video.

PS, I don't have cable HD yet. Just the very basic box (size of a piece of bread) which isn't working, but that's for another thread.

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Nope
by Pepe7 Jul 10, 2009 6:22AM PDT

HDMI can also carry the lossless/wideband codecs from a blu ray player. Optical cannot.

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Pedro-Uno Mas?
by volvogirl Jul 10, 2009 3:23AM PDT

Just called Sony. She confirmed only TV audio is going though the digital opitcal on TV. (I do get the PS3 sound also but I guess it's not the full sound).

So....I should get another optical cable to go from PS3 to Yamaha AV and I can leave the PS3 HDMI to TV. Then I can play the PS3 sound from EITHER the the AV receiver or just with the TV, right? If I can figure out how to on the Yamaha!

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Follow the 'recipe' ;)
by Pepe7 Jul 10, 2009 5:29AM PDT

If you follow my recipe you can indeed run audio either w/ the Yamaha or through the HDTV.

have a nice weekend,
P

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