domnant,
Yes, if your television is hooked up via optical from the television's optical out to the receiver's optical in - you should be able to hear 5.1 surround broadcasts. This also assumes if your receiver has 5.1 capabilities.
--HDTech
just trying to determine whether or not i can hear 5.1 sound out of my tv. model number is LA40A450. its got an optical out, but the manual seems to read this only outputs 2 channel sound. i bought a 5.1 receiver and this has an optical input. now that some HD channels are available in 5.1 i want to be able to hear it. can this be done. if so how???

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