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General discussion

Samsung LN40A450 Audio Question

Sep 27, 2008 7:52PM PDT

Hay,

I recently bought a Samsung LN40A450 tv, and I am going though the process of hooking up all my gear (DVD, PS2, PC). When it comes to hooking up my PC I chose to use HDMI, as my video card(ATI HD3870) has built in 5.1(AC3) audio. My plan was to run the HDMI cable to my TV, then "pass-on" the audio signal(via toslink) to my speaker system(logitec Z-5500(no HDMI)). But now I find out, according to the tv manual, that the signal from TV to speakers will only be 2 channel sound, it cuts off part of the signal. The TV will send 5.1 when watching digital TV, but when the source is external it limits it, why is this?

PS: I know there are other options to transmit sound, but I was really hoping for a "one" cable solution, Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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question.
Oct 6, 2008 6:03PM PDT

Blue Eyed Devil,

Where are you hooking up your Logitech speaker system?

HDMI can transfer picture and surround sound audio. What I?m not sure of is how you want that signal to go from the TV to the Logitech Speaker system.

Regards,

Mr. Samsung

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RE: question
Oct 9, 2008 12:38AM PDT

First, thanks for responding Mr. Samsung!

Currently I am only using 2 channel analog(stereo) hook up, from my TV to the logitech speaker system. What I want to be able to do is use a toslink cable(optical) insded, so I can have 5.1 sound. But according to my TV manual, it will block the signal from the HDMI(partially), so it will in effect only be 2 channel sound.

Here is exacly what the manual says:

When the receiver (home theater) is set to On, you can hear sound output from the TV?s Optical jack. When the TV is displaying a DTV(air) signal, the TV will send out 5.1 channel sound to the Home theater receiver. When the source is a digital component such as
a DVD and is connected to the TV via HDMI, only 2 channel sound will be heard from the Home Theater receiver. If you want to hear 5.1 channel audio, connect the DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL) jack on the DVD player or Cable/Satellite Box directly to an Amplifier or
Home Theater, not the TV.

So even though HDMI sends 5.1 sound the TV blocks part of it, and there is nothing I can do about it. So I have to run a sperate cable from my PC's audio card so I can have 5.1 sound. I'm not really asking for a solution, I more asking why? Why does the TV do this?

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Two Channels
Oct 10, 2008 9:07AM PDT

It transfers the sound to two channels because that's what the TV is capable of producing when the HDMI audio is processed. Not everybody is going to have a surround sound system, so the dependence on those speakers requires a 2-channel processing so that in the event there is no 5.1 surround output, it defaults values to two channels - the television speakers.

I'm pretty sure that's an industry standard.

Hope that helps!

--HDTech

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This limit needs to be addressed
Jan 7, 2009 6:44PM PST

I understand that hdmi converts the signal down to two channels because TV's only have two speakers. But if I am using a SAMSUNG TV with a SAMSUNG HT and an optical cable. The signal should not be converted to two channels if an optical cable connects the TV to the HT system (ESPECIALLY when the HT system only has a single optical input like mine).

Right now, my Samsung HT connects to my TV via HDMI, I also have a Samsung BDP-1500 that connects to my TV via HDMI. The only connection going back to my receiver is a single optical connection.

Because the TV limits the audio to two channels, I can not get 5.1 while using my BluRay player. Even though the 5.1 signal is capable of passing through the HDMI cable, and the TV should be capable of sending that 5.1 signal down to my receiver via the optical cable.

Why is this, and is there no solution to this problem?

I can't plug the blu-ray directly into my Receiver, because in doing this, I am only able to listen to TV programs through the TV's speakers (there is no second optical input on the receiver).

So I'm stuck either switching the cable to and from the TV or Blu-Ray Sad

Ideally the TV should see that the speakers are NOT being used and pass the 5.1 signal from the blu-ray through the hdmi cable to the hdmi1 port, and then out to the receiver in 5.1 through the Optical cable.

I would love to find a solution to this... it frustrates me that I invested in a Samsung HT thinking it would work best with Anynet+ and all my devices only to find out that my 5.1 HT setup can only do 5.1 when playing content from the HT device itself (DVD, Ipod, etc).

My TV is a LN46A550P3F, Blu-Ray is BDP-1500 and HT i'm not sure of the model, but it has 1000w, 5.1, ipod dock, one optical in, and a single disc upscaling DVD player.

Please help me get the best sound from this system without having to buy an additional switch box (pain in the butt), or autoswitch (expensive)

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Possible solution
Jan 31, 2009 3:16AM PST

You need to get a new receiver with 2 optical outputs on it. They are not that expensive these days. I have a samsung LN52A650 myself. I have an optical connection from my BDP-1500 to my receiver. I also have an optical connection from my cable box to my receiver. Are you sure your receiver doesn't have a coaxial digital out on it? It is usually color coded orange. Most cable boxes usually have a digital coax output on them to. Your problems would be solved then.

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Coax
Feb 9, 2009 1:09PM PST

The receiver has one Optical In and 1 AUX (which is coax). The problem is, the coax is on aux, and for some reason when switching to aux (which is a hassle on it's own) I can't control the volume unless I use the HT remote. Right now the only remote I use is my Satellite remote... it controls the volume for bluray, radio, usb, etc... just not aux (kinda discussed this already).

If there was a way to get the receiver to switch to coax (aux) when I turn on the TV and start a bluray, that would be a great solution (if volume worked as well).

I bought the samsung ht, because it can turn on the tv, switch to the proper input, etc... and with tv optical out to receiver, it does that just fine, just no dolby Sad

Hope that makes sense.

* probably worth mentioning, that I don't use the TV speakers at all... so right now I have from TV to HT (via optical), that way all devices talk fine and when I turn on tv, ht switches to Digital In. I know from TV to HT is useless because you lose dolby, but I don't care about dolby on game systems, regular tv, etc. I only care about getting dolby when using the BluRay Sad

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audio problem
Mar 2, 2009 8:52AM PST

TV Sammy LN40A550, Comcast receiver DCH3200, audio receiver Denon AVR1700, DVD player Philips DVP5982, sound system Home Theater Direct Level Two. Denon receiver setup is digital with "digital in optical" on "TV" and "digital in coax one" on "DVD". Connections: Comcast coax to DCH3200, DCH3200 Toslink to AVR1700, DCH3200 HDMI to Sammy HDMI 1, Sammy HDMI 2 to DVD, DVD coax to AVR1700. My problem is that I can only get sound out of the Sammy speakers. My system worked fine until I upgraded from analog to digital.

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Digital Cable Xbox and Samsung LNA450C1D with latest firmwar
Oct 16, 2009 11:16PM PDT

I have also had problems and called 1-800-samsung they don't know and told me to call them back in a few days???? WOW YOU DROP MONEY ON A NEW BIG SCREEN TV THAT IS FROM WHAT I HERE IS DUMMY DOWNED TO 2 CHANEL AUDIO. If i hook up everything direct from Xbox 360 or Digital Cable to my HT-DS630T Samsung 5.1 Sourround Sound Reciever it works. If you go from the Xbox or Digital cable reciever to the tv with HDMI then optical audio out to SAMSUNG Sourround Sound Reciever it doesn't work. What the tech support worker told me is that I have to run them direct from all devices to sourround sound reciever and leave the tv out of the mix....So that being said I need 4 optical cables (to run all devices) and have to unplug one device everytime I want to use another.(The reciever has only 2 optical inputs lol) WOW!!! SAMSUNG HAS DONE A GOOD JOB ON A HIGH QUALITY TY HUH!! and this is the kicker to top it all off after spending thousands of Canadian dollars which are hard to come by these days AnyNet doesn't work between the TV and Sourround sound unit either!!!(different versions) I bought both samsung products at the same time as well. Corporate Companys for you I guess. Oh and by the way my parents Panasonic TV does it all properly with one optical cable.
Crazy Samsung Product hater now!! and Panasonic lover now!! There loss for making such a LOW high end TV and not willing to fix it!!!