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Sharp Aquos/Optical Surround Sound Problem

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Sharp Aquos/Optical Surround Sound Problem

Old 11-19-08, 01:27 PM
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Sharp Aquos/Optical Surround Sound Problem

I have a Sharp Aquos LC42D62U and a Samsung home theatre surround sound system (5.1.) My friends and I attempted to hook the surround sound up last night, but we ran into a problem where the two HDMI inputs (where I have my XBOX 360 and PS3 connected,) will not work through optical. Only my HD satellite receiver will work through optical. I didn't check my Wii, which is in the second component input. We got it to work with some red and yellow lossless audio cables and it sounds good, but I assume optical would sound a bit better.

Is there a reason why my TV won't reroute the audio to the two HDMI inputs? I'd like to use the optical cable that came with the surround sound system. My friend told me he thinks it sounds better in my room than his optical surround sound does in his room, but I'd still prefer to use optical...
Old 11-19-08, 02:46 PM
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Wick - I have absolutely no idea what this post even means. There are so many things wrong with it and so many questions I would have I don't know where to begin.
Old 11-19-08, 02:50 PM
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PS3 ->HDMI (video)->TV
PS3 ->Optical (audio)->surround

make sure the PS3 menu is set to the proper audio output (bitstream i think). Also, check your PS3 manual to see how to set it up for HDMI through video to TV and optical cable to bitstream audio.

i would assume your 360 operates the same way
Old 11-19-08, 03:21 PM
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Hello, this is the guy who hooked everything up. I have it running through standard audio cable from the audio out to the receiver through reinforced low loss cable. I noticed a post on the future shop forum about the owner’s manual stating that you cannot set sound to go from the outputs 4 and 5 (the only two HDMI on the TV) to run through Optical. Personally I have a Samsung 40" 1080p with a Samsung 480p HDMI out theatre in a box system. I have everything (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, DVD player, Bell expressVU) all hooked up through a single optical out through my TV and into my receiver. Everything works fine, without any trouble. This is the second sharp I've run into this with and the standard audio cable fix seems to be a perfect way to get around it without spending much money (buying the switch, more cables) anyway, just thought I'd come on here and give my two cents.

Would a switch be a good alternative?
Old 11-19-08, 06:43 PM
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The optical out on your TV isn't supposed to act as a passthrough. It's to get 5.1 from over-the-air HD programming. If you do get sound out of that thing, it'll only be in stereo, so using RCA cables won't change anything.

If you want to use the HTiB to get 5.1, you'll need to plug optical (or HDMI) to the HTiB directly from the players.
Old 11-19-08, 07:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Wick
reinforced low loss cable.
That what the guy at the shop called it? Just before he charged you 10-20 times more than it's worth?
Old 11-19-08, 10:28 PM
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It's like pat00139 said. If the tv is even allowing the signal to pass through it, it will downconvert it to stereo, so the best you can hope for is Pro Logic (simulated surround).
Does the Samsung even have optical inputs? If so, you may need to assign the input used, to whatever you plugged into it. The owner's manual will tell you how.

I have everything (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, DVD player, Bell expressVU) all hooked up through a single optical out through my TV and into my receiver. Everything works fine, without any trouble.
There is absolutely no way you're getting real 5.1 surround sound, hooked up that way. If this worked, it would mean the tv is a surround sound processor, and it's not. It's a tv. If it sounds like surround sound, then you're getting it in Pro Logic. If you're getting real 5.1 surround sound, it should say "Dolby Digital" in the window on front of the Samsung. I'm thinking it says something like "PL II Movie", or "PL II.........something".
Old 11-20-08, 01:26 PM
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It could be. Some TVs do digital passthrough to an optical output.
Old 11-20-08, 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Spiky
It could be. Some TVs do digital passthrough to an optical output.
I'll take your word for it. I haven't seen or heard of any, personally.
If it truly is, I apologize and have learned something.

What is the brand and model number of the tv the friend has, that does allow the 5.1 pass through?
Does "Dolby Digital" show in the window on front of the Samsung, when a dvd is playing?
Old 11-21-08, 07:25 AM
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I talked to a fellow HDTV enthusiast and he told me that the only way I'd get 5.1 surround sound would be to plug my PS3/360 directly into the receiver, like someone else mentioned in this thread. We took a look at receivers and I found a 7.1 one on sale for $250 (regularly $325.) It's a Sony. I went out and bought it yesterday and I hope to get it all set-up this weekend.

Thanks for the replies.
Old 11-21-08, 10:31 AM
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Actually, I had a sharp aquos too, although I bought it before tvs had HDMI (at least mine did, i forget the model but I loved it). Anyhow, I connected my Wii to the tv, video and audio, and then had the tv go to my onkyo receiver using an optical cable. The Wii sound was passed through to the receiver. Not sure if having HDMI does anything different though.
Old 12-05-08, 02:24 PM
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My auquos has both PCM and Dolby Digital out of the optical which should in theory output 5.1, check the digital output setting in the menu. my model is the lc-32d43u so it maybe newer. I don't have it hooked up to a 5.1 receiver yet but everything i've read seems like it should output 5.1 over the optical line from any input not just over the air.
Old 12-27-08, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by pat00139
The optical out on your TV isn't supposed to act as a passthrough. It's to get 5.1 from over-the-air HD programming. If you do get sound out of that thing, it'll only be in stereo, so using RCA cables won't change anything.

If you want to use the HTiB to get 5.1, you'll need to plug optical (or HDMI) to the HTiB directly from the players.

That unfortunately makes sense.

It's kind of a bummer because I just got an Xbox360 for christmas. For some reason the wizards at Microsoft decided to put the HDMI jack too close to the A/V jack, so that they may physically interfere with one another and can not be used at the same time. That might make sense if it weren't for the fact that the Optical/Toslink audio jack is incorporated into the included A/V cable's connector, as opposed to on the back of the system itself like you would expect. This means if you have a home theater receiver without HDMI, then you can not use both HD video and digital audio capabilities of the 360 simultaneously. Dumb.

My Playstation3 has a toslink jack on the console and the appropriate menu settings to allow its use in addition to using hdmi for just video. It just seems 'lazy' on Msoft's behalf to not do the same, but it must have saved them a few cents per console somehow.

(if you couldn't guess, I assumed the tv's optical output was passthrough for any digital audio source, and I found this thread in search of answers for why it wasnt working.)

Last edited by instantrice; 12-27-08 at 02:20 PM.
Old 12-27-08, 02:54 PM
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For what it is worth, if you are using an Xbox 360 for hdmi, there is no optical option. The only optical option for the 360 is the compnent adapter which contains a spot for an optical cable.

You can then run that optical from the back of the 360 to the receiver.

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