[biggiegc]

Hi guys; I am pretty new to the HD scene, and have

Sony 52X3500
DAV IS10 5.1 Audio System
PS3
Sky HD


I can pretty much figure out that I will need 3 HDMI cables for my HD video signal;

What I need to know is the audio. I have been looking around on quite a few sites, all telling me that you won't get true surround sound through the HDMI connections for your PS3 and Sky HD. That it is better to send the sound channel thru Optical Digital cables. I checked out the input/outputs on the tv and the home cinema system, and realised suddenly there isnt enough inputs for all my outputs. I would in an ideal world want Sky HD, PS3 and Surround system all having surround sound. Am i right in saying you would plus a Coax Optical cable from the surround to the TV. A Digi optical from PS3 to surround, and a digi optical from Sky HD to surround? Only problem is I am out of inputs and I dont want to have to fiddle with the back of the system to get it.

I do also have a Nintendo Wii, but was planning to connect that with Component video cable to the TV. Will the sound automatically feed to the surround system in this case!??

If I am wrong what can I do to get surround for all my outputs? Sorry for all the questions! I am very very confused!!

[Thrombin]

Originally Posted by biggiegc

What I need to know is the audio. I have been looking around on quite a few sites, all telling me that you won't get true surround sound through the HDMI connections for your PS3 and Sky HD. That it is better to send the sound channel thru Optical Digital cables.

It depends what you mean by 'true' surround sound. Standard Dolby Digital or DTS Surround sound is perfectly possible through HDMI. Lossless audio is available from HDMI version 1.1, Super Audio CD from 1.2 and Dolby TrueHD from 1.3. Both ends of the HDMI cable need to support the appropriate version for this to work, though.

Regards

Julian

[biggiegc]

I have a couple of I think HDMI 1.3 cables:

http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Chord%20HDMI.htm

I got it from this website: could you tell me if this would suffice?
I want the best surround possible; i.e Dolby surround.

If HDMI supports this, then would one coax cable from surround to tv be enough. Cos I would then assume that the PS3, Sky HD would feed an audio signal to the tv, and the tv would then chuck it back down to the surround?? Same would go for a Wii connected to the TV with Component cables??

thanks very much for your help

[Thrombin]

Originally Posted by biggiegc

I have a couple of I think HDMI 1.3 cables:

http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Chord%20HDMI.htm

I got it from this website: could you tell me if this would suffice?
I want the best surround possible; i.e Dolby surround.

I'm actually facing a similar problem at the moment. I've ordered a Philips 42PFL632 which arrives on Saturday and I was hoping to use the HDMI inputs to avoid running out of optical connections on my Amp. However, the conversation on the thread for that TV has recently turned to precisely this topic and it would seem that although the cable itself can provide 5.1 audio it depends on whether the source device supports this.

Looking at the SkyHD manual it would seem that it doesn't output Dolby 5.1 through the HDMI cable so you have to use the optical lead.

Other devices may output 5.1 through the HDMI cable but, even then, you have to be sure that the TV will forward that on through it's digital out.

I would suggest some trial and error to see which devices will support it and which won't. If you have too many optical connections to make you can always get an optical switch to take multiple inputs into one output.

Regards

Julian

[davepuma]

You could get a switching unit that switches digital audio but can be quite expensive. The Thor HDMI isn't too bad at around £120.
A cheaper option would be to buy one toslink splitter and an optical to coax converter.

As long as only one of the sources connected to the toslink splitter is on at any one time, they work fine.

TBH, if you have Sky HD, I doubt you will ever bother with the TV's tuner, so you could get away with just the converter to convert the optical signal from either the PS3 or Sky HD to coax and utilise the coax socket on your home cinema unit. Your home cinema unit doesn't process audio via HDMI, the HDMI connection is an output only to your TV.

[biggiegc]

okay so I was considering a switch from toslink, a 3 way switcher

can someone answer me this then:

the tv Sony 52x3500 and the home cinema DAVIS10; do they support HDMI 1.3, or is it just better to go with the optical digital toslink switcher? As I understand it SKY HD doesnt support it, but PS3 does..

In which case I would connect the Amp to the switch, and then run 3 leads from the switch to the tv, the ps3 and the sky hd? If I did run a Component from a Wii to the tv, would the 5.1 signal still come back in 5.1 surround?

[SAuchterlonie]

The Sky HD box will not feed 5.1 down the HDMI, why....I don't know. For your set up all you would need is two opitcal leads:

One from the back of the Sky HD box to your amp.

One from the back of your PS3 to your amp.

Then just switch your amps inputs for which ever source you want to listen to.

I'm assuming here that your amp has two opitcal channels on the back...I can't think of one that hasn't, but I could be wrong.

-Simon-

[davepuma]

Originally Posted by biggiegc

I have a couple of I think HDMI 1.3 cables:

http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Chord%20HDMI.htm

I got it from this website: could you tell me if this would suffice?
I want the best surround possible; i.e Dolby surround.

If HDMI supports this, then would one coax cable from surround to tv be enough. Cos I would then assume that the PS3, Sky HD would feed an audio signal to the tv, and the tv would then chuck it back down to the surround?? Same would go for a Wii connected to the TV with Component cables??

thanks very much for your help

No as Freeview (via your TV) only supports 2.0 channel stereo despite using a digital audio connection on some TV's. TV's do not have any on oboard processing for digital audio or switching video etc. You need an av receiver(amp) for that. The HDMI connections on TV's are inputs, despite HDMI being bi-directional, it's one directional at the moment, so the HDMI socket on a TV will accept up to 1080p (and HDMI 1.3 deep colour on compatible TV's) but not HD audio. You need a HD Audio compatible amp that can process it via HDMI e.g. Sony 910, Onkyo 605 upwards etc. You cannot use a TV as a switching unit, so if you connected up your sources to the TV and then run one cable (optical) to the TV you will only get 2.0 channel stereo as that is all TV's output.

Originally Posted by biggiegc

okay so I was considering a switch from toslink, a 3 way switcher

can someone answer me this then:

the tv Sony 52x3500 and the home cinema DAVIS10; do they support HDMI 1.3, or is it just better to go with the optical digital toslink switcher? As I understand it SKY HD doesnt support it, but PS3 does..

In which case I would connect the Amp to the switch, and then run 3 leads from the switch to the tv, the ps3 and the sky hd? If I did run a Component from a Wii to the tv, would the 5.1 signal still come back in 5.1 surround?

AFAIK Sony X series does not support HDMI 1.3. Your home cinema doesn't support HDMI 1.3 as, as I said the HDMI is an output not an input and it's not HD (either video or audio). AV amps that are 1.3 spec can process audio via HDMI, video sources that support HDMI 1.3 are High Def. ie. HD DVD, PS3 (BluRay) etc. So, your only option for audio is DD5.1/DTS (bitstream) via optical/co-ax as previously mentioned. You can't get DD5.1 from the wii, it only has 2.0 channel output so you will get surround sound of sorts (2.0 mixed to give Dolby Pro Logic or one of the other 'effect' sound options). You simply need to either switch optical audio (if you go for sound from the TV as well) between 2 of the sources and the other converted to digi coax OR as I said previously convert one of the digital audio outputs to digi-coax and connect it to the amp and the other via straightforward optical cable e.g. Sky HD optical => optical to coax converter => coax input on the home cinema system & PS3 optical => home cinema system. Or just switch between the optical outputs from Sky HD and the PS3 using that toslink splitter I mentioned. There is no real need to connect the TV's audio output to the home cinema system as you will primarily use Sky HD for your viewing. I suppose if you do watch the freeview tuner (why would you as Sky HD has twin tuners allowing you to view one channel and record another?) you can do so without the home cinema system on ie. for quieter viewing at night. I wouldn't bother with one of those 3 way optical switching units as they're manual. If you find one that works with IR remote, then I would also recommend buying a Harmony universal remote that switches everything on and selects the relevant input on your TV, amp and switching unit. In fact, I would get one anyway, as they're excellent bits of kit

[Joe Fernand]

Hello biggiegc

First off have to understand that you cant talk in 'generalities' when discussing AV Gear - the way various bits of gear interconnect, interact and manage Input/Output signals (inc HDMI) is down to interpretation by the hardware manufacturers.

In an ideal world there would be one global standard and everything would adhere to it and it wouldn't be the current lottery when you start to plug various bits and pieces together.

An HD Ready TV will accepted Digital Video + Digital Stereo audio over HDMI though in the main they wont offer any form of audio output when you select an HDMI Input so your TV is not going to act as the switching hub in a system.

You have three connectivity options - Options 02. and 03. allow simpler source selection/input matching; with Option 01 being the most complex too operate.

Option 01. (requires Optical Switch - see http://www.audioauthority.com/produc...ital_Audio/5/1)

SKY HD
HDMI to TV (Video + Stereo audio)
Optical to Optical Switch

PS3
HDMI to TV (Video + Stereo audio)
Optical to Optical Switch

Wii
3RCA to TV (Component Video)
2RCA to AV Amp (Stereo Audio)

Optical Switch
Optical to AV Amp

Option 02. (Requires HDMI+Optical Switch - see http://www.octavainc.com/HDMI%20swit...rt_toslink.htm)

HDMI to HDMI+Optical Switch
Optical to HDMI+Optical Switch

PS3
HDMI to HDMI+Optical Switch
Optical to HDMI+Optical Switch

Wii
3RCA to TV (Component Video)
2RCA to AV Amp (Stereo Audio)

HDMI+Optical Switch
HDMI to TV
Optical to AV Amp

Option 03. (Requires Multi Input Scaler - see http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4174)

SKY HD
HDMI to Scaler
Optical to Scaler

PS3
HDMI to Scaler
Optical to Scaler

Wii
3RCA to Scaler
2RCA to Scaler

Multi Input Scaler
HDMI to TV
Optical to AV Amp

Joe

[biggiegc]

Thank you all for your help! Much appreciated;

This has shed a little more light on the topic for me.

[biggiegc]

hi again!

I just wanted to ask quickly the Toslink optical to coax converter, is it possible to stick the optical end straight into the back of your SKY HD box?

and then connect the coax cable elsewhere?

[Thrombin]

Originally Posted by biggiegc

hi again!

I just wanted to ask quickly the Toslink optical to coax converter, is it possible to stick the optical end straight into the back of your SKY HD box?

and then connect the coax cable elsewhere?

Here are some examples:

http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tv...CONVERTER.html
http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tv...Converter.html

It looks like you plug a Coax cable on one side and an Optical cable on the other. Notice how you need to get the converter that is going in the right direction and it needs its own power supply.

It looks like some switching units can also convert by having both Optical and Coax inputs and Optical and Coax outputs:

http://www.ivojo.co.uk/octava-hds4a-uk.htm

Regards

Julian

[Joe Fernand]

Hello both

biggiegc - most converters will be Female to Female rather than Male to Female.

Even if one was Male to Female I'd avoid sticking an adapter straight into the socket on the SKY HD box - your likely to put too much strain on the socket and cause it to break away from the board inside the SKY box.

Thrombin - the Octava HDS4A-UK doesn't offer conversion between Optical and Coaxial digital audio; its effectively three switches (HDMI, Coaxial and Optical) in one Chassis.

The Zektor HDMI5 does offer HDMI, Coaxial and Optical Switching with cross conversion between Optical and Coaxial; see http://www.zektor.com/hdmi5/index.html

Joe

[biggiegc]

Joe thank you for your input, again you made my job a little easier in that sense, I can go ahead and enjoy my tv now!! cheers everyone

[Thrombin]

Originally Posted by Joe Fernand

Hello both
Thrombin - the Octava HDS4A-UK doesn't offer conversion between Optical and Coaxial digital audio; its effectively three switches (HDMI, Coaxial and Optical) in one Chassis.

I had a sneaking suspicion that might be the case after I posted. Thanks for the clarification!

Regards

Julian