Connecting Sky HD Box to Onkyo HT-S3405

Johnnyg37

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Firstly, apologies if this question has been dealt with before.

I'm about to buy the Onkyo and I know that DD5.1 from a Sky box is only available via the optical output. Could someone advise:

1) If I connect the HDMI and optical leads from the Sky box to the Onkyo, will the amp automatically select the optical input?

2) Is there any advantage of routing the HDMI connection through the amp or is it better to connect it directly to the TV?

3) Any better suggestions?

Many thanks in advance.
 
You can use either optical or digital coaxial to get 5.1 audio from a Sky box. Optical and coaxial will give exactly the same audio quality.

The optical/coaxial connections will be associated with a particular input mode (DVD, Sat, TV, etc) by default on the receiver. You may need to change the association depending on the HDMI input you use. You will then also have to set the audio priority to optical or coaxial as its usually set to HDMI by default.

Other than cutting down the amount of cables going to the TV itself, there is no real advantage in connecting the Sky+HD box through the receiver. Some receivers can upscale signals to 1080p for example, but unless you have a high end receiver you won't notice much difference in the picture quality.

Note that only selected programmes (mainly HD stuff) will have 5.1 audio. Everything else will have stereo audio only.
 
I'm not a Sky man but I have my Tivo (Virgin) connected through my Amp so I can listen to podcasts and switch the TV off. Also if you have lots of devices I find it easier to connect everything to the Amp then one cable to the TV. This probably helps most if your TV is lacking many HDMI sockets.
 

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