HDMI splitter with clone of sound only? Or help me sort my sound!

kudosdude

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I am having some problems with my setup; it is overcomplicated (for me!) and requires a peculiar setup to work.
If I can explain what it is like now, and then explain what I would like; if some-one could suggest a solution I would be very grateful.

PC connected to -> Amp (Yamaha RX-v2600) via spdif (optical) only
and connected to TV (Samsung LE32R73BD) via VGA and 3.5mm phone connector
TV -> Amp via spdif
DVD (Panasonic DMR-EZ25) -> Amp via HDMI
Amp -> TV via HDMI
CD (Cambridge Audio 640C) -> Amp via SPDIF

To get my PC to output to TV I need to set the sound to analog in the control panel (Win XP), it then sends it back to the amp - the benefit of this is the sound of the TV is improved by the addition of my stereo speakers.
If I want to listen to music from my PC, I change winXP settings to Digital out and enjoy the improvement (the DAC in the amp is lovely). Digital out on the PC stops sound to the TV (much googling has not allowed me to discover a way of doing this via xp)
If I just want to listen to a CD without TV on I bung in a CD.
If I want to watch a DVD, I bung in a DVD

What I want

To get rid of my CD player -> the transformer hums and it's getting louder.
To get rid of my DVD recorder -> I cannot skip the anti-piracy nonsense on all my legally purchased disks - and I have never made use of the recording functionality.
To keep my Amplifier (I like the sound it makes, and cannot afford another one!)
To use my PC as a media centre playing DVD's(/rips), CD's(/rips), iPlayer, webBrowsing.
To be able to turn the TV off while playing audio content (I can control the PC via my phone anyway)

Now this would all be very simple if it wasn't for my amp being a bit old (though I'm not sure how effective newer ones would be)

I thought a HDMI splitter may have been the solution (PC to TV + Amp)-> but I have a horrible feeling that turning off the TV may kill the audio altogether, OR the limitations of the amp (720p or 1080i only) will not allow me to get a pixel:pixel match on the TV like I can currently with analog (1366*768).

If I haven't bored you by now -> what I think I need is a splitter that will clone the digital out to go to the amp, and not alert the PC to the T.V. being off; or... ?

:lease:

PS. The PC is a SD11G5 shuttle (pretty much silent) with a 7600GS card so no HDMI... however I also have an unused Radeon with HDMI out...
 
Could you not use the DVI out of the shuttle to hdmi in on the TV - dvi-hdmi cable and then connect the multi-channel outputs from the shuttle to the multi-channel inputs on the amp. This will give up to 5.1 surround sound without having to keep changing the audio out in Windows and should work without having to switch the TV on.

It is annoying windows can only run one audio out at any one time.
 
Yes - but that would use the shuttles on board dac - which isn't that great.

One other thing; I did some back to back listening tests with the cd player vs an uncompressed wav rip of the same CD... and the CD player sounded better. If the amp is fed by spdif from both sources what on earth is going on?
 
Re CD - it should sound the same so were the volumes matched when you compared them. A higher volume can make one source appear 'better' than a lower volume source.

Re PC to amp - not sure I have fully unraveled your setup but the next thing to try is dvi-hdmi (TV) and optical out from PC
 
I have tried DVI previously and never managed to get a pixel perfect match on the TV. I did, however, try again this evening, even trying a number of different drivers; but just cannot match VGA. A (post 3hr attempt) look at the online manual suggests "DVI does not support PC function"
I think the TV does scaling from the HDMI port to output "720p", which is why I have the issue.
Nice idea though!

As regards the sound being different volumes: it turns out (further googling), that the onboard soundcard does strange things (at least I may not beg going mad ;))
I think it is going to come down to some external box to sort this out... but what?
:lease:
 
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I think an external box may be the only solution; but then which one! I think I may need to do some more research in this area.
As regards upgrading my OS; it does seem a rather drastic solution - and to be honest I think I'd probably get another box entirely (rasberry pi with openelec) and move the shuttle to sole media ripper duties.
 

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