Onkyo HDMI Audio Extractor

raldic

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I am trying to listen to all my content from my Onkyo HT-RC370 on a pair of wireless bluetooth headphones. I have a bluetooth transmitter with an optical in (Needs 2ch PCM ) however the Onkyo has no optical out. I bought a cheap HDMI audio extractor to go between the HDMI MONITOR OUT of the Onkyo and the HDMI IN of my TV. The optical does not turn on (no red light) and the TV image is flickering badly. I cannot find anywhere in the manual what the audio specification is from the HDMI out.
The audio extractor works fine when I connect it direct to my bluray player. Something about the HDMI signal out from the Receiver. RCA jacks isnt an option as they do not give a signal with digital input.
 
The Onkyo has a headphone socket on the front, and a zone 2 option via stereo analogue pre-outs. Getting a Bluetooth transmitter that takes an analogue input rather than digital, is probably your best option.
 
I bought a cheap HDMI audio extractor to go between the HDMI MONITOR OUT of the Onkyo and the HDMI IN of my TV.

Most receivers won't have even output an audio signal on the monitor output, the audio is processed by the amp and the video sent to the screen.

Some amps have a setting to allow audio through buried in the menus but you'd need to toggle it everytime.
 
You are correct, I checked and the Monitor OUT was not sending a signal to the TV. However none of my HDMI inputs to the Onkyo will play on my Zone 2. I have Zone 2 set up as remote speakers in another part of the house. They do not work with any of my HDMI inputs. Manual says Zone 2 only accepts analog inputs.
I am pretty stuck. My bluray transmitter will accept RCA input but the RCA out jacks on the Onkyo only are outputing anything with analog input (and maybe optical - to be confirmed) not HDMI inputs.
 
Last resort - Of course when I plug into the AVR headphone out, it cuts out the speakers. So I would be continuously plugging in and out depending if I want headphones or speakers. Kind of defeats my idea of "handsfree wireless" experience.

Also, isnt there an impedance difference issue? RCA jacks are several kilo ohm and headphones are around 8 ohm. Also, the headphones put out possibly damaging voltage for the bluray transmitter?
 
What you could do is use the front left and right pre-outs of the AVR into the bluetooth transmitter. They are live all of the time so you would not need to plug / unplug as you would with the headphone socket if you want to switch between listening via the speakers or the headphones.

However, you would need to switch the AVR into stereo mode, and optionally set the speakers to LARGE when using the headphones (downmix all multi channel audio to stereo) but at least you could do that with the remote.
 
I'll give it a try.
Meanwhile I am trying an optical switch. Most of my components have an optical out, cd, blueray, WD media player, combo VHS/ DVD. My Samsung TV is 13 years and while it has an optical out it must not be PCM cuz the Bluetooth transmitter doesnt recognize it. Darn TV wont die so I can get a new one! I'd be losing listening to the internet radio from the AVR in my headphones with the switch option.
 
There should be a setting on the TV to switch the optical output to PCM. Does your TV have a headphone socket?
 
Another comment, I called Samsung and they confirmed my vintage of flat screen does not allow control of the optical out. It is what it is.
 
TV does have a headphone socket but there is no sound in the headphone
when the signal to the TV is via the AVR Monitor out.
 
I did test the pre amp outs - I am not getting any signal out of any of the speaker positions. There is nothing in the manual that I can find that turns the preamp outs on or off as well as nothing when going through the menu. Perhaps when it detect speakers are attached it turns off the pre amp out??
 
With regard to the TV, are you saying that the optical out works, but is not stereo PCM, but the headphone out socket doesn't work at all?

How are you testing the pre-outs on the AVR and which ones specifically are you testing? You might need to turn the master volume up.
 
The TV headphone jack has no sound when the source to the TV is from the AVR via HDMI. I suspect as Jamie said that the MONITOR OUT from the Onkyo is not carrying any audio signal.
It does work when the source to the TV is Antenna.

The optical out from the TV works when I feed it to the AVR but not to my bluetooth transmitter. My bluetooth transmitter needs PCM so I suspect the TV is transmitting bitstream .

I tested the preamp by connecting a Sennheiser headphone transmitter (old nonbluetooth tech) to each of the preamp outs one by one. None gave my any signal. I would think that the volume on the preamp out would not be volume control on the remote. The volume was loud enough to hear on the AVR speakers which were going at the same time. I am just guessing that the preamp is off when attached speakers are detected.
 
It sounds like output from the TV is not going to be of any use to you anyway, but, what TV is it? In all of the TVs I've experienced there is an audio menu that allows you to switch the optical output between bitstream or PCM.

The preamp outputs should be live all the time and will be a copy of what is coming out of the speakers. I would use the front left and front right pre-outs, and have the AVR in stereo mode only. The master volume on the remote will control the volume of the speakers at the same time as the volume (voltage output) of the pre-amps. There maybe a voltage or impedance mismatch with the sennheiser transmitter, what happens if you try it with the Bluetooth transmitter?
 
My TV is a Samsung LN-T4661F. I used Samsung support chat and they said that model did not have that option to change the signal. I looked for a firmware update and the Samsung site did not have any firmware for this model in case they added some features to it..
I tried the preamps RCA jacks out and same story with the bluetooth transmitter - no signal out which I do not understand. I tried at higher volumes too and tried some other active RCA jacks just to make sure that my wireless connection was working.
I hooked up my 4 x 1 SPDIF switch tonight and at least now I can listen to most of my devices on my bluetooth headset.
Thank you very much for your help. I think I will leave it at this solution now. Not the simple solution i was expecting (a compatible out from my AVR for all incoming devices) but this works.
 
I am glad you have got some kind of workaround going, but, in case you are as stubborn as me, I looked into the pre-outs on your AVR, and pages 15 and 46 suggests that they are live all of the time, for the front left, right and centre, and also live for any of the other speakers that you haven't set the speaker type to None in the speaker set up menu.

Are you using these connections:
Inkedhtrc370-rear_300x_LI.jpg
 
Also, the manual of your TV shows that it has stereo analog audio outputs on the rear:

Capture.PNG
 
Thank you Rambles,
I will recheck my preouts tomorrow. Now if I connected by bluetooth transmitter to the preamp out front, but left all my speakers connected then if the volume on the remote or front of the AVR also controls the preamp out and the speakers, then I would be turning up the volume of both and that defeats the reason for the headset so that I am not bothering the rest of the house.

I have determined that the TV is not going to be a source for audio as the HDMI monitor out does not carry any audio and secondly the SPDIF is bitstream (can not change) which my bluetooth transmitter will not accept.

Do you any suggestions for where to go for the latest firmware for this non-supported Samsung? I read some people have gone to sites only to end up download malware or viruses.
 
Now if I connected by bluetooth transmitter to the preamp out front, but left all my speakers connected then if the volume on the remote or front of the AVR also controls the preamp out and the speakers, then I would be turning up the volume of both and that defeats the reason for the headset so that I am not bothering the rest of the house.
Then the headphone out socket on the front of the AVR might be a better solution as that will mute the speakers.
the SPDIF is bitstream (can not change) which my bluetooth transmitter will not accept
Instead of using the SPDIF out of the TV, you could use the stereo analogue RCA outputs instead.
 
Thank you for all your suggestions. I was able to get a signal off of the preamp outs but the signal strength was so low that I was getting a lot of hiss on my old analog wireless Sennheiser headphones. It reduced the higher I turned up the volume. The other issue with the preamps is that the volume control controlled the output so that my main speaker had to play in order to get a signal which defeats my goal of not disturbing the rest of the house. Plugging in a jack into the AVR headphones outlet killed the preamp out.
I could hook up my bluetooth transmitter to the headphones port but that means I have to get off of the couch to plug it in :) Also means I am using an RCA level signal which might not be as good as an optical. I am not sure if the difference is discernable. The headphones are 2 channel only - so is the bluetooth transmitter.
I will stick with my optical switch solution. It comes with a remote as well. :)
 

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