JVC TV and Optical Out

[David H. lipman]

I have a JVC LXT-32X887 TV. It has worked great for years.

I also have RCA Home Theater RT2770.

For years I have fed the TV Headphone output to the Line-In of the RCA Home Theater RT2770. I use the headphone jack because the TV's RCA Plug Stereo Out has a fixed volume. The headphone output is variable which makes the use of one Remote Control easier.

I decided to use a TOSLINK and connect the JVC TV to the RCA Home Theater optically. However I get nothing. Setting the Digital Audio Out to Dolby and PCM makes no difference. The two units have compliant encoding.

I have FiOS TV and a Motorola QIP2500-3 STB and when I move the TOSLINK from the TV to the STB I do get sound. Move it back to the TV and I get nothing. I also see a "red" visible spectrum light coming out of the Motorola STB but I see no visible spectrum light coming out of the JVC TV.

It does not make a difference if the TV is showing TV Content or if I hook my Latitude E5430 HDMI to the TV and use it as an extended screen and play any content via VLC Player.

I looked at everything on the JVC TV and I can see no reason why I get no audio out via the Optical S/PDIF port.

 

[j_garcia]

There may be another setting for the digital out on the TV side to make sure it is going out through SPDIF instead of the TV speakers. Often you have to disable the TV speakers to use the SPDIF out. A dumb option, but I've seen quite a few TVs that do that. If the TV has HDMI as well, you have to sometimes tell it to send digital audio out over SPDIF instead of HDMI.

 

[David H. lipman]

Thanx for the quick reply.

The buttons on the side are standard. The Menu is the same Menu provided as a GUI via the Remote Control. I have the JVC LXT-32X887 TV manual in PDF format and I have searched the document and there isn't anything to indicate a capability to "disable speakers". I have also disconnected the sub-miniature phono stereo plug from the TV and tested to see if being plugged-in overrides any S/PDIF output.

As for HDMI it is a TV input source only.

I will continue looking into the concept of something may "disable speakers" as that sounds quite logical as a reason.

 

[David H. lipman]

I have double-checked. I could find nothing about switching outputs nor disabling the speakers.

The following is just about all that is found and its has been set.

I'll continue to look some more.

 

[j_garcia]

It may be in the "sound" settings for speakers on/off or internal/external.

 

[lovinthehd]

I see this in the manual:
You can not output audio using the AUDIO OUTPUT under the following conditions:
1)
When you have digital sound from an HDMI device connected to the HDMI 1 or HDMI 2
connection on the back of your TV. (See page 20).
2)
When you have analog sound from a DVI device connected to the AUDIO IN "FOR
HDMI 1" connection. (See page 19

Applies?

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, sounds like that would apply here. Seems to be saying SPDIF is disabled when HDMI is used because this particular display does not allow using different digital audio output types.

 

[David H. lipman]

I see this in the manual:
You can not output audio using the AUDIO OUTPUT under the following conditions:

That refers to the Fixed level L&R Analogue Audio outputs and I have tried with and without HDMI. Even with the HDMI cable not even inserted.
The output of the STB is Analogue to the JVC. So when I am using Analogue Input 1 ( Motorola STB ), the Fixed level L&R Analogue Audio output works. If I switch to HDMI Input 1, the Fixed level L&R Analogue Audio output does not work.

Under any/all of the conditions, I have no visible light emanating on the FO cable when connected to the JVC like when I connect it to the Motorola STB.

AUDIO MENUS:
There are two Audio Menus. One has to be chosen from the Remote and that is "Audio Effects" for Movie or Music ( AHS ), ATC, Smart Sound and Hyper Bass [ Hyper Bass greyed on when I use Analogue Input 1 ].

The second is via the Main Menu and it provides Bass, Treble and Balance as well Turn-On Volume and Volume Limit.

There is nothing about Speakers On/Off or Internal/External sound output.

 

[j_garcia]

Well, sounds like this set makes it complicated to do what you're trying to do. Unfortunately, TVs don't have a standard config and all of the ones I've setup for people tend to have different but still complicated methods of configuring as well.

 

[TLS Guy]

That refers to the Fixed level L&R Analogue Audio outputs and I have tried with and without HDMI. Even with the HDMI cable not even inserted.
The output of the STB is Analogue to the JVC. So when I am using Analogue Input 1 ( Motorola STB ), the Fixed level L&R Analogue Audio output works. If I switch to HDMI Input 1, the Fixed level L&R Analogue Audio output does not work.

Under any/all of the conditions, I have no visible light emanating on the FO cable like when I connect it to the Motorola STB.

AUDIO MENUS:
There are two Audio Menus. One has to be chosen from the Remote and that is "Audio Effects" for Movie or Music ( AHS ), ATC, Smart Sound and Hyper Bass [ Hyper Bass greyed on when I use Analogue Input 1 ].

The second is via the Main Menu and it provides Bass, Treble and Balance as well Turn-On Volume and Volume Limit.

There is nothing about Speakers On/Off or Internal/External sound output.

You equipment is now quite old. I suspect that the optical out will only work if the fixed analog output works.

I suspect you have too old a version of the HDCP codes to output digital audio from HDMI sources.

The TV I doubt can convert an analog input to a digital output.

 

[David H. lipman]

That may be very true. I have checked at JVC/Kenwood and there are no Firmware updates.

However I can say that for a 9 yr old TV, it does take the HDMI output of my Dell Latitude E5430 very well while the VGA port is only 1024x768 @ 60Hz. That's hooked up to my "D" series docking station and my Latitude D620.

I guess I may have to give up the idea of using a TOSLINK interface. Oh well...

Thanx to all responders. I appreciate your time and input.