HDMI vs. Optical Cable

[MIKED33]

I currently have my tv connected to a comcast dvr via HDMI. I'm about to integrate a surround sound set-up and have a question about optical cable.

if i plug in my cable box and dvd via optical cable to my receiver...will i be able to watch tv without surround sound, with just the tv speakers? will the audio signal be split between the hdmi and optical cable from the cable box? i'm a little confused. i don't want to always have to watch everything with the receiver on.

thanks for any help.

 

[billy p]

I would say

If your audio is connected to the receiver then the receiver must be on. I myself spilt the incoming signal between cable box and tv. This allowed me to watch tv alone and also enabled my PIP to have a input source as well when watching tv, via the cable box.
Hope this was helpful, Bill

 

[jonnythan]

I currently have my tv connected to a comcast dvr via HDMI. I'm about to integrate a surround sound set-up and have a question about optical cable.

if i plug in my cable box and dvd via optical cable to my receiver...will i be able to watch tv without surround sound, with just the tv speakers? will the audio signal be split between the hdmi and optical cable from the cable box? i'm a little confused. i don't want to always have to watch everything with the receiver on.

thanks for any help.

Yes.

The sound will be output via both the HDMI and optical outputs on your cable box. The sound will simultaneously come out of both the TV speakers and the receiver, so just make sure at least one of those is off at any given time

 

[MIKED33]

Yes.

The sound will be output via both the HDMI and optical outputs on your cable box. The sound will simultaneously come out of both the TV speakers and the receiver, so just make sure at least one of those is off at any given time

when you say "off", does that mean if i want to turn on my receiver and use surround sound, i should Mute my TV, or just turn the volume all the way down on it? will it just degregate the sound quality or are there other more serious issues which may occur?

also, "Optical" or "Coaxial", any difference in quality?

 

[jonnythan]

You don't want your TV speakers and receiver both producing sound at the same time.. so when you want to use your TV speakers, leave your receiver off, and when you want to use the surround sound, put your TV on mute. Actually, most TVs leave an annoying little "mute" sign on the screen when muted, so just turn the volume down to 0.

There are no issues. No degredation of sound quality whatsoever. The digital audio signal is merely duplicated for the various outputs.

As for optical vs coaxial, no difference whatsoever. Exactly the same. Choose based on whatever looks nice to you and/or fits your receiver.

BTW, get your cables at monoprice.com

 

[newone88]

So can all devices (DVR, DVD, XBOX, and playstation) be connected to the TV (via HDMI, components, etc) and then only connect the digital audio out from the TV to the receiver, this way all audio will come out from the receiver?
Let me know if this setup works. Thanks

 

[jonnythan]

I dunno. Would depend on the TV... check your manual. Sounds plausible, but also seems like it would make more sense to have everything going into the receiver first.

 

[billy p]

Agreed,

Yes.

The sound will be output via both the HDMI and optical outputs on your cable box. The sound will simultaneously come out of both the TV speakers and the receiver, so just make sure at least one of those is off at any given time

but if you split the incoming cable signal and sent one end to the digital box for viewing and the second end directly to your tv you'll will not have to worry about two audio sources been sent to the same video source. Thus viewing tv will be made easy and if better sound is wanted switch over to the receiver for audio.(IMHO)

 

[Nick250]

I keep it simple. All video goes directly to my TV, and all audio goes to the receiver. Except in your case, if you want to listen through the TV speakers only, HDMI has you covered on that. So your cable box will have HDMI to your TV and also an digital connection to the receiver for when you want to listen through your AV system. When I listen through the AV system I mute the TV.

Nick