No sound to stereo from Blu Ray

[froze]

My problem is that I have a Panasonic Blu Ray player, a Panasonic TV, and a 90's era HK stereo system with separate amp/preamp. I use the Blu Ray to play CD's to my stereo, there are RCA cables I fed out of the back of the Blu Ray to the stereo and I get sound, no problem; I then have an HDMI cable going out of the Blu Ray to the TV. However, when I put in either a DVD, or a Blu Ray disk, into the player I get sound coming out of the TV, but nothing from the stereo. I also found out that if I put a CD into the player with the sound coming out of the stereo, but then turn on the TV the sound to the stereo turns off and is then coming out of the TV.

I went through all the menu stuff on the TV, even tried turning off the TV speakers, and nothing. I couldn't find anything on the Blu Ray menu to help either. Due to the age of my stereo, I cannot connect an HDMI cable to the stereo since it was made before that stuff came out.

Any ideals would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Trebdp83]

Hello and welcome. A change in settings from one or more devices should fix the issue. What is the model of the blu-ray player, receiver and TV?

 

[froze]

The Blu Ray is a Panasonic BDT210, the TV is a Panasonic Viera Plasma TC-P42S2 (I think), and the preamp is a Harman Kardon PT2300.

Thanks for asking.

 

[Trebdp83]

Try going into the blu-ray player’s settings and turn HDMI Audio Output to OFF.

 

[froze]

Try going into the blu-ray player’s settings and turn HDMI Audio Output to OFF.

I tried what you mentioned and all it did was shut off the sound to the TV, and like before, there is no sound coming from the stereo.

 

[j_garcia]

In Audio settings on the BD player, make sure it is set to downmix all formats to stereo. Output should be stereo as well.

 

[Trebdp83]

I tried what you mentioned and all it did was shut off the sound to the TV, and like before, there is no sound coming from the stereo.

Yeah, was hoping it would send something to the analog ports. You are in a pinch. When turning "HDMI Audio Out" OFF, the player will send a signal out of the Digital Optical port. But, your HK is analog with no digital ports and the TV does not have any analog audio output ports. You will need an optical cable and a digital to analog converter to get audio from the player to the HK. Double check the TV, but I believe it only has an optical digital output port.

 

[Trebdp83]

In Audio settings on the BD player, make sure it is set to downmix all formats to stereo. Output should be stereo as well.

This particular player can down mix to stereo, but the analog and digital outputs seem to be completely separate. When using HDMI connection for video and turning audio output of HDMI OFF, the only other option seems to be the optical output for video discs. But, worth a try to convert audio output to PCM and see if audio is output from the analog ports.

 

[TLS Guy]

This particular player can down mix to stereo, but the analog and digital outputs seem to be completely separate. When using HDMI connection for video and turning audio output of HDMI OFF, the only other option seems to be the optical output for video discs. But, worth a try to convert audio output to PCM and see if audio is output from the analog ports.

Yes, that is the correct answer, he will need an optical to RCA DAC and connect to an RCA port on the HK. He will need to connect the BD player to the TV though, via HDMI. With all older analog gear there is always an awkward workaround you have to go through now.

 

[j_garcia]

I have found with some players, it can take an annoying combination of settings to get them to output stereo. I had that issue with my old system which was using a Marantz integrated (analog only), but after poking around various settings, was able to get it to do it.

 

[froze]

Yeah, was hoping it would send something to the analog ports. You are in a pinch. When turning "HDMI Audio Out" OFF, the player will send a signal out of the Digital Optical port. But, your HK is analog with no digital ports and the TV does not have any analog audio output ports. You will need an optical cable and a digital to analog converter to get audio from the player to the HK. Double check the TV, but I believe it only has an optical digital output port.

Yup, the TV has just one optical digital output, and the preamp does not have anything remotely optical. I just find it odd that I can get a CD to play music to the preamp, but as soon as I pop in a dvd I get nothing to the preamp. OR, if I put in a CD and turn on the TV and hit the DVD input, I get a list of the tracks, and the sound will come out of the TV, but will not come out of the stereo.

PCM was already on, so I turned it off, nothing; I changed downmix from surround encoded to stereo, nothing; I changed 7.1 ch audio reformatting to off, and nothing; I changed Digital audio output from bitstream to PCM, nothing.

So, what's left? just getting a digital to analog converter as TrebDP83 mentioned doing? How does that hook up?

I saw a cheap converter on Crutchfield for $25 if it would work.

 

[Trebdp83]

Unfortunately, the digital video and digital audio are tied together and you cannot combine digital video output with the analog audio output. You have to choose between an analog composite video signal and analog two channel audio signal output or digital video/audio output via HDMI. Using HDMI for video, you can select the optical port for digital audio output. Get yourself an optical cable, another set of analog cables and a digital to analog converter to connect the player to the HK. That player works like a VCR/DVD combo and keeps the digital and analog signals separated from one another.

 

[froze]

Thanks guys.

Someone mentioned but must have deleted the response, but the TV is currently connected to the BD via HDMI cable, and the BD works just fine to the TV.

 

[Trebdp83]

Thanks guys.

Someone mentioned but must have deleted the response, but the TV is currently connected to the BD via HDMI cable, and the BD works just fine to the TV.

The connection to the TV via HDMI will remain and continue to work. Once you connect an optical cable from the player to the converter and analog cables from the converter to the receiver, you will turn HDMI Audio Output OFF in the player so that the digital audio signal will be sent out of the optical port rather than to the TV via HDMI. The digital signal will be converted to an analog signal and the analog cables will connect to the receiver. The HDMI video signal will be unchanged to the TV but won't receive a digital audio signal anymore. If you want the option to use just the TV for video AND audio when watching movies, you can connect the optical cable to the TV's optical output port and then connect the converter to the optical cable. In that case, you would leave HDMI Audio Output ON in the player so that the TV would continue to receive an audio signal that it can then send out of the TV speakers and/or the optical output port.

 

[froze]

Great. So once the converter is installed, from then on, I would have to turn the HDMI audio output off if I want it to go to the stereo, but would I have to turn back on to get to go through the TV speakers, is that correct?

 

[Trebdp83]

Yes, that would be the case if you connected the optical cable directly to the player.

 

[TLS Guy]

Yup, the TV has just one optical digital output, and the preamp does not have anything remotely optical. I just find it odd that I can get a CD to play music to the preamp, but as soon as I pop in a dvd I get nothing to the preamp. OR, if I put in a CD and turn on the TV and hit the DVD input, I get a list of the tracks, and the sound will come out of the TV, but will not come out of the stereo.

PCM was already on, so I turned it off, nothing; I changed downmix from surround encoded to stereo, nothing; I changed 7.1 ch audio reformatting to off, and nothing; I changed Digital audio output from bitstream to PCM, nothing.

So, what's left? just getting a digital to analog converter as TrebDP83 mentioned doing? How does that hook up?

I saw a cheap converter on Crutchfield for $25 if it would work.

It is not odd, but your problem is a requirement of law. It is all about digital rights management. After the analog sunset, there was a forcing of HDMI for AV. CD is exempt, as there are lots of CD players with analog outputs. However, the producers want to copyright the audio from AV sources. In other words, they do not want you to make an audio recording from your gear, like a reel to reel player, cassette player or VHS player. I think this was over the top, as if you have a pro recording setup with pro software, you can record, from a digital audio output. This draconian DRM created a lot of pointless complexity and you have run right up against it.

Unfortunately in AV if you want convenience, you are forced to update to HDMI connectivity, and this was by intent. You are paying the penalty for using analog only equipment in the modern AV world.

As far as your DAC converter is concerned, I would advise getting one with a volume trim on it. Some of those DACs are hot for older RCA analog connections, also it helps optimize the signal to noise ratio. My experience of of those units, is that the S/N ratios are all over the map. I got experience of those before my parents died.
They are just about OK, but your only option.

If you have a lot of older analog gear, as I so, you have to plan carefully. So I have my analog turntables, various tape machines and decoders, connected to high quality vintage preamps, including one tube unit. They are all Quad units (22, 33 and 44). These feed into a switch bus which outputs into a Marantz AV preamp. So all the gear only takes one analog input on the marantz.

So you might want to consider getting an AV preamp, it would certainly make life easier and improve your AV experience.

 

[froze]

Thanks for the tip. I don't real old vintage stuff, the oldest thing I have is an early 70's Rotel turntable, but after an earthquake sent a huge surge into my house destroying my vintage stuff from the 70's, the turntable survived, I had to go out and buy new stuff in the mid 90's, so I ended up with separate HK amp and preamp/tuner, a HK dual cassette deck, had a HK CD player at the same time but it didn't last long so that's why I use the Panasonic BluRay to play the CD's; at that time I got the HK stuff I upgraded my speakers to JBL L7's. I really like the sound of the system, more so than the more vintage stuff I had, but I'm not into surround sound so I have no desire to get a more modern AV system, even if the amp or the preamp failed, I would just buy another stereo non-AV system to replace it.

I want to get a Marantz CD player, but I'm not sure if it would sound any better than the BluRay does.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the tip. I don't real old vintage stuff, the oldest thing I have is an early 70's Rotel turntable, but after an earthquake sent a huge surge into my house destroying my vintage stuff from the 70's, the turntable survived, I had to go out and buy new stuff in the mid 90's, so I ended up with separate HK amp and preamp/tuner, a HK dual cassette deck, had a HK CD player at the same time but it didn't last long so that's why I use the Panasonic BluRay to play the CD's; at that time I got the HK stuff I upgraded my speakers to JBL L7's. I really like the sound of the system, more so than the more vintage stuff I had, but I'm not into surround sound so I have no desire to get a more modern AV system, even if the amp or the preamp failed, I would just buy another stereo non-AV system to replace it.

I want to get a Marantz CD player, but I'm not sure if it would sound any better than the BluRay does.

It wouldn't, but an AV preamp would be definite upgrade to replace the HK preamp.