optical audio issue

[alegs34]

Hello all. I am trying to setup my first home theater system and have connected my cable TV box to my TV via HDMI. Unfortunately my stereo receiver does not have an HDMI input (Harmon Kardon AVR 135), so my plan to get high quality audio is to run an optical audio cable from the optical out on my TV to the optical in on the receiver. Does this sound like the right plan?

The issue I'm having is that the receiver does not seem to detect the audio signal. I set the input to the correct optical input and the receiver displays the message "UNLOCK", which I understand means it is not receiving a signal. I have tried using a different TV with an optical out to test whether it was the TV that was not outputting the signal properly and same thing. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this issue?

Thanks for your time!

 

[Foxrox]

Does the cable box have an optical output? If yes, you can run that straight to your receiver. You may have to change settings in the cable box to output audio to optical.

If that is not an option, my next question is if the TV itself will output audio the way you have it set up now. If no, you probably need to change a setting in your cable box to output audio to hdmi. If yes, you may need to change a setting in your TV to output audio to optical.

If none of that is the answer, you might want to try something besides the optical. Any other outputs on the TV? Any other inputs on the receiver? If you can get the sound to the receiver with any kind of cable, it’s going to sound fine and be much better than the TV speakers.

Good luck!

 

[alegs34]

Unfortunately the cable box only had HDMI outputs.

The TV only have a 'turn TV speakers on/off' setting. I assume just plugging in the optical audio out cable activates that feature, since there is no option in settings to turn it on/off. And I've tried 2 different TVs to be sure.

I will try other outputs on the TV. But will anything get me as good quality as optical? I won't be able to get surround sound without optical right?

Thanks for your help!

 

[pewternhrata]

When the optical cable is plugged into the tv, does the other end (unplugged at this point) glow red?

Should be a setting on the tv to turn on/off optical or external speakers. Also double check the receiver, is the input selection for that source set to digital audio, hdmi or analog.

 

[alegs34]

Yes, it does glow red.

There is a setting to turn off external speakers, which I've done. Not one to specifically turn on optical.

When I set the input to digital it flashes "UNLOCK" (which I guess means there is no signal) then goes back to analog.

 

[lovinthehd]

No particular ideas but if you post up specific makes/models of all the gear involved then sometimes people can see solutions in the manuals....you have referred to the manuals, right?

 

[highfigh]

Hello all. I am trying to setup my first home theater system and have connected my cable TV box to my TV via HDMI. Unfortunately my stereo receiver does not have an HDMI input (Harmon Kardon AVR 135), so my plan to get high quality audio is to run an optical audio cable from the optical out on my TV to the optical in on the receiver. Does this sound like the right plan?

The issue I'm having is that the receiver does not seem to detect the audio signal. I set the input to the correct optical input and the receiver displays the message "UNLOCK", which I understand means it is not receiving a signal. I have tried using a different TV with an optical out to test whether it was the TV that was not outputting the signal properly and same thing. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this issue?

Thanks for your time!

Look for a setup menu- you probably need to assign the optical inputs to one of the source inputs.

 

[pewternhrata]

What model is the tv? Turn on external speakers.