Satellite Audio to AVR Connection?

[Mr._Clark]

My TV and AV receiver are in two separate built in cabinets, and it is very difficult to run new cables between the two cabinets (the cables go around in back of a brick fireplace via a very tortured route). The two cabinets are presently connected through the wall by one HDMI line and a pair of RCA lines.

Background: Prior to recently switching to satellite, there was a cable box in the TV cabinet and one HDMI line running directly from the cable box to one of the HDMI inputs on the TV. RCA audio lines ran from the cable box in the TV cabinet to the inputs on the AV unit (a Marantz SR6006) in the AV cabinet. A Blu Ray player in the AV cabinet is connected to the AV unit, and the HDMI line runs from the AV output to the other TV HDMI input. This worked OK.

I now have a satellite box in the TV cabinet, but it does not have RCA audio outputs, only a digital (orange) output. What are my options for getting the audio to the AV receiver short of running new lines through the wall? I bought a Coax digital-to-analog converter and hooked it up to the digital satellite output and to the same coaxial cables that I were previously connected to the cable box. However, I am not getting any audio from the AV receiver, and I'm not sure why. Is there some reason this would not work?

I had thought about splitting the HDMI signal from the satellite box and running one leg to the TV input and the other leg to the AV receiver through the one HDMI line in the wall. However, this would not allow the HDMI line to run the video from the Blu Ray player to the TV.

Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and try to run a second HDMI line or a digital audio line from the TV cabinet to the AV cabinet? It seems to me that it might also be possible to use the RCA lines to pull a coax line from the TV cabinet to the AV cabinet so I can move the satellite box to the AV cabinet. I could run the satellite and Blu Ray inputs into the AV unit, and run all video from the AV unit to the TV through the one existing HDMI line.

I will probably switch to 4K within the next year or so, and this will of course create additional issues.

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

a) HDMI does carry digital audio - you might not need anything else.
Check your new SAT box settings and make sure it set to send audio using hdmi.

 

[Mr._Clark]

a) HDMI does carry digital audio - you might not need anything else.
Check your new SAT box settings and make sure it set to send audio using hdmi.

Thanks, but I'm not sure how to make it work with only one HDMI line running between the TV cabinet and the AV cabinet? Perhaps I'm missing something.

The system I described in my first post is my upstairs system. I have another system downstairs that is almost identical, except that in the downstairs system the satellite box, AV unit, and Blu Ray player are all in the same cabinet. This works fine. The satellite box HDMI output is connected to an input on the AV unit by an HDMI line. The Blu Ray player is connected to a different input on the AV unit by an HDMI line. The AV output is connected to the TV by an HDMI line. Everything is hunky-dory. I just select the input I want on the AV unit (satellite or Blu Ray) and I get surround sound and the TV gets a video signal from the AV unit.

The big problem in the upstairs system is that the satellite box is in the same cabinet as the TV, not in the cabinet with the AV unit and Blu Ray player. If I run the one HDMI line from the satellite box in the TV cabinet to the AV unit in the AV cabinet, this will give me surround sound, but I then have no HDMI line to plug into the TV for video. If the HDMI line out of the satellite box could be split, then one leg could go to the HDMI input on the TV and the other to the AV unit. This should give me audio and video when watching satellite. However, how do I then get video from the Blu Ray player in the AV cabinet to the TV in the TV cabinet? The one HDMI line running between the two cabinets would already be connected to the HDMI splitter in the TV cabinet, not to the HDMI port on the TV. I don't see how that could work unless the splitter had some sort of a switch that would allow one to pass the signal from the AV HDMI port to the TV HDMI port?

I'm not familiar with 2-way HDMI. Would it be possible to run the HDMI line directly from the satellite box to the 1st HDMI port on the TV, then run another HDMI line from the 2nd HDMI port on the TV to an HDMI input on the AV unit? For satellite TV, would the TV pick up the video signal and pass the audio signal to the AV receiver out through the 2nd HDMI port on the TV? Then, when watching Blu Rays, would the audio and video from the AV unit feed video into the 2nd HDMI port of the TV?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Ah, I see what you mean now. Sorry, I missed crucial detail that sat box is in TV cabinet and avr and bd in the other.

You should be able to use existing rca cable (you should hope that it's shielded cable type) and connect it to orange plug on sat box and "digital audio in/aka another orange rca port" on the receiver.

 

[TLS Guy]

I think you need a better cable routing plan. That is insane and will drive you nuts, if you aren't already.

Service accessibility is a sine qua none of a good performing quality installation.

You need to undo your serious installation errors as over time this system will become a useless burden if you don't correct this.

I'm sorry but there is just no excuse to design something as unhandy as that.

 

[Mr._Clark]

I think you need a better cable routing plan. That is insane and will drive you nuts, if you aren't already.

Service accessibility is a sine qua none of a good performing quality installation.

You need to undo your serious installation errors as over time this system will become a useless burden if you don't correct this.

I'm sorry but there is just no excuse to design something as unhandy as that.

It is a huge pain, but it was that way when I bought the house.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Ah, I see what you mean now. Sorry, I missed crucial detail that sat box is in TV cabinet and avr and bd in the other.

You should be able to use existing rca cable (you should hope that it's shielded cable type) and connect it to orange plug on sat box and "digital audio in/aka another orange rca port" on the receiver.

BSA, thanks, it seems to be working. The guy who installed the satellite dish said I'd need a Coax digital-to-analog converter, and it didn't occur to me to just use one of the RCA lines.