Audiophile question

ManglerYJ

ManglerYJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Lexington, NC
I have an OLD surround sound receiver that I bought in 2002. It was decent back then, but I had little money, so I got what I could. It's been fine all this time until I decided to ditch the cable box for it. I now have the cable coming directly into the TV as the tuner. Since the only audio output on the TV is Toslink, and my receiver doesn't have a Toslink input (only RCA), I'll have to get an adapter to connect it to Toslink. I'm not opposed to that, but wondering what the thinking is that the receiver I have has a Toslink output, but not an input. Seems to me a "receiver" should have that as an input not an output.

Anyway, is this my only hope? Since the TV has HDMI inputs, I will run one to my Roku box and the other to a Blue Ray player I already have. Unfortunately, all this is sort of for nothing since breaking the Toslink down to RCA will reduce it to an analog signal and am I correct that it will not allow for surround sound at all? Or will the surround processor in the receiver translate the analog signal into at least 5.1? (that's all it has - remember it's old)
 
RCA is a type of jack, one that is used for a variety of signals both digital and analog, audio and video.

Sounds like the TV only has fiber (Toslink) out, but the receiver doesn't have any digital in? Or it has a coaxial (RCA) digital in only?

If the receiver has a digital coaxial in and the TV has a digital fiber out, you can buy a cheap converter to make the connection. And it will still be digital, and it will still have surround. This will work for OTA signals.

However.

The TV *will not* output HDMI signals across ANY digital output channel. This is a legal restriction that was put in place on the HDMI standard. So if you're planning on taking HDMI source from a Roku or Blue-Ray and shipping them through the TV, to fiber, to the receiver, it's not going to work. You'll have to take a digital out from the source device direct to the receiver. Or buy a receiver that supports HDMI connections.
 
I only care about the sound going through the receiver since that's all its capable of. I'd just like the sound coming from the Toslink output to be able to be translated to Surround if that's possible through the RCA input of the receiver. Looks like the adapter and cord can be had for less than $20.
 
Right, just be aware that the receiver isn't going to have sound from the BluRay or the Roku. It's just OTA stuff.
 
shawn said:
Right, just be aware that the receiver isn't going to have sound from the BluRay or the Roku. It's just OTA stuff.
Click to expand...

OK... I was not aware of that. Thanks for the heads up. Fortunately, the Roku box also has RCA jacks, so I can just connect it to the second set of RCA inputs on the receiver. Blu Ray is not as imperative since the receiver has a built in DVD player. My TV maxes out at 720i, so I really don't get the full benefit of the Blu Ray anyway - I was only going to connect it because the HDMI cable makes it a clean install and I already had it sitting around.
 
shawn said:
RCA is a type of jack, one that is used for a variety of signals both digital and analog, audio and video.

.

The TV *will not* output HDMI signals across ANY digital output channel. This is a legal restriction that was put in place on the HDMI standard. So if you're planning on taking HDMI source from a Roku or Blue-Ray and shipping them through the TV, to fiber, to the receiver, it's not going to work. You'll have to take a digital out from the source device direct to the receiver. Or buy a receiver that supports HDMI connections.
Click to expand...

Um, that's EXACTLY how I have my system set up. The TV does the HDMI switching, and the audio is sent via a simple fiber cable to the amp, an older Onkyo unit. This works with everything from OTA to component with analog audio from the Wii to HDMI sources. I'm not saying you're wrong, but something ain't right.
 
I wonder if this is what you are referring to:

"it must not transmit high definition protected video to non-HDCP receivers; and DVD-Audio material can be played only at CD-audio quality"

That is pulled from your article. Perhaps why it still works is that it's pulling CD audio quality instead of something higher. I'd bet if I were trying to pull the video through something similar it would not work.

Catfish, does your receiver output to surround sound?
 
ManglerYJ said:
I wonder if this is what you are referring to:

"it must not transmit high definition protected video to non-HDCP receivers; and DVD-Audio material can be played only at CD-audio quality"

That is pulled from your article. Perhaps why it still works is that it's pulling CD audio quality instead of something higher. I'd bet if I were trying to pull the video through something similar it would not work.

Catfish, does your receiver output to surround sound?
Click to expand...

Correct. So it usually shuts down all the analog outs and severely restricts what comes out of the digital ports. For example, if you're watching a BluRay, DTS audio won't make it from the player, through the TV, to the receiver.

But if the receiver has enough inputs available (and of the correct type), then you could run fiber or coaxial digital from the BluRay to the receiver, HDMI or composite from the BluRay to the TV, and both should work.

With the situation he's got, I would go ahead and drop $20 on the fiber/coaxial converter. It is going to work for a whole lot (if not nearly all) circumstances, but does have the potential for issues when using HD sources that require a protected path (like the BluRay).
 
shawn said:
Correct. So it usually shuts down all the analog outs and severely restricts what comes out of the digital ports. For example, if you're watching a BluRay, DTS audio won't make it from the player, through the TV, to the receiver.

But if the receiver has enough inputs available (and of the correct type), then you could run fiber or coaxial digital from the BluRay to the receiver, HDMI or composite from the BluRay to the TV, and both should work.

With the situation he's got, I would go ahead and drop $20 on the fiber/coaxial converter. It is going to work for a whole lot (if not nearly all) circumstances, but does have the potential for issues when using HD sources that require a protected path (like the BluRay).
Click to expand...


My receiver only has RCA inputs. They are all analog from what I can tell. I'm hoping to use the TV as the switch between the inputs (coax cable connection directly to the back - no cable box), and the two HDMI inputs. I'm trying to use the TV audio out (Toslink) as the source for the receiver through the first audio input. I think that I can then tell the TV to keep a static audio output and use the receiver as the volume control, but if I could use the TV remote as the volume control, I could eliminate a remote for the most part. I don't think this is possible as I'd bet the Toslink is line level output.
 
My apologies to @shawn. I double checked, and I am currently using the stereo analog output from the TV to the receiver. I intended to hook it up via toslink when I moved it a couple years ago, but needed a longer fiber line and never picked it up. Can't remember if it was that way before, or if only the dvd player was connected via fiber. I'm curious now if it would work, but more interested in upgrading the receiver to something with hdmi switching and upconversion. I hate digital copyright laws. They complicate so many otherwise simple things.
 
A receiver from 2002 doesn't have a digital input RCA-type jack? I can't believe it doesn't have the optical (Toslink) but at least a digital RCA jack, it should have.
Brand/Model#?

If you have a digital input jack, there'd be no difference in that and Toslink. Both are simply digital.
 
catfishblues said:
Um, that's EXACTLY how I have my system set up. The TV does the HDMI switching, and the audio is sent via a simple fiber cable to the amp, an older Onkyo unit. This works with everything from OTA to component with analog audio from the Wii to HDMI sources. I'm not saying you're wrong, but something ain't right.
Click to expand...
You're getting digital sound. The only difference in what you could get with HDMI to the receiver is the Lossless audio.

You'll still get DTS from Toslink, just not the lossless, "DTS Master" sound. And there's not a dime's worth of difference in the actual sound quality, from what I can tell, however you might be missing out on some surround codecs that only travel through HDMI.
 
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