My WD HDTV is attached to my receiver - Onkyo TX SR 875 through a HDMI cable and an optical cable. The receiver is connected to my TV through a HDMI cable.

I read a few threads that stated it was better to connect audio through the optical cable to the receiver and not use the HDMI. But my receiver will take audio only from HDMI if the video connection is through HDMI. The only option is to connect the HDMI to the TV and optical to the receiver.

My question is - with all these firmware fixes, is there still a need to connect the optical out to the receiver or will the HDMI do just fine?

It's prerelease firmware so if you could try it and let us know the results that would be great.

-Mod

Just connect the HDMI to the receiver as long as it can decode DTS and AC3 itself. The WD-TV will bitstream the audio to it if you set it to digital in the settings. I have a Onkyo 706 and it works great.

I read a few threads that stated it was better to connect audio through the optical cable to the receiver and not use the HDMI. But my receiver will take audio only from HDMI if the video connection is through HDMI. The only option is to connect the HDMI to the TV and optical to the receiver.

Why should that be the case? That makes no sense whatsoever.

Just use the HDMI connection for both, audio and video. You do not need the additional optical connection, that's a waste. Your Onkyo receiver can handle both DTS and AC3 just fine, and the WD TV-HD will bitstream them over HDMI with no problems.

Maybe it was in relation to a discussion that the WD HDTV was HDMI 1.2 and not 1.3.

But so far, havent seen any issue using just the HDMI - but wanted to check.

I think I'm having similar issues . . .

I recently purchased a WD HD Mediaplayer. Hooked it up via HDMI to a Panasonic 32-inch LCD TV (720p), model TC-32LX700 (great TV, by the way.)

I found out that the WD box doesn't decode DTS. Some of my files (mostly mkv format, 1080p or 720p) use DTS audio with no AC3 track. So I picked up a Sony DTS receiver (STR-DG520) and it seems to do stereo/Dolby/AC3 sound alright, but I'm not sure about DTS, although it says it can do it. So I grabbed a Monster optical audio cable and ran it from the WD Box to the receiver. Tried to play a DTS audio movie, and no sound, but the receiver did say DTS 5.1 or something in the readout.

Possibly a:

1) Connection problem with the optical cable

2) Settings issue with the receiver

3) Settings issue with the TV.

4) Issue with the movie file.

The movie file plays fine on my computer using VLC player.

I've tried different connections with the optical cable. The TV has an optical port, the WD box has one, and the receiver has one as well. I'd appreciate some advice on how to connect the optical cable., I assume it goes from the WD Box to the receiver.

Not sure what to make of the receiver settings. The sound seems to work. I've got the A.F.D on Auto.

As for the WD Box, if I set the audio to Digital, there is no sound. If it is set to stereo, I get sound in all my AC3 files, except for the DTS one.

Please note, I'm using my TVs built-in speakers. This might have some bearing on the problem, I don't know. I have the TV Audio set to Auto. Setting it to Digital didn't help. Also, I've got the WD Box connected to the BD-IN port on the receiver, not the DVD port. I don't even think it worked in the DVD port.

I'd appreciate any help. Perhaps starting with how to connect the optical audio cable.

Thank you!

According to the specs, the Sony STR-DG520 does support DTS decoding. You need to connect the WD TV-HD via optical to the Sony receiver, since apparently, the receiver does not handle audio over HDMI ports (it basically just has an integrated HDMI swtich), and via HDMI to your Panasonic TV.
Then, you need to choose 'digital' in the WD TV-HD audio settings, not 'stereo'!

It should work.

P.S.: Just had an idea. Maybe the receiver does not support DTS at the highest (lossy) bitrate of 1536Kbps, introduced with Blu-Ray and HDDVD? Should you still not hear any sound on those DTS .mkvs (which likely have a 1536Kbps DTS stream) after doing what I described above, you could try a 768Kbps DTS file. e.g. a DTS DVD. If that works, it's a limitation of your receiver.

More about that in this thread: http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=483.0

Thanks for the idea, high!

But . . .

Those connections are already in place. The WD box is connected via HDMI and Optical to the receiver, and Digital has been selected in the WD settings screen.

Both files I'm trying to play are DTS 5.1 768Kbps, in an mkv container.

Just optical to the receiver is enough. Try optical to the receiver, and HDMI directly to your TV (your receiver can not handle audio via HDMI anyway).

Just optical to the receiver is enough. Try optical to the receiver, and HDMI directly to your TV (your receiver can not handle audio via HDMI anyway).

HDMI directly to my TV from . . .? The WD Box?

Still nothing.

Thanks for trying, high.

Yes, directly to the TV from your WD TV-HD. WD TV-HD <---> receiver (optical), WD TV-HD <----> TV (HDMI).

This is very odd, it definitely should work. Are you sure you haven't overlooked something? e.g. choosing the right input, if not done automatically by your receiver? Happened to the best of us.

Yes, directly to the TV from your WD TV-HD. WD TV-HD <---> receiver (optical), WD TV-HD <----> TV (HDMI).

This is very odd, it definitely should work. Are you sure you haven't overlooked something? e.g. choosing the right input, if not done automatically by your receiver? Happened to the best of us.

That didn't work, either.

What gets me is that when connected "normally", that is, TV in to the receiver, WD Box into the Receiver, and Optical running from the WD Box into the receiver . . . the receiver readout shows that it's decoding DTS, it recognizes the signal and I assume it's processing it. It just doesn't play through my TV's speakers. In the absence of any external speakers, it should default to my TV's speakers. That's how it's supposed to work in general.

I'm not sure if it's possible that my TV's speakers somehow can't output DTS. I mean, this 720p Panasonic LCD is still among the best out there, bought in May 2007. And it was one of the more expensive models of its kind at the time.

I'm inclined at this point to believe that the problem has to do with the way the movie file was encoded. Except that it's encoded in regular, 768kbps DTS. And so is another one that won't play.

I'm inclined to return the receiver, but it makes no sense that this model shouldn't normally output DTS. And I only bought it for its DTS decoding capabilities, happy that it was an affordable solution.

Perhaps it only likes a certain kind of DTS? Is there even such a thing?

Now I understand what your problem is. If you want to hear the sound through your stereo TV speakers, the DTS stream needs to be decoded and downmixed to stereo, something the WD TV-HD can't do. Your receiver should be able to do it, but you have to understand that those HDMI ports your receiver has are 'dumb' ports -> it's just a simple HDMI switch, your receiver does not decode (or scale) audio and video streams sent to it via HDMI at all, it just passes through what the WD TV-HD sents to it via HDMI. And your TV obviously can't decode DTS either, no TV I know of can, including your Panasonic.

I assumed that you had speakers connected to your receiver, just like every user normally has. You need speakers to hear the DTS sound in your setup, your TV speakers will not do, for the reasons explained.

P.S.: What you could try to do is to connect the analogue output (RCA) of your receiver to the analogue input of your TV, if available, in addition to your current setup that is (WDTV <--> receiver (optical), WDTV <--> TV (HDMI), receiver <---> TV (RCA). Your receiver should decode the DTS stream, downmix it to stereo and send it to the TV via analogue out.

Remember that this is nowhere near the experience you will get from true multi-channel DTS sound over multiple speakers connected to your receiver though.

high:

You sir, are golden.

Makes perfect sense. The solution is to invest in some external speakers to get true DTS output, not something downmixed to stereo. And as you said, the other option is indeed to go the analogue route. I might just do that as a temporary measure until I get externals.

Thank you! Now I not only have the answer, but I feel much better about my nice (though somewhat odd) little receiver.

;)

You are welcome, glad I could help. :)

high:

You sir, are golden.

Makes perfect sense. The solution is to invest in some external speakers to get true DTS output, not something downmixed to stereo. And as you said, the other option is indeed to go the analogue route. I might just do that as a temporary measure until I get externals.

Thank you! Now I not only have the answer, but I feel much better about my nice (though somewhat odd) little receiver.

;)

you might find that your receiver won't downmix multichannel digital to stereo rca analog. in this case, use the receiver headphone jack.

this may sound a bit odd but i have a small tv in the theater room on a side wall. the easiest way to downmix to use the tv speakers without changing any settings is to plug the tv into the headphone jack.

you might find that your receiver won't downmix multichannel digital to stereo rca analog. in this case, use the receiver headphone jack.

this may sound a bit odd but i have a small tv in the theater room on a side wall. the easiest way to downmix to use the tv speakers without changing any settings is to plug the tv into the headphone jack.

Right, it won't downmix. Which is really no problem. I'l just invest in some speakers. I will try the headphone jack, however. ;)