I have a Mitsubishi WD-82837 with DirecTV HR-21 (HDMI), PS3 (HDMI), Wii (Component), Vudu (HDMI). I also have a Sony DA STR3100 receiver. The PS3 and DirecTV are set up for digital optical and the Wii I have output from the TV using digital coaxial to the receiver.

For some reason when I am watching the DirecTV and switch the receiver input to the digital coax, I don't get digital 5.1. I also don't get digital 5.1 from the Vudu player. So the problem is the digital coax input into the receiver isn't being fed as 5.1 digital. What can I do to fix this?

I have a Mitsubishi WD-82837 with DirecTV HR-21 (HDMI), PS3 (HDMI), Wii (Component), Vudu (HDMI). I also have a Sony DA STR3100 receiver. The PS3 and DirecTV are set up for digital optical and the Wii I have output from the TV using digital coaxial to the receiver.

For some reason when I am watching the DirecTV and switch the receiver input to the digital coax, I don't get digital 5.1. I also don't get digital 5.1 from the Vudu player. So the problem is the digital coax input into the receiver isn't being fed as 5.1 digital. What can I do to fix this?Optical is different from digital coax. And you are most likely not going to get 5.1 from the TV's optical output but with the Wii that may not matter.

Can your receiver do audio via HDMI or not? If so, why aren't you using HDMI for the audio for as many devices as possible?

edit: Nevermind on the last questions. I see that it is not HDMI.

It's probably not the coax input on your AVR. It's the TV's digital output. Very few TVs pass encoded 5.1 from external sources such as a disc player or game console. They only output DD 5.1 from their own internal tuners.

So I guess the only way to get DD 5.1 from my Vudu box is to go out and buy another digital optical cable.

So I guess the only way to get DD 5.1 from my Vudu box is to go out and buy another digital optical cable.Right. Or you can use a digital coax connection if your DTV or Vudu have a digital coax output (I don't think the PS3 does). Do you have a piece of RCA cable that is 75ohm? A yellow-ended video cable is usually 75ohm and should work fine.

Unless your TV can pass-through 5.1 audio, you need a digital audio connection directly to the receiver from every device that you want to get 5.1 sound from. I do not know if Wii games are true 5.1 soundtracks or not.