Hello,

I've owned a JVC RX-8000V DTS 5.1 receiver for several years now and I have always used it with 1 digital connection, through a co-ax cable. In college, I had it hooked up to my computer with a Philips 5.1 PCI audio card, and when I moved into an apartment I hooked it up to my Toshiba DVD player. I just bought a Pioneer PDP-5080HD TV and it has an optical port. I also recently purchased an XBox 360, and in order to get the 5.1 surround capability out of it, you have to run an optical out from the component HD cables that are included with it.

The DVD player also offers an optical out, but I never had a need for it. With the new TV, I have the DVD player hooked up by HDMI, but the audio is still run to the digital co-ax input on the receiver. Here are my questions:

1) My receiver only has 1 optical input port and 1 digital co-ax input, but I want to simplify my connections. Since the TV, DVD player, and XBox 360 all have optical audio outputs, how do I connect them to the receiver in this manner?

2) The DVD player is run over HDMI to the TV. I thought this connection carries the audio as well as the video? If I just run this cable to the TV, and then the optical audio from the TV to the receiver, will that work for both "TV-audio" and "DVD-audio" output?

3) Add the XBox 360 to the above scenario. Can I only have 1 optical input to the receiver? Do I have to choose between the 360 and the DVD player?

Is there any hope to untangle this mess? Thanks for the help in advance, I really appreciate the insight you can provide, I don't know much about cabling these things, as I just recently got some added hi-def equipment! I'd like to get an optical cable or two, but before I start messing around, I thought someone would know the answer, as I'm sure I'm not the 1st person to attempt this...

Doc, you have a few different options. First, you are right that, in theory, HDMI can pass audio to the TV. Now, some tv's will then allow you to pass a Dolby Digital signal back through the optical output. Mine (a Panasonic) doesn't do that, it converts it to stereo. Even if it does pass the signal correctly, you are right that it doesn't completely solve your problem. Basically, if you are planning to keep using this receiver, you will probably need a switch like this one (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=2946&seq=1&format=2&style=) from monoprice. Unfortunately, it is a manual switch, meaning you'll have to change it by hand when you want to use the different sources. I don't know if there are automatic or remote-controlled switches out there, but there might be. One other option, if your tv will actually pass the HDMI audio signal through, is to convert its optical signal to a digital coax signal using something like this (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=2948&seq=1&format=2&style=). That would allow you to run the TV's audio and the DVD's audio into the coax, and the Xbox into the optical. The advantage of that would be that you wouldn't need to get up and flip a switch--but of course, you need to check and see if your TV will pass the signal through or not. Anyway, I hope I've been clear on this, if you still have questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks for the reply. The manual option is a bit obtrusive for me. Not that I'm lazy, it just seems to defeat the purpose! Are there other receivers that provide a significant number of optical inputs? I guess mine only has one...

A lot of newer receivers have more inputs. Your budget is going to be the biggest factor in the kind of receiver you buy.

I'd like to stick with the receiver I have since it's been going strong for over 6 years now. I don't want to spend a lot on more home theater at this point, since I've only got a small apartment.

I think the best option is to run the XBox 360 into the optical port (for 5.1 surround function to work) and then just use the digitial co-ax for the DVD player, since that will still allow 5.1 and DTS functions to work. That will be the simplest. Thanks for the advice folks!

Doc, I completely understand your desire not to use a manual switch, I wouldn't either. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a remote-controlled switch available somewhere, but I just tried to find an example. If you search more deeply, you might be able to find something. Like I said before though, if your TV will pass the surround signal through, then the converter will work for your current setup. As for receiver options--yes, there are quite a few options that offer more digital inputs--I know mine offers 3 optical and 2 coax, and I think that's relatively common on most receivers now. The cheapest solution will be a switcher or converter though. good luck!

Thanks again for the info and replies, I appreciate it!

Well, I guess I was wrong, there are actually three optical inputs on my receiver! I always assumed there was only one, since I never used it. But I forgot about those little black plugs that covered the other two!

Looks like I'll be able to hook everything up. I've got to see what the TV outputs for optical. Is optical inherently 5.1 capable or does it depend on the source (would the Pioneer have to support 5.1 and DTS decoding)?

If optical is inherently DTS 5.1 capable, then I'm just leave the HDMI connection to the TV and run one optical audio from the TV to the receiver. Then I'll run one optical audio from the XBox 360 to the receiver and call it a day! 2 cables for 2 digital surround sound sources and I'm happy!

Optical doesn't really care about what codec it's carrying, it's just a method of signal transfer. The only reason that optical can't carry the new high-definition formats is that the signals are too big to be carried in the "pipe". Chances are that your TV won't output DD or DTS, and will downconvert to stereo PCM--but you never know. Now, I'm not completely sure whether the TV would actually have to support those codecs in order to pass it through its output--theoretically it could just pass it through directly...but it would probably decode it. I think your best bet is just to run straight into your receiver. That's great news about finding you have additional optical inputs though!

Without any knowledge about more 'modern' receivers, I'm guessing they actually have HDMI inputs to support the higher bitrate of information? Then I'm guessing the TV would have enough of a pipe to send through any source info in the high-def and multi-channel audio to the receiver!

I don't know if I'm understanding you correctly, or not, so if I say something that seems weird, just ignore it :) Anyway, you're right that HDMI has more bandwith to carry the higher bitrate signals (think about it, it can carry 1080p and these lossless codecs!), and optical can carry DD and DTS, but that's about it for surround codecs. I think most TV manufacturers don't include HDMI output and support for passing through audio codecs, because they assume that you'll hook stuff into a receiver first. I think the reason they include an optical output at all is because over-the-air HD comes directly into the TV. Since HDTV is encoded in DD, the optical input can send it out to the receiver. Anyway, I guess what i'm trying to say is that, yes the newest receivers support HDMI and support the high definition audio, but I doubt most TV's do, or will. I think the best way to hook things up (and the intended way) is to run it right to the receiver. There's almost always more than one way to skin a cat though :)

Thanks for the info. I'm not extremely well-versed in these things, so I'm assuming you know more than I do!