HDMI Receiver that will allow different audio and video sources

You usually can't do this with two digital sources, but there are workarounds -- for example, you can plug your CD player into "DVD" with analog connectors and assign HDMI 1 (or whatever your cable box is set to) to DVD. Then set it to use analog audio and hdmi video.

This might or might not work, depending on your system and whether it will allow you to assign the same HDMI input to more than one source.

All Denon AVRs can do this, although the caviat is it won't work with two HDMI sources, rather either (1) the TV can be HDMI but the audio source must be either digital optical/coax or analog, or (2) the video source must be analog to select it from any audio source (feature called Video Select).

I have an Integra DTR 5.9 that will do this but my Onkyo TX-SR806 will not. Go figure.

The answer as you said is to run the video sources directly to the TV. You can run the more advanced audio codecs to your receiver by buying a BluRay player with dual HDMI outputs.

I have my video sources going to the TV, and only audio sources go to the AVR. Very simple and logical.

DelJ

As indicted, its a common feature in the analog domain as it is basically some "physical switching"... but in the HDMI domain, you need to be running two sets of decoding systems to bring the signals "down" so that you can swap them. In most if not all cases, that ain't going to happen at this point in time. One of the reasons to keep an old amp around.... feeding it analog outs from bluray sources and hdmi video to displays. Works great and in the denon case (and others) allows you to "mix and match" audio when you add an external hdmi switch for your other "stuff".

What do you wish to use as the music source?

The answer will determine which workaround to use...

It doesn't. DirecTV box doesnt do high definition audio so the optical will be just as good as HDMI for audio.

As long as the audio source is only an audio source (such as CD, Tape or Radio) and not an audio+video source (such as DVD, TV or Game), most receivers should be able to do this simply by selecting your desired video source to get it on the display and then switching the receiver to the audio-only source. As the newly selected audio source doesn't include a video signal, the receiver should leave the previous video source displayed, even if the video source is HDMI.

At least, that's how my Onkyo works.

That's how Yamahas used to work too, but not any more. With recent models when you switch to an audio-only source it also switches the video — to a blank screen! Don't know why they do that.

On a positive note, this arrangement should clean up any lip sync problems attributed to the TV video processing.

DelJ

Well, that's disappointing, but good to know. It's weird that they would break such a simple but oh so useful feature. But that's Yamaha for you.

For someone receiver shopping, this should be an easy capability to verify in a store, so long as the receiver is hooked up to a working display. Just hit the CD input and see if the picture stays on the screen.

I'm pretty sure the HK AVR 2600 allows you to select independent audio and video inputs for each "source" and allows you to re-use inputs for multiple sources (e.g. Source1 could be set to have HDMI1 for both audio and video inputs and Source2 could be set to have Optical1 for audio and HDMI1 for video). I really liked the flexibility of input setup but didn't keep it for other reasons.

The Cambridge Audio Azur 650R AV Receiver Tech Specs include a feature labeled/described "Audio split mode - Watch and listen to different sources".

This question is EXACTLY the same thing I have been wondering, as there are many times I like to have video on the TV in the background while listening to a variety of other audio sources, and if I see something on the TV that sparks my interest I can always switch the receiver back over to the video sound. I am really surprised no one else asked about this- I can't believe it's something a lot of other folks haven't thought about. In the old days before the advent of HDMI, the simple solution as stated in this thread was to run video sources directly to the TV and keep audio separate into the receiver. When your tube TV was on a stand this wasn't a big deal. But now lots of folks have flat panel HDTVs hanging on the wall making this solution much more difficult. The obvious solution here is to buy a separate HDMI switcher--but then what's the point of an HDMI receiver?? The only other reason to have one is to listen to hi def surround passed through HDMI -- but you could simply buy an older cheaper model with 7.1 inputs and let your blu ray player decode these signals and pass them via analog to the receiver. It seems like by eliminating one problem receiver manufacturers have created an entirely new one!

my recommendation is to connect the cable/sat box directly to the TV for video and be done with it. Then you can listen to ANY audio source you want while watching the game or whatever on TV.

for these types of "audio/video mix" situations, 99% of the time somebody wants to be able to watch TV with different audio. This solution is perfect for that, since there is really only ONE video source that you want to access and "combine" with a separate audio source.

It's not only Yamaha as my Denon 791 (and probably my Onkyo 608) also show a blank screen. Major oversight as I like listening to music from my PC while playing games and have no ARC on my TV so can't go directly to it.

You're responding to a post that is over a year old ....

And if you connect your xBox to the 791 with component cables you can then listen to non HDMI PC audio using the Video Select feature to select the xBox component source input.

Probably the year-old part renders this discussion moot, but fwiw ... on my Yamaha RX-V667 this is easy to do.

While watching TV (uVerse HDMI to AVR), I set the audio input setting on the TV source to CD (or whatever else). Switching back and forth to listen to CD/TV requires a couple button presses and is therefore mildly inconvenient, but it's not difficult.

I know that. I don't think my receiver has the 'Video Select' feature. I figured out a workaround with HDMI video from the Xbox to use analog audio from the PC but it requires switching input mode which is a pain.

^^
Yes ... it does (p. 45), in fact every Denon AVR going back at least 5 years has it.

Have there been any advances in this topic since the last post? I'm still looking for a receiver that can do this with two HDMI sources.

Thanks!

^^^

nope.... very unlikely there will ever be one, either...

Some of the higher end receivers with matrix HDMI switches the are coming out this year should be able to sort of do this. It may not be that all the convienient to use depending on how exactly it gets implemented by the manufacturers. It looks like you'd have to connect your TV using a zone HDMI out, meaning you can select an HDMI video source indpendently from an HDMI audio source, but you'd always have to do this. Even when you want to listen to video and audio from the same HDMI source you'd need to select the source both in the main zone that the speakers use and in the other zone used to connect the TV.

I think the already released Denon AVR-3313CI works this way. It would probably be more conveinient to use additional analogue cables as suggested in this thread as a work around if you're not normally going to want to watch video and listen to audio from different soruces.

I've been looking for this exact answer to this question. I have a Marantz SR5005 and I was planning on playing cd's from a Blu Ray player and having video from a WDTV Live, planning on having a cocktail party. According to Marantz this can't be done with only HDMI connections, I am surprised this would be so difficult to have as a function

Great suggestion Is it not possible to program your receiver's remote to automatically switch to correct HDMI zone 1 source in conjunction with Zone 2 for various settings?

Perhaps something like a logitech Harmony might make things easier.

Hi pltan75. one way is connect an extra cable from Blu Ray player to same input name as WDTV Live.
example:
WDTV - HDMI-2 (DVD)
BluRay - HDMI-1 (BD)
BluRay - OPT-1 (DVD)
then use the A/D button to cycle to "Digital" (this work with RCA red & white cables as well connected to "DVD" audio input - cycle to "Analog")