Can I switch to a different audio source while keeping my video source on a Yamaha RX-A3010...

Hi,

Up to today, my setup was a venerable Sony STR DE835 front ended by a Monoprice HDMI to HDMI + Toslink switch allowing me to get HDMI to my projector and sound to the receiver, which has good of optical inputs. I picked up today an open box RX-A3010 for $950... It is much more than I wanted to spend on a new AVR but the fact that it seems to do three powered zones seems like a good thing given that I was going to try and find some way to put the Sony into my bedroom closet to get sound there and now can probably simply run cables to speakers and consume less power overall...

One thing that I am extremely reliant on in the Sony is that once you have selected an AV (audio/video) source, you can simply select an A (audio) source and the video comes from the same source while the audio is switched in from the other source. I use this all the time, for example when the kids play Xbox using a wireless headset (off the switch, but now the Xbox) and I listen to music through an Airport Express. With the HDMI switch, where I had a manual switch from its Toslink output to either the receiver or the wireless headset, I could also do the same when they're watching movies off a Mac, and I am cooking and listening to music. I use this ALL THE TIME.

With the Yamaha, if I select AV1 I get audio/video from HDMI and as I switch to AUDIO1 the video is replaced with an image of an instrument. Cute but definitely not helpful if the AV1 was the Xbox... A quick search in the manual shows that I can set the Yamaha to ALWAYS prefer some other audio than HDMI but that's not what I want. I want to simply be able to say "keep the video, but sub in some different audio now." This is all in the same zone.

Is that possible? How? If not, this AVR may have to go back (at least then I won't have to cut the back of my cabinet to make it fit ). Then, what comparable AVR will be able to do what I want? It's a bit like Denon's "Video Select" but the other way around (though the Denon feature would work I am sure... as well as running multiple HDMI cables to my projector or using a switch and running optical/coax to the receiver, but such outputs are disappearing quickly on new players etc.).

Thanks!

EDIT: I have found (p. 105 of the manual) that if I move my Airplay to MULTI CH, then I can set Video Out for that input to be AV1 (or any other AV). But this does not solve the "switch audio while watching any AV source" (e.g. TV or movie from my Mac) and also it forces analog output so no multi channel audio from the Mac, or buying an external decoder just to feed to MULTI CH which seems silly (not that I have any now, but who knows, it'd be nice for classical music). There's got to be an easier way? It was trivial to do in a 1999 receiver!
Edited by Dr. Crash - 10/7/12 at 2:22am

Thanks for the response. While I understand your "single switch" explanation, I see that the Yamaha will let me pick an HDMI video with a different audio if and only if the audio is the "source." And that's not very well implemented either for my use case. In addition to HDMI (well, HDCP's) tight control of video+audio, it seems like what I want to do simply is not mainstream and therefore not thought out as a feature. It used to work "out of the box" ten years ago because receivers were built as you say, but now that they are not, I seem to be one of the few who care about this...

So I thought I could use my existing HDMI "solution" which is a Monoprice switch (since my Sony receiver doesn't have HDMI) going straight to my projector, and with optical audio (off the HDMI) going to the receiver. But I am now starting to realize that this probably would make a modern receiver (I now have the Yamaha and a Denon 2112 to compare with) difficult to use. For example, it seems that Internet radio on the Denon is useless without the UI. So I would need a matrix HDMI switch, and put one output on the projector, and one on the receiver (and then back onto the projector's second HDMI input) just so I can see the receiver's UI at times, and have video and audio separate at other times? Am I crazy? Is that the only option there (well, besides giving up or living with limitations )

I am not too worried about things like settings for different sources (e.g. "game" sound for Xbox vs something else for movies) because I'll be using Roomie Remote so I can put those into the activity changes.

HDMI is not helping me at all here...

I'd need the switch if I wanted the UI to overlay my son's Xbox. But you're right, I didn't think of just switching to an empty input.

I am aware of the multi-channel limitation... Thankfully all my music is 2 channel so I can plug my Airport Express as MULTI-CH. Of course (who designs those things?!) when in MULTI-CH the music DSP effects are not available. But I can live with that even if it does not make sense to me. And we'd live with the UI showing up on top of the video whenever I start the audio MULTI-CH.

I also picked up a Denon 2112 (though the least I'd need would be the 2312---it's coming; and I'm sure I'll miss the Yamaha's ability to switch from 7.1 to 5.1 + 2 without rewiring---but if I can drop my spend to <$500 vs ~$1,000 I can spend that money on my planned Mac mini!). The Denon won't switch HDMI video over an alternate audio at all (aaaaaaargh!). I'm on my way to buy an Xbox component cable and see if that would work: Xbox component + Xbox TOSlink audio -> HDMI output to projector + sound. If that does, I should be able to tell the Denon to use the component as video for its Airplay source (where my music comes from). I'll just give up on the kids watching a movie with headset while I listen to radio (since the movie will be an HDMI source). I'll report on the Denon's ability to do what I want with components.

And/or I'll just wire my kitchen as a zone 2 or 3, and have lesser quality music there biut at least music.

I thought about that :-) I would lose the GUI but maybe that's not too bad of a deal. I also picked up a Denon to see if it would do it better and I found a way with it...

Since you have both an RX-A3000 and an RX-A800 may I ask a question about that? Besides features like amps and power, do you find a big difference between them? I can get a Yamaha 3010 for $1160, a 2010 for $960 and I am assuming a 1010 for, say, another $200 less. The YPAOs vary slightly between them: the 1010 has mutipoint YPAO; the 2010 adds RSC (Reflected Sound Control); the 3010 adds Angle Measurement. Are those by themselves worth $200 each time? (Your A800 may not have multipoint, but maybe you've tried a lot of the Yamahas...)