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Broken Optical Port, please help

post #1 of 23
1/8/13 at 12:49am
Thread Starter 
Dear All,

It's my 1st post here.

4 years ago I have bought a Samsung HT-X715 audio home system.

while playing DVDs the system froze randomly so I sent it back a couple of times, until finally it was working again.

However I noticed the exterior was now scratched, I didn't want to make an issue out of it as I was happy the drive was finally working again.

4 years later, I am planning to buy a Blu-Ray player and want to make use of my home theater, my only option, as it seems, is to use optical port as the HT-X715 has only one HDMI port.

I looked at the optical port and was surprised to see it broke, inside you can see some kind of spring hanging out.

It seems I received a completely diefferent unit back then.

My question is for the technical people who know the subject or have tried replacing optical ports before, can I unsolder the broken optical port and replace it? will any optical port work?

I appreciate your advice,

Regards.
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post #2 of 23
1/8/13 at 2:48am
You may also want to consider using a 4:1 HDMI switch.
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post #3 of 23
1/8/13 at 6:05am
Thread Starter 
Hi I thank you for your reply.

Is this a reliable solution without sacrificing any quality and such?

can you elaborate a bit?

Thanks again.
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post #4 of 23
1/8/13 at 6:18am
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=4088&seq=1&format=2

Plug the switcher into your single HDMI port and you've got a four port expansion. Now, you don't have to bother dinking around with the optical port.

I've got a few of these. They work great.
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post #5 of 23
1/8/13 at 7:08am
Thread Starter 
come to think about isn't the HDMI port on the home theater an HDMI out port. or is the HDMI port in/out in the same time based on how you connect it?
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post #6 of 23
1/8/13 at 10:41am
If your home theater system only has one HDMI jack then it only has an HDMI out jack. To connect a Blu-Ray player using HDMI you need a home theater system with at least two HDMI jacks, one HDMI in and one HDMI out. You also need to connect your the home theater system to your TV using HDMI.

Have you tried using the optical port? From your description, it's possible only the protective flap that keeps dust out is broken.
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post #7 of 23
1/8/13 at 10:53pm
Thread Starter 


Instead of the red center visible in the enclosed image, mine shows a spring hanging out.

I will take a photo tonight and post it.

Thanks again.
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post #8 of 23
1/8/13 at 11:45pm
Thread Starter 


This is how I see my setting should be connected, I can't think of any other option.

Note that the blu-ray player visible in the design is the Panasonic DMP-BDT220, which I still haven't acquired. the rest is already at hand.
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post #9 of 23
1/8/13 at 11:52pm
fuseless

Where are you located?
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post #10 of 23
1/9/13 at 12:16am
Thread Starter 
Lebanon, Middle East...
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post #11 of 23
1/9/13 at 12:48am
Sounds like you're in a bit of a jam.

According to this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/544411-REG/Samsung_HT_X715T_XAA_HT_X715T_5_1_Channel_Home_Theater.html you have no HDMI input. This receiver can only accept 480 i/p (non high definition) and scale it to 1080p and send it out its HDMI port.

So your best connection would be to send HDMI out from the bluray player directly to your display and as you originally asked, optical out (toslink) from the BluRay player to the receiver.....provided you can get the optical port repaired.

Just a thought....contact Samsung and explain to them that they send you a refurb that had a damaged optical port. Who knows, maybe they'll work something out with you.

An additional consideration......this receiver doesn't decode any of the high definition audio formats nor does optical input have the bandwidth to transfer it. In many cases, I can't tell a lot of difference with content that does have it so it may not matter. It may just be time to find another receiver.
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post #12 of 23
1/9/13 at 6:43am
Thread Starter 
Hi Jimp,

I thank you for the very valuable information.

I have bought the unit through a reseller and that reseller has been bought and dissolved so chances I won't be able to make myself heard 4 years later.

I will pass by the local samsung agents however and see what they could do, if they caould change the port it probably won't cost much.

However your last lines are troubling.When you say it can't decode the HD audio formats, what does it do with them???? I currently can't afford professional grade surround systems. Was planning on getting a good entry level Blu-ray player (Panasonic DMP-BDT220 maybe?!?) and using my existing surround system. I believe a decent new system is in the 500$ range?!?
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post #13 of 23
1/9/13 at 7:42am
I think that most BluRay players have an option that will downmix the high resolution audio to a format that the receiver can play. Also, many disc have an option for dolby digital or DTS in the disc's audio menu. You'll be fine in this area.

Don't know if you're referring to the BluRay player or the receiver that's $500. Seems that both can each be had for less over here but european prices are usually higher. Then you've got in some countries a value added tax. Then you've got the isue with differences in models and specifications.
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post #14 of 23
1/9/13 at 7:43am
Thread Starter 


Ok finally took a photo of the port. Here goes.

The port looks really messed up to me. The spring thing seems to be coming from the broken door, but regardless, the port itself seems well played with, never seen another similar port so i leave it to you guys.

Thanks.
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post #15 of 23
1/9/13 at 9:12am
Thread Starter 
I was looking to pay something around 200~300$.

For a blu ray this makes sense since entry level blu ray players seem to give good quality (I appreciate your advice on this matter should you have any).

For a home theater however prices are high (also appreciate any advice that you may have).

Is this a normal looking optical port?? (earlier thread)

Thanks.
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post #16 of 23
1/9/13 at 2:14pm
I wish I knew more about the items you mentioned but my knowledge is somewhat limited to two BluRay players ( Pioneer 51 and Oppo 95) and only my current preamp (Marantz 8801).

I'm sure there are receivers and BluRay players that meet your requirements. You could check out the other threads in this forum to see what they have to suggest.

It wasn't that long ago where you couldn't get a bluray player for under $500. That's the good thing about technology. The products get better and the prices drop.
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post #17 of 23
1/9/13 at 10:22pm
The optical port looks like it could work, but you might need remove the spring first to get it out of the way. Since it's an optical input its not supposed to glow red like the optical output you showed earlier.
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post #18 of 23
1/10/13 at 4:15am
Thread Starter 
umm ok thanks.

I will get my hands on an optical cable and try to test it with any device at hand, maybe my xbox (as i haven't bought a blu ray yet).

Thanks a lot
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post #19 of 23
1/11/13 at 4:22am
Thread Starter 
got a cable and tested it with an old dvd player, surprisingly, eventhough it looks well beaten-up, it worked smile.gif

I'm happy I don't have to replace it, I thank you all for your help smile.gif
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post #20 of 23
1/11/13 at 4:50am
Nothing like saving a few dollars (euros) to spend elsewhere in our obsession. smile.gif
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post #21 of 23
1/13/13 at 4:57am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimP View Post

Nothing like saving a few dollars (euros) to spend elsewhere in our obsession. smile.gif

indeed, thx for your help smile.gif

i still need to check which bluray to buy.

As far as i can tell, if i get panasonic bdt220 i will face a region issue as usually we follow europe's region not us.
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post #22 of 23
1/13/13 at 5:22am
You can also get a player that's region hacked but those typically cost a lot more.

Do you guys have steaming video off of high speed internet?

The tread is to get away from hard disk and to go with streaming.

A good example is with Amazon Prime Instant Video, you pay an annual subscription fee of $79 and have access to a lot of free content for a year.

Picture quality isn't BluRay but passable. Well, you don't want to throw rocks at it.
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post #23 of 23
1/16/13 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
Well personally i think the main idea of buying blu ray is to watch high quality so the online services dont intrest me. Plus our standard internet is 1Mbit ps which is ridiculously low to handle these
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