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Audio from Blu-ray Sony BDP-S185 to TV Panasonic TC-L42E50 to Onkyo TX-NR414

post #1 of 7
1/20/13 at 3:20am
Thread Starter 
So I want to watch a blu-ray. Say it has TrueHD surround sound support.
My BDP-S185 blu-ray player supports that over HDMI
The blu-ray player is connected to the Panasonic TC-L42E50 TV via HDMI
The TV uses the optical/toslink output to the Onkyo TX-NR414 receiver (5.1 surround)

The problem is, the receiver reports that the input is PCM 2, which makes me believe that the signal is just coming in as stereo. I've checked the blu-ray player settings and the best I can tell is maybe it auto-detects the TV has 2 channels so it sends 2 channel audio over HDMI instead of surround.

Is there a way to hook the blu-ray up to the TV and get the best video and audio?
Did I miss a setting somewhere to do this correctly?
Should I hook the blu-ray player to the receiver via HDMI and the receiver to the TV via HDMI (I'd need another HDMI cable, but I'm okay with this provided I still get 1080p output)?
Should I just get a coax audio output cable from the blu-ray player to the receiver (it doesn't support TrueHD but I don't know if that matters, at least I'd have DTS, right?)

I wasn't sure where to post this since it's about putting all the components together, but the receiver is the one I'm concerned about.
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post #2 of 7
1/20/13 at 3:26am
The vast majority of TVs on the market today will only pass PCM 2.0 over optical from an HDMI connected source. Check your TV's owner's manual to confirm. Connect the Blu Ray player HDMI directly to the 414 and then the 414 via HDMI to the TV. You can buy quality HDMI cables for < $5 at forum sponsor Monoprice.
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post #3 of 7
1/20/13 at 3:44am
Thread Starter 
The TV manual is pretty sparse but I suspect you are correct.
I had hoped to use the HDMI inputs on the TV (I like that they can each have different video settings), but I guess this is what I'll have to do.

Also, TrueHD over HDMI is better than DTS over coax right? Or is the difference negligible?
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post #4 of 7
1/20/13 at 4:03am
Not sure what you mean by "it doesn't support TrueHD" as the 414 does support TrueHD, although the difference will likely be negligible using either an optical or coax digital from the BDP to the 414, so yes, you could keep the HDMI to the TV for the dedicated video resolution settings if you prefer.
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post #5 of 7
1/20/13 at 4:07am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsmoothie View Post

Not sure what you mean by "it doesn't support TrueHD" as the 414 does support TrueHD, although the difference will likely be negligible using either an optical or coax digital from the BDP to the 414, so yes, you could keep the HDMI to the TV for the dedicated video resolution settings if you prefer.

"it" in this case was the coax audio out on the blu-ray player.
The blu-ray player can do TrueHD out over HDMI, not coax, that's what I meant.

I may just get the coax cable then.
I realized I also need to get my Comcast box properly hooked up. It has an optical audio out I can try.
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post #6 of 7
1/20/13 at 5:26am
Yes, better to use optical from the cable box to the AVR as well to pass the DD 5.1 from HD channels.
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post #7 of 7
1/20/13 at 11:51am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsmoothie View Post

Yes, better to use optical from the cable box to the AVR as well to pass the DD 5.1 from HD channels.

Okay so this way I get 5.1 sound and I don't need the receiver on to watch TV if I don't want

Cable box -> HDMI -> TV
Cable box -> Optical -> Receiver

And I'd probably always want the blu-ray to have surround sound so this will probably work best. Audio return channel will let me use my smart TV functions through the receiver if I want, correct?

Blu-ray -> HDMI -> Receiver
Receiver <-> HDMI (ARC) <-> TV

Thanks for the help! I wish I had known before about the TV down-sampling HDMI sound so I would have bought another HDMI cable sooner.
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