Hello, I'm a brand new user to this forum and wasn't sure where to post this question. For digital audio, why does it seem the standard is that most TV's have optical audio output but not optical audio input? It seems the only option to get digital audio into most TV's is through the HDMI input port. I understand the optical out is to connect to an external AV receiver.
Here is the issue. My cousin has a Mid 2009 15" MacBook Pro. She wants to connect the laptop to a TV. For video she can use the mini display port on the laptop and use a mini display port to HDMI adaptor to connect to HDMI on the TV. However on this computer there is no audio signal on the mini-display port out to HDMI. So she must connect separate audio cables. She will not be using an external sound/speaker system, only the built-in tv speakers. Since there's no audio signal over the HDMI (because of the computer's limitations), it seems there's no other way to get digital audio to the TV. The computer has an optical (Toslink) output via a mini (3.5mm) Toslink jack that is a dual purpose Toslink/headphone out jack. So it can output digital optical audio. But it seems no tv's have optical in. They only have optical out. The only option for getting digital audio into the tv, to playback over the tv speakers is HDMI. Why don't TV's have optical inputs?
Here is the issue. My cousin has a Mid 2009 15" MacBook Pro. She wants to connect the laptop to a TV. For video she can use the mini display port on the laptop and use a mini display port to HDMI adaptor to connect to HDMI on the TV. However on this computer there is no audio signal on the mini-display port out to HDMI. So she must connect separate audio cables. She will not be using an external sound/speaker system, only the built-in tv speakers. Since there's no audio signal over the HDMI (because of the computer's limitations), it seems there's no other way to get digital audio to the TV. The computer has an optical (Toslink) output via a mini (3.5mm) Toslink jack that is a dual purpose Toslink/headphone out jack. So it can output digital optical audio. But it seems no tv's have optical in. They only have optical out. The only option for getting digital audio into the tv, to playback over the tv speakers is HDMI. Why don't TV's have optical inputs?