[jkozlow3]

End goal: to listen to music streamed to my Apple TV 2 while watching TV from my cable box using my Denon 3311ci.


My Apple TV is connected to the 3311ci via an HDMI cable currently. I am hoping that it will simultaneously output audio via optical, as the 3311ci allows for 2-ch PCM via the optical input in zone 2 according to the manual.


How can I use the same pair of speakers for both zones however? Do I need to run a jumper cable to bridge the 2 sets of speaker binding posts? Will this harm anything? I'm using banana plugs at the moment, but I'm assuming I may need to use bare wire to accomplish this?


If anyone knows of a better way to accomplish what I'm trying to do, I'm certainly open to other suggestions as well.


Thanks!

 

[jdsmoothie]

You can pass the same audio to both Zones simulateously simply by selecting the HDMI audio in Zone 1 and the optical audio for for Zone 2.


For more questions on your 3311CI, check out the Denon 3311CI Owner's thread.

 

[jkozlow3]

Yes, but I only have a single pair of speakers. For zone 2 playback, don't I need a way to hook up my speakers to the "amp assign" speaker jacks on the AVR simultaneously?


I don't truly need or have a "zone 2" - I'm just trying to find a way to use the HDMI video input from my cable box + the optical input from my Apple TV. For the life of me, I can't find an easy way to do this on the Denon.

 

[jdsmoothie]

Just assign the optical input used for the ATV source to the same name used for your cable box and then change the cable box source INPUT MODE to "Digital".

 

[jkozlow3]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsmoothie /forum/post/20849789


Just assign the optical input used for the ATV source to the same name used for your cable box and then change the cable box source INPUT MODE to "Digital".

Thanks JD, this worked!


I'd like to not have to do this every time I want to listen to music however, so maybe I'll get a cheap HDMI splitter from monoprice and setup 2 inputs on the Denon: one for true TV viewing (using HDMI only) and one for TV watching + music listening (HDMI + optical).


It would be nice if the Denon units allowed you to assign the same physical HDMI input to multiple sources, but it appears to be a 1-to-1 relationship only.

 

[jdsmoothie]

If you connect your cable box with component/optical instead of HDMI, and assign the ATV optical input to an unused source name, then you can set the Video Select setting for the ATV optical input to the cable box component input.

 

[kikkenit2]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsmoothie /forum/post/20849818

If you connect your cable box with component/optical instead of HDMI, and assign the ATV optical input to an unused source name,

then you can set the Video Select setting for the ATV optical input to the cable box component input.

Does Denon make any receivers that work full featured when cable tv and sat tv boxes are connected using hdmi?

Component video won't do 1080p and like digital audio, inputs are limited. Seems like not using hdmi with

apple tv video streamers, blu-ray and hd cable tv input is a step down.

 

[jdsmoothie]

AFAIK, no AVR can do this due to HDCP restrictions. Although it's unlikely you would notice any difference between 1080i and 1080p, you can always connect the cable HDMI directly to the TV and optical from the cable box to the AVR and still achieve the same result of cable video/other source audio.