Using HDMI to cut down on Optical Cable

BennyC · 2 Aug 2008 at 19:10

Hi guys,

At Current I have a Denon AVR-1907, a 40" 6 Series, Xbox 360, and soon a PS3.

The Denon has 2 Optical ins on the back and one on the front, which I dont want to use because it looks messy!

The 6 series is hooked into the amp on optical in 1. And the 360 into the amp by optical in 2. This at current leaves no where (other than the front optical) for my PS3 when it arrives.

I have been lead to believe that HDMI carries sound as well as video?

If this is true if i were to connect the 360 (if there is a HDMI cable?) and the PS3 Via HDMI into my LCD, and have one optical cable from the LCD to the Denon, would I be correct in thinking that I would never need to change the source on the Denon in order to hear all three?

At current my 360 is connected by component, is the HDMI route, the same as, worse or better than component?

Thanks in advance

Benny C

lord filbuster · 3 Aug 2008 at 02:40

I think only the xbox360 elite can output audio over hdmi, but i'm not sure.

Amnesia · 3 Aug 2008 at 03:30

yes the 360 can output sound over hdmi(apart from old 360's which lack the hdmi connection) and so can the ps3.
hdmi for me is by far the best connection but i have no idea what the 6 series or the denon is unfortunately....so cant be of much more help.

my ps3 is connected to my lcd by hdmi ,,,so is my 360 and so is my pc...my tv outputs the sound to my midi system for itself..the 360 ...the pc and the ps3 so i dont need to change cables on the t.v ever.

not sure if that ^^^ helps any

Simon · 3 Aug 2008 at 09:16

The Denon 1907 doesn't support sound over HDMI.

BennyC · 3 Aug 2008 at 09:51

Simon said:
The Denon 1907 doesn't support sound over HDMI.

If it(TV) is connected by optical, and every other source into it in HDMI, all i need to do is change the source on the TV and not on the Denon. I am aware my Denon has no HDMI slots!

Simon · 3 Aug 2008 at 10:51

Benny06 said:
If it(TV) is connected by optical, and every other source into it in HDMI, all i need to do is change the source on the TV and not on the Denon. I am aware my Denon has no HDMI slots!

Sorry my mates is the 1908 not the 1907 he told me it was. Ignore me

Corasik · 3 Aug 2008 at 16:03

Benny06 said:
If it(TV) is connected by optical, and every other source into it in HDMI, all i need to do is change the source on the TV and not on the Denon. I am aware my Denon has no HDMI slots!

Most TV's will output a "stereo" downmix, but will your TV take the digital sountrack from HDMI and then output it down the optical. Im assuming the TV wont be able to downmix a HD soundtrack to DTS Core, but if you configure the PS3 etc to only output DTS Core, and DolbyDigital Plus, then you might be on a winner.

Question is will HDCP prevent even the Dolby and DTS Core soundtracks from being "copied" to the optical out.

Only way to find out for sure is to try it, and then check on the Amps display to see if its getting Dolby/DTS soundtracks, or a simple 2 channel PCM stereo downmix.

Does the amp have any free Coaxial digtal inputs? You might find it just as easy to get an optical to digital interface, you can get them online fairly easily. My Amp has 2 optical, and 3 coaxial inputs, and I had to use a convertor as I have 3 devices which only support optical output.

BennyC · 3 Aug 2008 at 17:23

Corasik said:
Most TV's will output a "stereo" downmix, but will your TV take the digital sountrack from HDMI and then output it down the optical. Im assuming the TV wont be able to downmix a HD soundtrack to DTS Core, but if you configure the PS3 etc to only output DTS Core, and DolbyDigital Plus, then you might be on a winner.

Question is will HDCP prevent even the Dolby and DTS Core soundtracks from being "copied" to the optical out.

Only way to find out for sure is to try it, and then check on the Amps display to see if its getting Dolby/DTS soundtracks, or a simple 2 channel PCM stereo downmix.

Does the amp have any free Coaxial digtal inputs? You might find it just as easy to get an optical to digital interface, you can get them online fairly easily. My Amp has 2 optical, and 3 coaxial inputs, and I had to use a convertor as I have 3 devices which only support optical output.

Ahh i see. Awful lot of trial and error, yeah i have all my coax ins free atm and have a co-ax cable too. So i need to find an optical to digital interface.

So in theory it would be PS3 Optical ---> Optical/Digital conversion----> Av reciever coax in.

BennyC · 3 Aug 2008 at 21:39

Sorry, so as a general rule of thumb, unless your TV is capable of processing Dolby 5.1 as standard, you wont get it through HDMI from the PS3?
It will have to go through an amplifier first? just trying to save money on cables! suppose I can try it and see as ill be using HDMI either way...

Corasik · 3 Aug 2008 at 21:55

Well, you can try it, assuming the PS3 can be configured to output dts/dolby through HDMI, but if the PS3 tries to output HD Audio the TV's very unlikely to downmix it back to regular Dolby/DTS.

But really it depends if the tv will even bother trying. I know my TV only outputs stereo , no matter what you feed it.

At least with an optical to coax convertor, you know you'll be getting the signal though, and your denon will add any delay required to get lipsync etc, and the PS3 is smart enough not to even try and send HD down the optical cable. (It will send DTS Core though which is full bitrate DTS, the few dvds that even include DTS on uk releases often have half bitrate, so BluRay DTS does sound good even when using SP/DIF, and a non HD AV amp).