What do you guys do regarding optical inputs where you have more than your amp can cope with?

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

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Your average amp these days has two optical inputs?

In my case, I have the following devices with optical outputs:-
Sky
Squeezebox
Media Player
BluRay player
TV

So that's 5 optical feeds?

How do you guys cope with what be quite a common problem?
 
Bluray can do sound over hdmi so use that.
Can your tv not do the same? and your media player too?

Or do you have a hi-fi amp rather than an AV amp? In which case the answer is that people use AV amps which have more inputs.
 
I used to use an optical splitter on my old set up, used to work a treat.

Just do a search for a " 3 Way Optical Switch AND 4 x 1M TOSLink CABLES BUNDLE" on the rain forest site :)
 
OK, I see where you're coming from with that...

Guess I'm too use to treating my amp as an optional extra. ie: The kids turn on the TV, put a disc in the player and just watch it with the sound coming out the TV. They don't have to faff about with the amp, and TBH I wouldn't want them too.

If I then want to listen to better audio, I just turn the amp on and mute the TV.

Guess I'm too use to working in that way...
 
Lol the same path i took :D i've got the 508

I can't check till later but if i can find my splitter you can have it if you want
minus the leads :)

But like i said the difference between DTS/DD and HD is a lot, infact for me it's a bigger difference than blu-ray.. dvd.
 
cyclops12 said:
Lol the same path i took :D iv'e got the 508

I can't check till later but if i can find my splitter you can have it if you want
minus the leads :)

But like i said the difference between DTS/DD and HD is a lot, infact for me it's a bigger difference than blu-ray.. dvd.
Click to expand...

Thoughts on amp?

The other reason for me upgrading the amp would be to bi-amp/wire my front pair of Mordaunt Short 902i's (which the 7.2 feeds would let me do). At the moment they are just wired with a single feed from my old Yamaha RX-V461 amp.
 
Very happy with it, 7.1 if you want it and you can bi-amp/wire the fronts or have front L + R high speakers.

The microphone for the audssey set up is great also, saves a bit of hassle.
 
Question, and this may negate the whole issue with optical feeds?

My Panasonic GT30 has HDMI 2 which is ARC compliant? Now I believe the Onkyo TX-SR608 is also ARC compliant?

So does this mean I could plug my BluRay, Media Player, SkyHD box into HDMI 1, 3 & 4, and simply connect HDMI 2 to the Onkyo?

And then no matter what I played into the TV, I'd get stereo sound out of the TV, but DTS, Dobly 5.1, DTS-HD etc etc fed (unchanged) to my amp?

This might solve all my problems in one go!?
 
I've got the blu-ray and media box into HDMI on the amp then amp to the tv, just turn on HDMI pass through on the amp then the amp don't need to be on.

When i turn on the amp it cuts out the sound on the tv. and yes the ARC will work.

The sky HD box has to be in the optical on the amp as this is the only way to get DD from sky.
 
cyclops12 said:
I've got the blu-ray and media box into HDMI on the amp then amp to the tv, just turn on HDMI pass through on the amp then the amp don't need to be on.

When i turn on the amp it cuts out the sound on the tv.

The sky HD box has to be in the optical on the amp as this is the only way to get DD from sky.
Click to expand...

OK!

So if I plugged my BluRay and media player into the amp (via HDMIs) and then fed a single HDMI from the amp to the TV, then:-

1) With the amp off, if the kids turned the bluray on, it would send the video and audio through to the TV and give stereo sound? If you then turned the amp on, you'd get your DTS sound obviously?

2) Does the amp, auto detect the HDMI input and adjust automatically? ie: With the amp off, if you instead turned the media player on (using a different HDMI input on the amp), it would still send that HDMI fee through to the TV and you'd get stereo sound once again?

^^ This sounds good (friendly), if it works that way, as obviously with the amp off, you just turn the TV on, and go. But if you turn the amp on, it detects which HDMI input is in use, and just kicks straight in?!
 
1... yes
2... yes with the amp off but when the amp is on you have to select the correct input. ( at least you do on the 508 )

You can set up pass through on each HDMI input on the amp the same as other settings, it will remeber what ever settings you choose for each input optical or HDMI.
 
cyclops12 said:
1... yes
2... yes with the amp off but when the amp is on you have to select the correct input.

You can set up pass through on each HDMI input on the amp the same as other settings, it will remeber what ever settings you choose for each input optical or HDMI.
Click to expand...


OK that sounds great! That sounds about as simple/friendly/perfect as it can get. The kids can just put a disc in the BluRay, and stereo sound automatically comes out the TV. But then if I turn the amp on, and I get my lovely DTS audio! Perfect!



Regarding ARC, I don't think it will work. I fear if you play your BluRay into the TV, an HDMI ARC from the TV to the amp will be stereo sound! I think it's designed purely to return the TV tuners audio to the amp (with DD5.1/DTS etc). Any feed into your TV (from a console, Sky, DVD, BluRay) will only get sent in stereo via ARC.

Daft isn't it! Else you could have just a SINGLE feed from the TV to the amp to convert what ever you're watching on the TV! Perfect!

http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdmi_1_4/arc.aspx
 
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