Help needed in using an old receiver without HDMI

arnprasad

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Hi..I had posted on a similar topic few years back and am still wondering what to do with my old Yamaha AVR given new AVR prices are still above what they should be.

So here is my case:
(a) I Have an Old Yamaha receiver bought from UK in 2005. Was used as my primary AVR for many years till I got my Pioneer 1020K in 2010 as it had HDMI and my Yamaha did not
(b) Every since its being lying idle and have given it to my nephews and hence not able to test on what is my question below.
(c) There are two primary sources of AV. Tata Sky HD box - old one, not the Binge one. Plus a Desktop.

Below is my TV model. On the left you will see all the ports on the TV

Here is my question. Assuming my Yamaha has an Toslink port. Can I do the following:

(a) Using two HDMI inputs of my TV, I Connect Tata Sky and HTPC
(b) Per diagram from the Amazon site above -the TV has a Toslink slot. Not sure if Toslink is unidirection or bidirectional. Say I connect TVs Toslink to Yamahas Toslink
(c) So if I change the input on my TV between Tata Sky and HTPC - Will the TV using the Toslink output the Sound for each of these inputs to Yamaha and there by I can use a 5.1 Audio setup?

Second option is the following. I am at office and need to check if one of the HDMI is an HDMI out - I am assuming this means ARC.


See this Website. It has a diagram in the middle of the page where HDMI out from TV is going into an HDMI Audio Extractor from which either a Toslink or RCA is giving audio to AVR...Would prefer Toslink as it will give 5.1

Any other suggestion where in I can utilize my Yamaha AVR to output 5.1 sound would be welcome. Basically this setup is for my mother and hence we are not really looking at great audio. I am guessing any audio via AVR is better than the TVs audio. Plus I got this Yamaha lying unused. Then I got 5 speakers lying unused. Hence good to have some ideas on how to combine those two and have my mom listen audio at 5.1.

I have my neigbour in USA right now and she wont mind getting any small gadget available only there or too cheaply to help me in this regard as long its cheap and small in size.

Many thanks in advance for your help!!
 
Generally TVs have a toslink audio out so if you connect the sources directly to the tv then you could definitely get 5.1 audio in your Yamaha. Switching the sources in your TV will switch the audio as well.
 
The HDMI connected to Tata sky should process the video signal and the optical Toslink will process the audio out to your AVR and in audio settings you should select optical out. The only thing is the audio sound controls will have to be controlled by the AVR's remote control with Toslink. With HDMI usually TV's remote can control the audio as well but here it needs two remotes. No other issues. My pioneer 837 has only two optical and no hdmi and it is connected to a console plus the pioneer to the TV. The output sound is 7.1 (with a y splitter 7.2 we may say but signal is shared to both sub woofers). Toslink is generally known only to support 5.1 but here this pioneer receiver amp supports even 7.1 with only optical out. And yes as you said TV sound cant beat an amplifier. Your mom will like the extra channels of sound.
 
The HDMI connected to Tata sky should process the video signal and the optical Toslink will process the audio out to your AVR and in audio settings you should select optical out. The only thing is the audio sound controls will have to be controlled by the AVR's remote control with Toslink. With HDMI usually TV's remote can control the audio as well but here it needs two remotes. No other issues. My pioneer 837 has only two optical and no hdmi and it is connected to a console plus the pioneer to the TV. The output sound is 7.1 (with a y splitter 7.2 we may say but signal is shared to both sub woofers). Toslink is generally known only to support 5.1 but here this pioneer receiver amp supports even 7.1 with only optical out. And yes as you said TV sound cant beat an amplifier. Your mom will like the extra channels of sound.
Just to clarify. Your console is directly connected to TV via HDMI for Video and TV is connected back to Pioneer for Audio...Right?
 
Just to clarify. Your console is directly connected to TV via HDMI for Video and TV is connected back to Pioneer for Audio...Right?
TV to console by HDMI. Console to Pioneer and TV to pioneer by optical toslink. So in pioneer remote, need to toggle between TV/SAT and CD if i have to play OTT or bluray respectively. Plus in TV settongs have to choose in audio settings "audio device speakers" and not TV internal speakers (everytime). CEC is not working as it is an old receiver with just toslink.
 
Apologize for the noob questions...

Console to TV by HDMI is for both Audio and Video right. So TV displays Video and sends audio to Pioneer by Toslink which gets distributed via 5.1 speakers.

But why do you need Console to Pioneer? and here too you are using Toslink?
 
Apologize for the noob questions...

Console to TV by HDMI is for both Audio and Video right.

But why do you need Console to Pioneer? and here too you are using Toslink?
I am more of a newbie and your question is really good. Thanks and its one wire less for me actually!
 
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Yes connect all HDMI sources to your TV. Set the Audio out in TV to the Optical Out as Bitstream. Thats it. What ever source you play on TV, the Audio will be sent to the receiver. The receiver will then decode it and play it.

Some TVs even have optical ARC .

MaSh
 
Apologize for the noob questions...

Console to TV by HDMI is for both Audio and Video right. So TV displays Video and sends audio to Pioneer by Toslink which gets distributed via 5.1 speakers.

But why do you need Console to Pioneer? and here too you are using Toslink?
I just checked. If Toslink is removed from PS4 to pioneer amp, i have to use TV/Sat option only in pioneer remote. CD selection does not respond(even with bluray). So it is vestigial, however the only difference is the audio is lower than through optical connected from console to amp as extra. With CD selection, there is a punch. Its late so i am not able to consult Harwin from Volumate who helped me set the surround system. It makes sense only if a punch is required but theoretically the HDMI should suffice. This TV is old.
 
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Hi, so the Yamaha Receiver in the OP is with me currently actually. My setup is usually PC and PS as inputs, Iffalcon TV (similar to the TCL TV) for Video and AV Receiver for sound. I tried the Yamaha RX-V357 and here are a few of my observations:

1. With PC as my main source, I could not get true 5.1 surround sound at all no matter what I tried. My last option was to take 3 RCA cables from my PC's Audio Out to the 6Ch Input Yamaha had. With this my primary issue was I could not get both Centre and Sub to work together simultaneously as my PC shared a centre/sub jack (So the jacks were - Front L/R, Surround L/R, Centre/Sub).
2. Using 6Ch Input on the Yamaha, the receiver disables any sound processing (Dolby/DTS) and just outputs whatever sound comes from the source. While this is not a big issue as such, my PC doesn't do sound processing either, so surround was always a bit of a hit-or-miss.

I had since moved to a Denon Receiver with HDMI inputs. Trying HDMI ARC with this setup now had learnt/observed a few things:
1. I understand that not all HDMI ARC ports are the same and that most of them don't pass through multi-channel audio. I connected my PC to TV with HDMI and then TV to Receiver via ARC, could only get Stereo sound. I do not have the user manual of the TV so I cannot comment on the HDMI version of the ARC port.
2. Coming to the Digital Out i.e, TOSLINK, now my doubt is if TV cannot pass through multi-channel audio via ARC, can it pass through audio via TOSLINK port? Please feel free to comment on this. Will get a TOSLINK cable and try myself, but if anyone has already tried this please let me know.

If the TV can output multi-channel audio via TOSLINK, then I don't see any reason why I can't get true Surround on the Yamaha Receiver too. If this works then I can finally sleep well knowing Yamaha can output 5.1... :p
 
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