TV sound through amplifier, help please..

Happy_Harry

I finally (after 7 years..) want to set up my home cinema properly.

I am still at a loss though how, it seems super complicated..

I have a pioneer amplifier connected to the 6 surround sound speakers (incl subwoofer)- I would like to have all sound come through those speakers

I have a blu ray player, 2 sky boxes and a TV.

Do I need to connect all devices separately to the amplifier (and if so, how) or can I just hook up with HDMI to TV and TV out to the amplifier - will I get surround sound from all devices (obviously when I play something with 5.1 audio source) ? I have netflix and other streaming apps on the smart tv.

Thanks for some hints and tios..

akaSol

Happy_Harry wrote: »

I finally (after 7 years..) want to set up my home cinema properly.

I am still at a loss though how, it seems super complicated..

I have a pioneer amplifier connected to the 6 surround sound speakers (incl subwoofer)- I would like to have all sound come through those speakers

I have a blu ray player, 2 sky boxes and a TV.

Do I need to connect all devices separately to the amplifier (and if so, how) or can I just hook up with HDMI to TV and TV out to the amplifier - will I get surround sound from all devices (obviously when I play something with 5.1 audio source) ? I have netflix and other streaming apps on the smart tv.

Thanks for some hints and tios..

If your pioneer does not have Hdmi inputs this is the setup :
Connect an Optical cable from the TV to the pioneer and every sound that goes through the TV should emit from the amp.

Having siad that both TV and Amplifier need to connect via optical (output for the TV - input for the Pioneer). Make sure you check the manuals fully or post the models here so someone can check online.

Sol

Happy_Harry

akaSol wrote: »

If your pioneer does not have Hdmi inputs this is the setup :
Connect an Optical cable from the TV to the pioneer and every sound that goes through the TV should emit from the amp.

Having siad that both TV and Amplifier need to connect via optical (output for the TV - input for the Pioneer). Make sure you check the manuals fully or post the models here so someone can check online.

Sol

Thanks Sol..

The pioneer is a VSX-817. TV is LG 55EG910V.

Amp does not have HDMI in, TV does have optical out

The main question I have and can't really find an answer for is:

Will the TV Optical out give a 5.1 signal to the receiver ? :
a) from the HDMI devices connected to TV ?
b) from the TV internal tuner (apps predominantly)

I read the TV supposedly does have this

5.1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital Show Help: Yes
5.1 Passthrough ARC DTS Show Help: Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital Show Help: Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical DTS Show Help: Yes

I also read elsewhere the HDMI passthrough was only enabled on HDMI 1 port. Does that mean HDMI 1 has this feature as input or output port ?

I saw a good deal on a HDMI specc'ed amp, but ideally I want to use what I have..

akaSol

Happy_Harry wrote: »

Thanks Sol..

The pioneer is a VSX-817. TV is LG 55EG910V.

Amp does not have HDMI in, TV does have optical out

The main question I have and can't really find an answer for is:

Will the TV Optical out give a 5.1 signal to the receiver ? :
a) from the HDMI devices connected to TV ?
b) from the TV internal tuner (apps predominantly)

I read the TV supposedly does have this

5.1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital Show Help: Yes
5.1 Passthrough ARC DTS Show Help: Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital Show Help: Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical DTS Show Help: Yes

I also read elsewhere the HDMI passthrough was only enabled on HDMI 1 port. Does that mean HDMI 1 has this feature as input or output port ?

I saw a good deal on a HDMI specc'ed amp, but ideally I want to use what I have..

New amp I'm afraid. If optical is only enabled on Hdmi 1 (probably YouTube Netflix etc as well) any other device would be useless. Arc is typically designed for newer amp's / TVs but I have always found it problematic.

When looking for a new amp I would probably steer you to one with equivalent specks of the TV ; 4k, uhd support/ Hdmi 2.2 ETC. Buying a 1080p amp would be fairly useless considering the quality of the LG.

Happy_Harry

Thanks- what I will try and do first is to connect TV to amp through an optical cable, see how I like what I get as I am sure the amp will somehow create a 5.1 signal (made up, I know, but still..)

Would you know any good movie on netflix to test the surround sound ?

How would I connect the sky boxes/ Blu-ray to the amp to get the 5.1 signal through with no HDMI ?


The TV is actual "only" 1080 p , so no need for 4K, UHD, HDR and all that on the amp. Made a choice here not to splash out on 4K. Just like I didn't invest in full HD plasma 8 years ago, and only now "upgrade to full HD". I sit far enough away from the TV not to notice the difference, I have poor (capped) internet as it is, don't play games, so 4K will not be anything I will worry about until 2020 or so. At which point I am sure there is a new standard.
Right now I am very pleased with the upgrade from HD ready plasma to full HD OLED

If I was to get an amp with HDMI in ports, I should plug in my sky boxes and blu-ray there. Then I guess I would need to have HDMI from TV to amp as well ? And then the HDMI out on amp back to HDMI on TV ?
How do I control what sound I get - do I need the TV remote to switch picture and Amp remote to switch sound ? As I don't tend to switch off my skyboxes (at all)
This is what confuses me a lot...

Really appreciate your help

akaSol

Happy_Harry wrote: »

Thanks- what I will try and do first is to connect TV to amp through an optical cable, see how I like what I get as I am sure the amp will somehow create a 5.1 signal (made up, I know, but still..)

Would you know any good movie on netflix to test the surround sound ?

How would I connect the sky boxes/ Blu-ray to the amp to get the 5.1 signal through with no HDMI ?


The TV is actual "only" 1080 p , so no need for 4K, UHD, HDR and all that on the amp. Made a choice here not to splash out on 4K. Just like I didn't invest in full HD plasma 8 years ago, and only now "upgrade to full HD". I sit far enough away from the TV not to notice the difference, I have poor (capped) internet as it is, don't play games, so 4K will not be anything I will worry about until 2020 or so. At which point I am sure there is a new standard.
Right now I am very pleased with the upgrade from HD ready plasma to full HD OLED

If I was to get an amp with HDMI in ports, I should plug in my sky boxes and blu-ray there. Then I guess I would need to have HDMI from TV to amp as well ? And then the HDMI out on amp back to HDMI on TV ?
How do I control what sound I get - do I need the TV remote to switch picture and Amp remote to switch sound ? As I don't tend to switch off my skyboxes (at all)
This is what confuses me a lot...

Really appreciate your help

Oops, thought it was a 4k. The hdmi input amp's take both picture and sound so the Amp does that "leg work" and TV turns into a viewing panel effectively - all into the amp and one cable out . That one hdmi (via arc) should push sound from the TV to the amp for Netflix, YouTube etc.
A new amp should also have it's own pass through so that you don't need to switch it on if you "just want to watch something quick" or not have the system on late at night. Thankfully nearly all new amp's (and the last two gens upto a level) should support 4k pass through if you go mad and buy a new TV your still good

As a sample try any major "blockbuster" : transformers, winter soldier etc. One downside with Netflix is that it uses Dolby +. It's 5.1 but lower quality than a special edition dvd and vastly inferior to Dolby HD and DTS master (the bluray format), as a test it's fine but not reflective of new amplifiers effective range.

Happy_Harry

Many many thanks.

Will play around in the weekend and see if I like what I can get.

Based on your comments it makes little sense to invest in a super amp, if netflix, through which I would watch most movies nowadays doesn't give a superior input.

mossym

Don't sweat a new amp for now.

your amp has two spdif inputs .

hook one up to the optical output from the tv. hook the bluray to hdmi 1 on the tv. you should get audio out to the pioneer. make sure it is multichannel(5.1). some tv's only output stereo from the optical output for audio they receive via hdmi.
hook the sky box up to the tv via hdmi, but take the optical from the back of the sky box to the pioneer. some of the older sky boxes don't output multichannel via hdmi, so you need the optical.

if you don't get multichannel from the bluray using this method, connect the blu-ray directly to the pioneer using optical, connect the sky box to hdmi 1 on the tv and just use stereo for sky.not a lot of 5.1 on sky anyway


lastly, i had a look at the manual, it doesn't say anything about the optical output being limited to HDMI 1 so i think you may be wrong there, worth testing as if it is just route everything through the tv.