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School me: HDMI (& ARC) vs optical?


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I'm gradually bringing my audio and AV systems into the 21st century but I'm a long way from being a tech guru, and I'm looking for any easy upgrades that I've missed.

 

My main audio setup is a Windows 7 machine, using JRiver Media Center and a 'Sound Blaster Z' card to pour FLACs down an optic fibre to a Yamaha RX-A2020 AVR. Despite hours of effort I could never establish a reliable HDMI audio connection between PC and AVR - it would regularly drop out based on what hardware it could detect in the HDMI chain (which depends on what components happen to be switched on at the time), often requiring reboots and power cycles and software switches to try and get it working again. The optical connection fixed all of that. And the extent of my theory is that digital is digital, so the 2-channel music signal I've got getting to the AVR over optical is as good as it gets - right? Anything I could do to improve it?

 

My AV system is the same AVR and speakers, with 3 sources: an Oppo BDP-93 bluray player, the Windows PC, and the Samsung TV's 'smart hub' Netflix app. Using the Samsung as a source sucks: it relies on HDMI ARC and CEC being enabled, and this gives the TV the power to suddenly seize control over the AVR whenever it feels like it (which it often does when switching HDMI inputs on the AVR). Besides being really annoying, it screws up my Harmony remote's idea of where I'm at and requires manual intervention to fix. There is an optical output on the TV, but my understanding is that it won't support surround sound (actually I'm not even convinced the ARC does). So I'm looking at sacking the smart hub altogether, and finding better ways to access things like Netflix. If I were to look at using the PC for that, what sort of changes would I need to make to get full surround sound info to the receiver? i suppose I'm back to trying to get the HDMI comms to work?

 

Any other suggestions?

Edited by Brewer
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I recently had an issue with ARC on a Sony TV to the receiver and using a Harmony remote; getting used to it now but occasionally (most of the time) have to manually select audio out on the TV. I can tell you that both the ARC and the optical should give you 5.1 surround but I would never prioritise running audio from an external source through the TV to the receiver, I would always try to go direct to the receiver with audio.

 

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4 hours ago, Mikeyday said:

I would never prioritise running audio from an external source through the TV to the receiver, I would always try to go direct to the receiver with audio

Totally agree, the problem is if I use the TV as a Netflix player then of course it is generating the audio. Everything else is connected directly to the Yamaha, but changing HDMI inputs on the Yamaha seems to rattle the TV which then tells the AVR to switch to the ARC input, even though there is nothing there. Ideally I'll find a better Netflix solution, then I can disable ARC and CEC again.

 

Interesting that optical should support 5.1 - I'd be happy with that (although I have a 7.1 system). I'll have a muck around with Netflix on the PC later. Do I need to change anything to get 5.1 down the pipe to the Yamaha, or do you reckon the existing setup should just handle it?

Edited by Brewer
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1 hour ago, Brewer said:

Do I need to change anything to get 5.1 down the pipe to the Yamaha

From what I understand, most TVs will send the same digital signal to both ARC and optical; this would mean the same 2.1 or 5.1 signal to both. Now that I have been playing with the TV, Harmony and receiver settings for a couple weeks, I have improved the functionality but still have similar problems to what you are experiencing. Adding additional settings to the Harmony and only using the Harmony can help but not always possible.

In my situation and possibly yours, setting up optical and disabling ARC and CEC may be the best way to go.

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1 minute ago, Mikeyday said:

setting up optical and disabling ARC and CEC may be the best way to go.

You're probably right, but using the TV for Netflix is suboptimal anyway - it's a slow and complicated routine to bring it up, and if I want to check another input briefly (or accidentally touch another activity on the remote) it's all gone in a puff and I have to start again. Plus I can't view the AVR UI over it which is a real drag at times. It's just not a good solution, so it won't be staying!

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On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 11:06 AM, Brewer said:

If I were to look at using the PC for that, what sort of changes would I need to make to get full surround sound info to the receiver?

A graphics card with dual HDMI out, so you can use one for audio and one for video.

 

Optical or ARC cannot pass Dolby TrueHD/DTS HD Master Audio etc.

 

JSmith :ninja:

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34 minutes ago, JSmith said:

A graphics card with dual HDMI out, so you can use one for audio and one for video.

Optical or ARC cannot pass Dolby TrueHD/DTS HD Master Audio etc.

Aah, that explains a lot. Thanks for that.

 

I actually had another Win7 audio disaster last night - like a fool I had a bit of a fiddle and broke it all again, and spent the rest of the evening trying to recreate what I had. Turns out I have to set up my local speakers as 'headphones', make that Windows' default device, then 'record' that and 'listen' with the SPDIF. Crazy stuff.

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