# Home Theater Audio Help



## Rookx (Sep 2, 2012)

Hello all, sorry for the generic thread title, but let me explain my problem.

I had previously had my theater set up just fine with no issues. I have a Wii, PS3, DirecTV HD DVR (HR24-200), Panasonic Plasma TV (TC-P58S1), Pioneer Surround Sound Receive (VSX-D511). I also regularly hook up my laptop to the Television to listen to music.

At my old house I had everything set up and working magnificently. When I would swap my television from one input to the next for the various functions, the Surround Sound would swap over no problem and play with the new input (Bear in mind that the Pioneer Receiver ALWAYS stayed on TV/SAT and never needed to change inputs itself). What I THINK I did, was connect my optical line from my TV to my Pioneer Receiver, then I ran all my HDMI Cables from the various components and plugged them into the TV. Everything used HDMI except for the Wii, which just used generic rwy component cables... I could possibly be wrong with how I have this set up - I moved out 3 months ago and thus have quite a bit of separation from when I dismantled it.

Now that we moved and I am trying to set things up, this setup is not working for me whatsoever. I get no sound at all. The only way I have managed to get any sound through the speakers if by connecting the optical line from the DTV DVR to the Panasonic Receiver, and the HDMI from the DVR to the TV. That gives me sound for my Satellite TV, but gives me nothing for the other components. I honestly don't know what is going wrong. Swapping to one of my other inputs on my television gives me nothing no sound all. I have cycled through the different inputs on the and pushed all of the various input options on the Pioneer Receiver possible (again I never had to change inputs previously). I have attempted to hook the optical line from the TV to Pioneer Receiver, TV to DVR, and DVR to Pioneer Receiver. The only one that yields any result is the one highlighted above with the DVR to the Pioneer Receiver, which is giving me absolutely nothing. 

For purposes of solving my problem, I'm just focusing on the DVR, Pioneer Receiver, TV and Computer for now since theoretically the other components would fall in line once I get it connected properly.

The TV has 3 HDMI slots and 1 Optical cable
The Pioneer Receiver has 1 Optical Cable (and a Coaxial as well which I do not recall using after getting the optical)
The DTV DVR has an optical and coaxial port
All of the above devices obviously have a slew of rwy component cables which I have never had to use previously with the exception being for the Wii

The computer purely has an HDMI port.

The only thing I can think of that has changed is my DVR was recently "upgraded by DirecTV when I moved, however, my previous DVR was also in the HR24 series, so I can't imagine too much could have changed. I know the receiver couldn't have changed much because my Harmony Remote has not had to be modified to work properly with the system as I have it set up.

Someone please give me some ideas, I've been banging my head into this all day and am honestly at my wits end. Logically the setup makes sense to me, but this isn't the first time I've had an excess of issues with setting up my home theater.

Thanks a bunch in advance!


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Based on my experience, I don't see how it worked in the past...at least not with true surround. Most TV's will not pass surround audio. They will take any audio input, down mix to stereo and output via analog output (ie: red/white RCA). TV's with digital outputs (ie: optical or digital coaxial) will typically only output surround audio processed by the built-in tuner. This is a by product the of copy protection in place for HDMI connections. You should be able to confirm the audio output options in the User Manual.


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## Rookx (Sep 2, 2012)

Okay, then I must be mistaken.

With that being said, how could I replicate the functionality I previously had using 1 optical cable and the rest as HDMI Cables? I've had no success with anything but getting my Satellite to work by connecting the optical to the Receiver and an HDMI to the Television... None of my other components work when I swap to a different input on the TV, where they previously had.


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## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

Your TV can act as a switch - your older Pioneer cannot. I think you need to make sure the TV is set to output via optical digital cable. Go into the menu under "Audio" and make sure its set to "Advanced Setting" "Surround" and then check for each of the HDMI inputs too.


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## Rookx (Sep 2, 2012)

Hmm, I messed with all of the options of pretty much all of the devices throughout the day. I already had that option highlighted, but thanks anyway yustr.

My TV has Viera Link, which is presently greyed out, but of the two options on Viera link, one of them says output speakers and it is set to TV. Like I said, it is greyed out and I cannot so I cant change anything, but as I recall I never had this setup for my previous setup.

It may be of note that if I switch to a component, the Computer for example, the sound is playing through the TV speakers but not surround. Still not sure how to make that switch.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

According to the User Manual, page 31 (NOTE at the bottom):

When audio from equipment connected via HDMI is output via the digital output, the unit switches to stereo mode (as I noted previously). 

It also notes that if you want "higher quality" audio, to connect the TV to the AVR via HDMI.

So it would appear that you can use the digital output, however, it is only stereo. If there is not signal being output, there is a configuration issue on the TV. You will need to select the digital output for audio output. Exact configuration is noted in the User Manual.


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## Rookx (Sep 2, 2012)

Dogg and all,
Thanks much for the help. I suppose its very possible that previously all I had was Virtual Surround output via Stereo and didn't notice it since it was mostly music coming out of the speakers. 

Regardless, after scouring through the manuals, menus and options of every device I have connected, I still can't get it to return to its former functionality. I'm pretty much accepting that I will only have surround sound on my satellite and will just have TV speakers for everything else. Half the purpose behind optical/digital cables is to simplify the process behind setting up devices like this. After banging my head into the wall for about 2-3 days, I'm at my wits end. The only thing I can think of is spending a ton of money on new receivers and cables in the hopes that things will work again.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

The only "real" digital solution has been HDMI. Optical and coaxial digital cables were simply an upgrade to existing analog RCA cables. In any case, I understand your frustration.

If you decide to experiment again, try setting the TV back to (factory) default. You will obviously need to make any settings necessary for your setup. But it will ensure you have a clean slate. Also, as you are using an optical cable, are you seeing the signal? You can typically tell when optical is working as it's lit red (note sometimes they are lit all the time, so that may not help). I would suggest testing with a new/different cable. It's also possible the TV or AVR input is faulty.


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## Rookx (Sep 2, 2012)

I recently hooked the DTV DVR to the Receiver using a coaxial cable, and the PS3 to the receiver using optical, and the Wii to the Receiver using component cables... The result was Sound working fine for the DTV DVR and Wii, but no Surround Sound for the PS3.

I've tried having the PS3 configured to output audio through both optical and HDMI cables, in addition to configuring the Receiver to output to both TV and DVD through Coax/Optical (note that swapping the receiver over to say the input for DTV being either TV or DVD was a seemless and successful swap, but the PS3 won't work on either, and only outputs sound through the TV Speakers).

I called Panasonic for the TV and they told me the problem is in the configuration of the Receiver. They also "walked me through" the audio setup options on the TV, of which there are only two places to change the audio setup, and they are options I was already more than aware of, and have used in every combination I could think of.

Plan on calling Pioneer for the Receiver on Monday (closed on weekends), but to say I'm frustrated is somewhat of an understatement at this point - nothing that should logically work is functioning. My only thought at this point is that the Television isn't translating ANY audio signals, as anything that seems to connect to it via HDMI or Optical is not communicating it with the receiver to surround sound.


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