Audio Loss - HDMI Switch & AV Receiver

[LukaKitty]

Hello there.

 

 

__Introduction__

I've recently been setting up my home theater equipment in a new apartment, but I have been experiencing a few problems down the road. Most notably, loss of audio. Due to the handful of devices connected, there wasn't enough HDMI-in ports on my AV receiver. To get around this, I've invested in a HDMI switch, so I can take on more signals from various devices. Since my AV receiver handles the surround sound speakers, everything goes through that.

 

__The Problem__

Temporarily, my consoles would send the signal to the AV receiver, which would then send the signal to the TV, so no problems there. However, to get more inputs, everything went from the consoles, through a HDMI switch, then to an AV receiver, then finally to the TV. But for some reason, this kills the audio signal entirely. None of the consoles detect an audio output anymore, so the speakers remain silent (both on the AV receiver and TV).

 

If there's only 1 "middle man" in this chain (HDMI Switch or AV Receiver), then both audio and video works fine. But if both are added to the chain, the audio is lost entirely, and not even shown as an output on any of the consoles.

 

__Alternatives__

I'm currently thinking of a workaround, where the consoles would send video to the TV directly, and audio would be sent to the AV receiver via TOSLINK for audio. Once I get the necessary cables, I'll be trying that out.

 

__Components__

- Samsung UE32ES635U

- LG HB965TZ

- Delcato HDMI-7044

- PlayStation 3 Super Slim

- Xbox ONE

- Xbox 360 Original

[dalekphalm]

So, I can't speak to why you're having this audio disconnect issue - I'd guess it's a HDCP handshake failure (too many intermediaries perhaps?)

 

As for your alternative - I will warn you: TOSLINK only supports compressed Dolby Digital (DD) or DTS decoding (up to 7.1 in theory but 5.1 in practice). Now, that'll work. But your AV Receiver supports the HD Audio formats for both DD (Dolby TrueHD) and DTS (DTS HD) - these higher quality codecs will not work over TOSLINK.

 

Ideally you would use ARC or eARC, but I looked at the specs of your receiver and it didn't mention ARC at all - so I'm going to assume it does not have ARC or eARC (both your TV and your receiver need to support ARC for it to work).

 

As an alternative, you could try plugging only select devices directly into the AV Receiver (whichever ones you care the most about audio quality). Then, have the rest of the devices connect directly to the TV (either with or without the HDMI Switch) and use TOSLINK from the TV back to the receiver for the devices you care less about. This is a messy solution though.

 

You could also try looking for a different HDMI switch - one that has been tested to work with an AV Receiver?

[LukaKitty]

15 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

So, I can't speak to why you're having this audio disconnect issue - I'd guess it's a HDCP handshake failure (too many intermediaries perhaps?)

 

As for your alternative - I will warn you: TOSLINK only supports compressed Dolby Digital (DD) or DTS decoding (up to 7.1 in theory but 5.1 in practice). Now, that'll work. But your AV Receiver supports the HD Audio formats for both DD (Dolby TrueHD) and DTS (DTS HD) - these higher quality codecs will not work over TOSLINK.

 

Ideally you would use ARC or eARC, but I looked at the specs of your receiver and it didn't mention ARC at all - so I'm going to assume it does not have ARC or eARC (both your TV and your receiver need to support ARC for it to work).

 

As an alternative, you could try plugging only select devices directly into the AV Receiver (whichever ones you care the most about audio quality). Then, have the rest of the devices connect directly to the TV (either with or without the HDMI Switch) and use TOSLINK from the TV back to the receiver for the devices you care less about. This is a messy solution though.

 

You could also try looking for a different HDMI switch - one that has been tested to work with an AV Receiver?

I'll admit, it's a bit of a bummer to lose out on a few features, simply because I can't receive audio on my AV receiver, due to the HDMI splitter being in between of it all.

 

I've done some research on TOSLINK in the past, so I'm aware that the audio signal will have compressed audio... I'm not happy about it, but it's the option I've got, if I want to retain a 5.1 surround sound signal. And luckily, my AV receiver happens to have 2 of them.

 

I did try a different HDMI switch (Delcato HDMI-7026), because it had a remote. However, that one couldn't even drive 1080p, despite being advertised as being able to run at 4k. My laptop couldn't do 1080p with it either, so I replaced it, with what I have now. However, I also had the weird issue with no audio on that one too.

 

Read an article just now about a guy who sent their PS5's HDMI signal to their TV, then passed on the audio from their TV's TOSLINK out port, to their AV receiver's TOSLINK in port. This however, was because the PS5 didn't have the TOSLINK connector.

[dalekphalm]

9 minutes ago, LukaKitty said:

I'll admit, it's a bit of a bummer to lose out on a few features, simply because I can't receive audio on my AV receiver, due to the HDMI splitter being in between of it all.

 

I've done some research on TOSLINK in the past, so I'm aware that the audio signal will have compressed audio... I'm not happy about it, but it's the option I've got, if I want to retain a 5.1 surround sound signal. And luckily, my AV receiver happens to have 2 of them.

 

I did try a different HDMI switch (Delcato HDMI-7026), because it had a remote. However, that one couldn't even drive 1080p, despite being advertised as being able to run at 4k. My laptop couldn't do 1080p with it either, so I replaced it, with what I have now. However, I also had the weird issue with no audio on that one too.

 

9 minutes ago, LukaKitty said:

Read an article just now about a guy who sent their PS5's HDMI signal to their TV, then passed on the audio from their TV's TOSLINK out port, to their AV receiver's TOSLINK in port. This however, was because the PS5 didn't have the TOSLINK connector.

Yes this is a pretty standard setup: Plug everything into the TV, use TOSLINK back to your receiver. It has all the same drawbacks as direct TOSLINK connections.

 

As I said before, I would suggest the best alternative right now is to connect 2 devices directly to the Receiver (whichever 2 you care most about the audio), then connect the rest of them directly to the TV, and use TOSLINK (from TV back to the Receiver) for surround.

 

It's a compromise between all TOSLINK (downgraded audio for all devices) and all HDMI (does not work).

 

Edited to add: if any of the non-important devices have TOSLINK output, you can of course just connect one of them directly to the AV Receiver - but you're probably going to need to use the TV's TOSLINK regardless, so just using the TV's TOSLINK might be simplified.

[LukaKitty]

14 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

 

Yes this is a pretty standard setup: Plug everything into the TV, use TOSLINK back to your receiver. It has all the same drawbacks as direct TOSLINK connections.

 

As I said before, I would suggest the best alternative right now is to connect 2 devices directly to the Receiver (whichever 2 you care most about the audio), then connect the rest of them directly to the TV, and use TOSLINK (from TV back to the Receiver) for surround.

 

It's a compromise between all TOSLINK (downgraded audio for all devices) and all HDMI (does not work).

 

Edited to add: if any of the non-important devices have TOSLINK output, you can of course just connect one of them directly to the AV Receiver - but you're probably going to need to use the TV's TOSLINK regardless, so just using the TV's TOSLINK might be simplified.

I did some digging, in regards to pulling a TOSLINK cable from the TV, to the AV receiver. As far as I could find out, this might end up downsampling a surround sound signal to stereo, and some other stuff, depending on the TV. To avoid this alltogether, I ended up trying a different solution.

 

My current solution, was to splt up the audio and video channels respectively. The video feed gets sent directly to the TV through the HDMI switch, while the AV receiver handles the audio feed.

 

Only reason I still keep a HDMI cable connected between the AV receiver and the TV, is so I can use a laptop, have a friend use the Nintendo Switch, or just configure the AV receiver if needed.

[dalekphalm]

On 1/22/2022 at 8:27 AM, LukaKitty said:

I did some digging, in regards to pulling a TOSLINK cable from the TV, to the AV receiver. As far as I could find out, this might end up downsampling a surround sound signal to stereo, and some other stuff, depending on the TV. To avoid this alltogether, I ended up trying a different solution.

 

My current solution, was to splt up the audio and video channels respectively. The video feed gets sent directly to the TV through the HDMI switch, while the AV receiver handles the audio feed.

 

Only reason I still keep a HDMI cable connected between the AV receiver and the TV, is so I can use a laptop, have a friend use the Nintendo Switch, or just configure the AV receiver if needed.

This solution definitely works.

 

What type of content do you care the most about in regards to Surround Sound quality? TV? Movies? Blu-Ray Discs/Streaming?

 

In regards to the above question, which device do you watch these things on? Your Receiver has 2 HDMI ports - you should use at least one of them with the XBO (I'm assuming this is the device you're using for the high quality content).

 

Keep the rest the same, but connect the XBO to the AV Receiver over HDMI.

[LukaKitty]

On 1/24/2022 at 4:55 AM, dalekphalm said:

This solution definitely works.

 

What type of content do you care the most about in regards to Surround Sound quality? TV? Movies? Blu-Ray Discs/Streaming?

 

In regards to the above question, which device do you watch these things on? Your Receiver has 2 HDMI ports - you should use at least one of them with the XBO (I'm assuming this is the device you're using for the high quality content).

 

Keep the rest the same, but connect the XBO to the AV Receiver over HDMI.

The type of content I typically consume in surround sound, would be video games, and movies (disc & streaming). Stereo is fine, but doesn't quite immerse me the same way surround sound does.

 

The reason all of the consoles go through the HDMI switch, is to keep it simple. Consoles go through the HDMI splitter, and everything else through the HDMI ports on the AV receiver. Otherwise, it becomes a bit of a mess, as well as making it a pain to switch between sources on not only the AV receiver, but the TV as well. >.<

I'm like a strict parent when it comes to stuff like this: Device #1 does "this", device #2 does "that", no exceptions!

 

One of the AV receiver's HDMI ports, is reserved for laptops, or whatever device a guest might bring. The other HDMI port on the AV receiver will most likely be used on a future Chromecast, MiraCast, or whatever else my girlfriend and I decide to get.

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, LukaKitty said:

The type of content I typically consume in surround sound, would be video games, and movies (disc & streaming). Stereo is fine, but doesn't quite immerse me the same way surround sound does.

 

The reason all of the consoles go through the HDMI switch, is to keep it simple. Consoles go through the HDMI splitter, and everything else through the HDMI ports on the AV receiver. Otherwise, it becomes a bit of a mess, as well as making it a pain to switch between sources on not only the AV receiver, but the TV as well. >.<

I'm like a strict parent when it comes to stuff like this: Device #1 does "this", device #2 does "that", no exceptions!

 

One of the AV receiver's HDMI ports, is reserved for laptops, or whatever device a guest might bring. The other HDMI port on the AV receiver will most likely be used on a future Chromecast, MiraCast, or whatever else my girlfriend and I decide to get.

shrugs - if this helps keep things easier, that's totally fine. But you are going to get a downgrade in audio by having one of the consoles on TOSLINK instead of directly over HDMI.

 

Either way - if this situation works for you, that's awesome!

[LukaKitty]

On 1/26/2022 at 4:02 AM, dalekphalm said:

shrugs - if this helps keep things easier, that's totally fine. But you are going to get a downgrade in audio by having one of the consoles on TOSLINK instead of directly over HDMI.

 

Either way - if this situation works for you, that's awesome!

If anything, I could always just use my laptop for movies and streaming, which goes through HDMI for better audio and stuff!

 

I just hate making stuff a complete mess to understand.