HD300 and DD 5.1 pass through?

[phelme]

I recently left the dark ages of rear projection HDTV's and bought a Samsung plasma. In order to occasionally use the Netflix feature of the TV, I'm running the HD300 through the F8500 via HDMI and then using the optical audio out from the TV to the receiver for audio for both sources, TV and HD300's passed through.

Unfortunately I've now lost DD 5.1 audio from recordings that have it via the HD300, I only get stereo. Netflix playback from the TV is 5.1, so no problem there.

I've seen some grumblings about pass through issues and Samsung TV's on AV forums, some have successfully made it work on their PS3's, XBox's and such by settings on the game consoles. I've tried all the different audio settings on the HD300 (bitstream, HDMI 3.1, PCM, etc.) and still only get stereo. I've also seen some people say that copyright issues preclude passing 5.1 audio through an intermediary device, but obviously if true, some have gotten around it (or that's only for HD audio).

Has anyone been down this path already and figured out a solution?

I may just have to get a splitter of some kind or simply move the Toslink cable from one device to the other depending on what I'm watching.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Well crap, just found this through the avsforum F8500 owners thread. No 5.1 pass through allowed.

[MattHelm]

I kind of have the same issue, so what I did, was hook everything to the receiver, then to the TV. Then for TV sound, I used the optical Out of TV to In on receiver when using the TV as "turner/source". None of the others get the sound to the TV.

Now if HDMI-CEC would work with the receiver as the master, not the TV, all would be fine.

[phelme]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

I kind of have the same issue, so what I did, was hook everything to the receiver, then to the TV. Then for TV sound, I used the optical Out of TV to In on receiver when using the TV as "turner/source". None of the others get the sound to the TV.

Now if HDMI-CEC would work with the receiver as the master, not the TV, all would be fine.

I'll just suck it up and run another Toslink to the receiver.

[KryptoNyte]

Yep, unfortunately the optical out on any display device is not an HDCP complaint path. I ran in to the same problem last year. I just grabbed a $250 Yamaha receiver, with multiple HDMI in's, and one HDMI out (into the TV's HDMI in ARC port). Problem solved (for the most part).

[phelme]

Old thread but I started it dammit so I'm posting more...

Was adding a new center channel last night so re-ran the Yamaha YAPO auto setup. In the process I ran my usual low frequency tests ("There Will Be Blood" has a few good scenes). I was shocked when, for fun, I was running the audio through my Samsung and getting the down sampled 5.1 -> 2 channel PCM mix, that there was -no- LFE info, none. The sub was completely silent.

Is it possible that the Samsung is dropping the LFE when it down samples the signal via the HDMI from the HD300 and on to the optical cable to the receiver? Could it be part of the HDCP spec? I'm not sure what actually happens when the TV resamples the HDMI input? Any ideas?

Edit: Figured it out. The audio options are all greyed and unavailable except 2 ch. PCM unless you select the speakers as "External." Then you can opt for "DTS:Neo" from Digital Output and you'll get a proper mix.

[Fuzzy]

The only proper way to route things is through the receiver. it is the way HDMI/HDCP was designed to be done, and is the only way to get surround throughout.