Home Theatre issues - HDMI Passthrough or ARC?

Drphods on 16/01/2019 - 16:48

Hey Guys, I have a dilemma I need help with. I bought myself a Samsung 75" NU8000 TV recently.

A friend has given me a hard drive with movies, many 4K, the rest 1080P. Most of them have 5.1 sound.

When I run them on my TV, I get the message 'Audio Format not Supported'. I then run them through my Android TV Box (Xiaomi MiBox) and the picture and sound work fine, but here's the problem. I have my TV box connected to the TV via HDMI. I then have my TV connected to my Home Theater amp via optical (TOSlink). The 5.1 sound coming from my MiBox ends up as 2.0 sound coming into my amp.

The AMP is quite old and doesn't have HDMI inputs, let alone HDMI-passthrough or ARC (I really don't understand these formats anyway).

The same thing happens with Blurays played via my Bluray player, they go into the TV as DTS/Dolby 5.1 but end up at my amp as 2.0.
If I run Netflix on my TV, it ends up at the amp as 5.1, so that is confusing me.

Do I need a new AMP or is there a workaround?

Will I need to get an Nvidia Shield in place of the MiBox?

Thanks in advance.

Electrical & Electronics Home Theatre System

Comments

  • HighAndDry on 16/01/2019 - 16:58

    I have my TV box connected to the TV via HDMI. I then have my TV connected to my Home Theater amp

    What TV do you have and does it have HDMI audio passthrough? That's what you're looking for.

    It may be the case that only specific HDMI inputs on your TV support passthrough, so you have to connect your TV Box to one of those instead, but without knowing your TV model, can't say.

    Edit: I'm an idiot, it's right there in your first line you have a Samsung 75" NU8000.

    Try going to the Settings here on your TV:

    Settings>Sound>Expert Settings> Digital Output Audio Format

    But it seems your TV might just not support HDMI audio passthrough at all, and you might need to try an HDMI Audio splitter, something like this:

    https://www.jaycar.com.au/hdmi-1-4-audio-extractor/p/AC1741, or

    https://www.amazon.com.au/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter…

    So you split the HDMI signal from your TV Box/Bluray Player, video goes to TV, audio goes via optical direct to your amp.

    • spackbace on 16/01/2019 - 17:18

      Try going to the Settings here on your TV:

      Settings>Sound>Expert Settings> Digital Output Audio Format

      That sounds like the right fix tbh, don't get too hung up on the passthrough, something is wrong with the optical output I think

      • Drphods on 16/01/2019 - 18:28

        Hey Spackbace, if something was wrong with optical output, Netflix wouldn't play in 5.1 via optical would it?

        • djkelly69 on 16/01/2019 - 18:32

          Maybe something to do with how the TV deals with external (TV box/Bluray) or internal (Netflix) audio sources? Although not sure I have ever seen a setting for this.

    • Drphods on 24/01/2019 - 17:13
      +1

      @HigandDry I received the device from Amazon. It works beautifully with my Blu-ray player, but not with my Mi Box. I've ordered a Mi Box s (4K) which supposedly supports DTS and Dolby Digital, so we'll see.

      • HighAndDry on 24/01/2019 - 17:16

        Thanks for the feedback, that's strange - it should work on all HDMI outputs because HDMI is supposed to be a standard. Let us know how you go and glad to hear it's at least partially working.

  • spackbace on 16/01/2019 - 17:19

    Ultimate solution would be an Xbox One S plus the TV tuner, and use that as your base of operations. Output video to TV, audio to amp. That's my current setup :)

    Or upgrade the amp

    • Drphods on 16/01/2019 - 18:31

      I don't do gaming at all, but my 11 and 12 year old daughters would like an Xbox I'm sure. I've been thinking about this as I believe it becomes a media player, to play files from a hard drive and it also plays Bluray UHD discs.

      • spackbace on 16/01/2019 - 18:33

        Yep, sure will. Xbox One S can be bought pretty cheap on special. Grab the TV tuner and a logitech universal remote, and it's a 1-stop shop for Netflix, Plex, Blu-ray, as well as FTA

  • srsparky on 16/01/2019 - 17:34

    I think you'll find TVs only output stereo over toslink.. I vaguely remember reading about it about 5 years ago…

    Quick link for you.

    • HighAndDry on 16/01/2019 - 18:22

      The link seems to say that some TVs do and some TVs don't, but it's not due to the type of connection or that it's a TOSLink, it's just how the TV is implementing its HDMI audio.

    • Drphods on 16/01/2019 - 18:30

      Thanks, interesting.

  • Halo375 on 16/01/2019 - 20:10

    I think your mi box accepts 3.5mm optical out for audio (not sure what that connection is called). Send all your audio via optical straight to the amp, video can send via the HDMI to the tv.

    • Drphods on 17/01/2019 - 22:59

      The mi box has 3.5mm but it's like a headphone jack, not an optical output.

  • tabz on 16/01/2019 - 20:36
    +1

    This site says that the NU8000 doesn't support 5.1 optical passthrough using DTS, but supports 5.1 optical passthrough using Dolby Digital.

    If your input sources has Dolby Digital in the audio output settings, I suggest switching to that (from DTS) and test to see if that works.

    • Drphods on 17/01/2019 - 22:58

      Hey tabz, yes that's what I've discovered.dolby plays in 5.1 DTS doesn't play at all.

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