I want to have my apple TV play audio through my receiver. I have the hdmi going to the tv. is there a way to do this? i couldn't get a signal the first time i tried.
Hi-if I understand correctly you have HDMI going dirct to the TV and it is carrying picture and sound dirct to the TV. If you want a separate audio signal to be fed to your surround amplifier/receiver, use a toslink optical cable from the optiacal out on Apple TV to an optical in on your receiver. Then configure whatever input on the amp you use for Apple TV to select the relevant optical input. The easiest way is HDMI from apple TV to receiver then HDMI from receiver to TV. This is probably the default setting for the relevant input. The HDMI carries video and audio-stereo or Dolby Digital if present.
If you have a digital audio out on your tv you can run the cable from there to your receiver.
In my setup, I've got an AppleTV, upconverting DVD player and HD cable receiver all feeding into my TV via HDMI. This sends audio and video to the TV. I also have a digital coax going from the digital audio out on the TV to my audio receiver so that whenever I switch inputs on the TV, the audio changes automatically on the receiver.