how do you connect your apple tv to your home theater system?

Welcome to the Apple Community.

If you connect the HDMI cable from the Apple TV to your home theatre system, you need to connect the home theatre system to the TV with another HDMI cable. If you connect the HDMI cable from the Apple TV to your TV, you need to connect an optical cable between the Apple TV and the home theatre system.

sounds logical. My tv is already connected to receiver so I have to go out and buy a cable. I knew it was too easy to be true. I wish my apple sales rep explained that to me when I was in the store.

Thanks

I have a similar question . . .

I have an HDMI port on my TV (which is a monitor only) but no HDMI on my home theatre (component and optical ports only). If i connect Apple TV to my TV via HDMI I don't get sound (as expected). If I add an optical cable from the apple tv to my home theartre will that give me sound?

I, also, have a similar question...my Denon AV receiver is HDMI compatible but the Pioneer plasma tv is across the room and can only be connected by component cables, I.e., is not HDMI compatible. Is there any other connection option for this configuration?

That will give you sound. On many devices you would typically go into the settings and set which is for video and which output is for audio. Apple like on my of their devices chooses automatically for you. Sometimes a good thing sometimes not so good. However this should give you your desired result. Good luck.