optical out outputting signal even after stop sending airtunes

Hi there - I have a very specific issue. I used to enjoy using my Airtunes to send music via the optical out from my Express to my home theater receiver (Denon). The way I set it up, my TV cable sound input shared the same input as my Airtunes. This allowed me to watch TV normally and then when I wanted to stream my music to my home theater, all I would have to do was send an Airtunes signal to the Express. My receiver would then automatically sense an incoming digital signal and mute the TV sound and play my music. Therefore, I didnt have to change any inputs on my receiver - it just switched them automatically from the TV signal to my music stream. This also allowed me to listen to my music and still watch TV at the same time. When I wanted the TV sound back, all I had to do was stop my Airtunes stream. Like magic my TV sound would come back once the receiver was no longer getting a signal over the optical cable from the Express.

For some reason, (I believe after updating to firmware v6.2 or so) when I send the Express an airtunes signal, all works fine. But when I stop the airtunes stream, my TV sound doesnt come back. I figured out that the Express is still outputing a signal because if you pull out the toslink cable, you can see the red light still beaming out digital signal. Therefore, it seems like even though I shut off the music stream in iTunes, the Express still is outputting a signal. After yanking out the toslink cable from the Express (therefore eliminating its connection to the receiver) my TV sounds comes back.

Any ideas how I can get the Express to stop outputting a signal to my Denon receiver after I stop sending it an Airtunes stream? Right now my only workaround is to unplug and re-plug the Express (hardly an solution!). Thanks for any tips on a strange esoteric question. 🙂 --smurfdog

powerbook titatium Mac OS X (10.3.9) Airport Express Firmware v6.2

powerbook titatium Mac OS X (10.3.9)