How to connect appletv to receiver with only one hdmi port already connected to tv

Question

Level 1

6 points

How to connect appletv to receiver with only one hdmi port already connected to tv

Hi all. Just bought a new laptop and an appletv so i could get mirroring and streaming going. Problem is I have only one hdmi port on my tv (its old) and only one on my sony blu-ray player, which is just an hdmi output (also a few years old) which acts as the receiver into which my internet and speakers connect and interact.

I'm not too savvy on hdmi, but can i get what i'm seeing on google called an "hdmi splitter" (or is "hdmi switcher" i want?) to solve the problem? Will that effectively act like a power strip? Or does the switcher only allow one signal at a time to go in/out and you have to switch between them? Also, i'm guessing I can't use the splitter on the bluray if it only has an output port, but maybe on the tv? If I use a switcher on the tv hdmi and plug the bluray and appletv into it, will the appletv be able to reach the speakers connected to the bluray, or does the switch mean only one can operate once? If the latter, I will a toslink optical audio cable connecting the atv to the bluray solve the problem?

Alternatively it looks like I can run a optical cable from the tv to the receiver the speakers are connected to. In theory then i could connect the appletv via hdmi directly to the tv, and run the audio out of the tv and into the bluray receiver, and just use that as an audio receiver and forget about video from it since i have the appletv now. Anyone tried that? I don't have an optical cable so will need to pick one up to test.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Posted on Nov 16, 2013 4:47 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 16, 2013 5:21 PM in response to ezsobre

In what way does the BD player act as a receiver, does it have inputs and if so what are they.

A splitter won't work, the Apple TV expects to communicate with one display, two would confuse it. Awitch may help, but not all switches will work with the Apple TV.

Reply

Answer 2

ezsobre Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 16, 2013 5:30 PM in response to Winston Churchill

The BD is connected to the speakers and the internet. If i want to get sound from my tv, or ipod, or atv, etc., its got to connect to that somehow. So i suppose its a receiver for audio inputs. I currently use it to stream stuff on my computer via DLNA, but having the appletv now obviates the need for that, and all the apps i can get on the BD, netflix, hulu, etc., i can funnel through atv. But without it i have no stereo system for my music or tv. As for inputs, it has audio in, digital in, video out, hdmi out, usb, and ethernet.

Any suggestions for a switch? If i understand how those work correct, you can't run both streams at once. So if i have a switch on the tv, and atv and the bluray are plugged into it, what i'd need to do is run an optical cable from the atv to the blueray, which has an optical port, to ensure what's on the atv comes out of the blueray speaker system instead of the tv speakers (which are terrible).

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 16, 2013 5:45 PM in response to ezsobre

If the BD player has an optical input, use that for audio. You'd need to add a switch, which the Apple TV and BD player would connect to as inputs with the output to the TV. Yes, you need to switch between one input or the other, you can't have both on together. As for which switch, I can' t help I'm afraid, I don't have one.

Reply

Answer 4

ezsobre Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 17, 2013 8:24 AM in response to Winston Churchill

I think i found a solution that doesn't require a switch. Toslink cable from atv to sony bluray. Put bluray in audio mode. Run hdmi from atv to tv. Done. Thanks for your help.

Reply

Answer 5

Nov 17, 2013 12:43 PM in response to ezsobre

If you can do that, that would be your best solution. But I thought the TV only had one HDMI port which was being used by the BD player.

Reply

Answer 6

ezsobre Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 17, 2013 2:33 PM in response to Winston Churchill

I had the bluray model wrong. Its a 570, which as an optical in from a tv. I set it in tv mode (rather than audio), connect the appletv with optical cable, and then connect appletv with hdmi to my tv, and it works like a charm.

Reply

Answer 7

Nov 17, 2013 2:41 PM in response to ezsobre

Good to hear. 🙂

Reply