No audio from AppleTV->(HDMI)->TV->(optical)->Amp

Question

No audio from AppleTV->(HDMI)->TV->(optical)->Amp

I have a setup with three devices, a (HD)TV box, a PS4, and an AppleTV (v2). I also have an LG TV (42LG5030) and an Onkyo HT-R518 AV receiver.

Currently, I have my TV box, PS4, and AppleTV outputs all connected via HDMI to the AV receiver HDMI in. The HDMI out on the AV receiver is connected to the TV. I then have the optical out on the TV running from the TV back to the AV receiver. With this setup I mute the sound from the built-in TV speaker, and all sound comes through the (surround-sound setup) speakers connected to the AV receiver.

With this setup, the PS4 and the TV box both have no issues. They show video and audio with no problem. However, the AppleTV sound does not play through the receiver. I have tried:

1. Resetting the AppleTV (does nothing)

2. Changing the "Dolby" setting to "on" or "off" (rather than "auto") (does nothing)

3. Changing the output format to 16bit (does nothing)

4. Unmuting the TV speaker (AppleTV sound DOES come through the TV speaker)

5. Connecting the AppleTV directly to the TV via HDMI (sound does work in this case)

Why won't the AppleTV play nice with the setup that all the other devices use?

Posted on Dec 29, 2014 10:19 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 29, 2014 10:34 AM in response to richarddmorey

If you have all the boxes connected to the AV receiver via HDMI why are you round tripping the audio back from the TV? The AV recover should play the audio coming in on the HDMI connections without having to go out to the TV and back again.

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Answer 2

Dec 29, 2014 11:11 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

That's the documented behaviour of this receiver. The receiver passes the HDMI signal to the TV, the audio from which must then be sent back to the receiver. This works fine for all my other devices.

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Answer 3

Dec 29, 2014 11:16 AM in response to richarddmorey

Not according to this

from Model : HT-S5105 (HT-R518 + HTP-518), HT-R518 - Onkyo

No modern AV receiver would require you to do what you are doing. I have own multiple Onkyo AV receivers and none of them required this.

regards

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Answer 4

Dec 29, 2014 1:09 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Eh, the diagram you've posted shows that you are wrong about that the receiver should "play the audio coming in on the HDMI connections". It shows optical connections going from each device to the receiver; the receiver cannot decode the HDMI signal to extract the audio. From the manual (p 73):

"To listen to an audio source that’s connected to an HDMI input, make sure that input is assigned to an input selector (page 36). HDMI audio is passed through the AV receiver and can only be heard from your TV."

The receiver only has 2 optical inputs, so I could not connect it like the diagram (I have 3 devices). Connecting everything through the TV's optical connection means that I can use one optical input for all devices. There is nothing wrong with my setup, that I can tell. The AppleTV is simply not cooperating.

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Answer 5

Dec 29, 2014 1:44 PM in response to richarddmorey

Frank is correct, the diagram shows all possible connections, it doesn't suggest you make them all. i.e. there would be little point connecting digital and analogue at the same time would there.

You shouldn't need any optical cables if all your devices have HDMI.

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Answer 6

Dec 29, 2014 2:19 PM in response to Winston Churchill

Both of you are incorrect, at least according to both my experience (the receiver does not play the audio from HDMI devices) and the receiver manual. In addition to the excerpt above, the manual also states on page 19:

"Audio signals received by the HDMI IN jacks are output only by the HDMI OUT (pass thru). HDMI sources are not output by the speakers connected to the AV receiver."

(see also pages 26 and 27)

The receiver does not decode the HDMI signal. So, yes, there could be a reason to have a digital and analog connection at the same time: to output the audio. As I said, the setup I have *works* for devices other than the AppleTV, and is wholly consistent with the documentation. In fact, it is the setup described on page 20 of the manual (see here: http://www.de.onkyo.com/downloads/1/1/7/0/8/21438843_6193c08a1b.pdf and note the optical connection between the TV and the receiver). I appreciate your attempt to help, but if you want to try to answer the question please take the general setup as given, because it is a setup described in the receiver manual.

If you have a *specific* reason why this setup won't work with the AppleTV, that might be helpful, but it does work with my other devices which are connected in exactly the same way.

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Answer 7

Dec 29, 2014 2:46 PM in response to richarddmorey

It appears you are correct, however that's quite unusual, many TV's don't have an optical out and very few have a DAC unit for conversion to analogue, so there will be a lot of TV's your receiver won't work with. However...

Check your receiver supports 48 KHz Audio at 12/16 bit. You may need to ask the manufacturer, I can't see it mentioned in the manual.

By the way, do you get a picture on screen when you use the Apple TV in this set up and do you get audio from the TV speakers if you enable them.

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