AC3 hdmi -> optical pass through

[chainsov]

AC3 dolby digital is currently being output as a stereo pcm stream on the optical output for devices connected by hdmi.
It works if you play a movie with ac3 sound from usb or stream it over the network from the pc, but if you use a hdmi device like an xbox360 or a standalone player all you get is stereo.

its just plain stupid if you have an xbox360 connected through hdmi and have to also connect the component cable so that you just can use the optical plug on it to connect it to the reciever.
it just contradicts the purpose of hdmi as a multimedia cable.

and even if your reciever has enough digital inputs, it sucks to be switching inputs on the reciever additionally to tv.

Samsung just says its not supported and you should have RTFM


It would be great to get this working, I have seen lots of people on different forums complain about this.

[sirmatto]

Sorry to bump, but this would be a wonderful feature. I have an older receiver that doesn't do HDMI, but does optical in, so having HDMI>Optical surround pass-through would save me the costs of buying a new receiver.

I'm not sure if this is a physical limitation of the TV or if it's implemented in software for some kind of "copy protection".

[chainsov]

I doubt its a physical limitation, it does output ac3 on the optical out if you a watch a movie over the internal tuner, from usb or even when you stream it over ethernet.
Seems more like a software limitation.

It would be a truly awesome feature.
Not needing a hdmi reciever or a reciever with lots of digital inputs, just an active surround system with a built-in DD/DTS decoder with 1 optical in would be enough.
Not needing to switch inputs on the reciever additionally to switching sources on the TV.
Not needing to break your x360 component cable jack just so you can connect a hdmi cable and the component cable.
Damn, if it would work I would have bought a surround system model with the dd/dts decoder built in and donated my old reciever to better causes to save space and have less remote controls.

[lexxai]

AC3 dolby digital is currently being output as a stereo pcm stream on the optical output for devices connected by hdmi.

I check it at LE40B750 (2004.1) and connected via HDMI player WD HD Live. My optical decoder detect DD sound from LE40B750!!!
I read that must be limitation, but as I see that AC3 dolby digital going pass through to my receiver.

[hini7]

I have had that problem with my PS3 and my Onkyo AV receiver. But if I "force" multichannel then it detects AC3 nicely. So I suspect that something similar it's happening with your TV and your receiver/multichannel amp.

[kilroywashere]

Basically the B650 and B750 are able to pass through AC-3 from HDMI input to optical out. The manual is wrong at this point. We had discussed this "problem" in hifi-forum.de. In summary it's always an issue of the HDMI player. Some could fix the player with a newer firmware to get AC-3 from TVs optical out.

[chainsov]

interesting, how the circle closes,
I actually started looking on hifi-forum.de, read about the limitation and that some guys got told by Samsungs Support that it doesn't work and they should RTFM, started looking for hacks and found this nice forum
I wonder on which factors it depends and will have to look around hifi-forum again but it seems I will have to live with this malfunction, cant really upgrade the firmware of my x360

[erdem_ua]

I wish I have optical 7.1 channel sound system

[larsbln]

i was searching for a solution with that stereo passthrough too and found the same post on hifi-forum.de.
I'm using a LE46A786 (same as A789), which is not hacked yet. I would also like to know why it' s not possible
or if its just a license problem

[lelli]

For hdmi optical pass through in x360.
On your x360 go to the display options then go to display discovery and disable it.
After restarting your 360 set your audio settings to 5.1.
And there you go 360 HDMI to TV to optical To 5.1