Dashboard Update (aka the HDMI Audio fix)


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really? I seem to be getting only stereo over HDMI, when I get DolbyDigital over opical cable... am I doing something wrong?

you arent doing anything wrong, but your receiver prob only has passthrough for HDMI audio and not a repeater. With passthrough only the receiver is able to pick up stereo audio only, receivers with a repeater will use the full 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 signal originally sent. So in your case using optical input is your best choice.

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you arent doing anything wrong, but your receiver prob only has passthrough for HDMI audio and not a repeater. With passthrough only the receiver is able to pick up stereo audio only, receivers with a repeater will use the full 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 signal originally sent. So in your case using optical input is your best choice.

o_O

Wow, didn't know that! Gonna have to look at the settings if I have repeater mode, even though I doubt it (((

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you arent doing anything wrong, but your receiver prob only has passthrough for HDMI audio and not a repeater. With passthrough only the receiver is able to pick up stereo audio only, receivers with a repeater will use the full 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 signal originally sent. So in your case using optical input is your best choice.
o_O

Wow, didn't know that! Gonna have to look at the settings if I have repeater mode, even though I doubt it (((

Errrr...I don't think that's accurate at ALL.

If it's "passthrough", it literally passes through the ENTIRE signal, for it to pass only the stereo sound, it would need to decode the digital 5.1 track and encode the stereo one. A "passthrough" and "repeater" are the same things in this instance.

For certain devices, like the Sky HD box, they only encode a stereo signal on HDMI in the first place (which is why you'll see a lot of Sky users still using optical), but the 360 can put the full 5.1 down it.

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Errrr...I don't think that's accurate at ALL.

If it's "passthrough", it literally passes through the ENTIRE signal, for it to pass only the stereo sound, it would need to decode the digital 5.1 track and encode the stereo one. A "passthrough" and "repeater" are the same things in this instance.

For certain devices, like the Sky HD box, they only encode a stereo signal on HDMI in the first place (which is why you'll see a lot of Sky users still using optical), but the 360 can put the full 5.1 down it.

OK, here's my setup:

Xbox - HDMI - TV (Samsung) - Optical cable - sound reciever

With this set up my reciever shows stereo input only, probably my TV is downmixing sound???

On the other hand if I connect xbox to TV with VGA cable and xbox - reciever with optical cable, reciever shows pure 5.1 signal.

So the problem is in my TV right?

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Errrr...I don't think that's accurate at ALL.

If it's "passthrough", it literally passes through the ENTIRE signal, for it to pass only the stereo sound, it would need to decode the digital 5.1 track and encode the stereo one. A "passthrough" and "repeater" are the same things in this instance.

For certain devices, like the Sky HD box, they only encode a stereo signal on HDMI in the first place (which is why you'll see a lot of Sky users still using optical), but the 360 can put the full 5.1 down it.

hmm... i guess i just assumed by b0m8er original post that he is only getting stereo sound from his tv... which is what will happen if he plugs an HDMI source into his receiver that does not have an hdmi repeater. Either way, if b0m8er does not have a receiver capable of repeating the HDMI then he will not be able to get 5.1 without using optical. b0m8er... can you post what receiver model you have?

"With this set up my reciever shows stereo input only, probably my TV is downmixing sound???"

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hmm... i guess i just assumed by b0m8er original post that he is only getting stereo sound from his tv... which is what will happen if he plugs an HDMI source into his receiver that does not have an hdmi repeater. Either way, if b0m8er does not have a receiver capable of repeating the HDMI then he will not be able to get 5.1 without using optical. b0m8er... can you post what receiver model you have?

That is not true at all, he'll either get the full audio digest of the signal or nothing. The receiver wont downmix the output, it doesn't make sense to. We've already established that it's his TV that's the problem here, not the receiver. And the TV's problem is that it's only outputting stereo over optical.

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I just use HDMI out straight into my TV and then have a basic amp hanging off the TV's optical port - hadn't run into any problems prior to getting the update a few nights ago!

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That is not true at all, he'll either get the full audio digest of the signal or nothing. The receiver wont downmix the output, it doesn't make sense to. We've already established that it's his TV that's the problem here, not the receiver. And the TV's problem is that it's only outputting stereo over optical.

right... and last time i checked... there are no tvs that have 5.1....so he will still only have 2 channel audio with 2 speakers so as ive originally stated... if he wants 5.1 audio via HDMI he will need a receiver that repeats the HDMI signal.... otherwise the receiver does NOTHING with the audio signal.

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No, you said he'll only get stereo sound from his TV if he plugs HDMI into a reciever "without a repeater". That doesn't make sense, if it doesn't "repeat" the signal, he wont get any sound, if it DOES "repeat" the signal, he'll get the full original (5.1) signal. Now he's not getting stereo from his TV, he's getting stereo from his receiver, a receiver (presumably) capable of 5.1.

The problem is not the receiver at all, the problem is that his HDMI cable is being plugged into his TV first, THEN an optical cable is going from the TV to the reciever, the TV is only encoding a 2channel optical output. It has nothing to do with what his receiver is "repeating" or not.

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OK.. this is waaaay off topic so i hope this clears things up...

REPEATING HDMI RECEIVER - xbox --HDMI--> receiver --HDMI--> TV = 5.1 audio signal, and is decoded by receiver and sent to the surround sound speakers

PASSTHROUGH HDMI RECEIVER - xbox --HDMI--> receiver --HDMI--> TV - 5.1 audio signal but only 2 speakers on the TV so 5.1 audio signal does you no good, and yes i am aware of what he was trying to do with sending the signal back to the receiver via optical... which i know samsung tvs are unable to do

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OK.. this is waaaay off topic so i hope this clears things up...

REPEATING HDMI RECEIVER - xbox --HDMI--> receiver --HDMI--> TV = 5.1 audio signal, and is decoded by receiver and sent to the surround sound speakers

PASSTHROUGH HDMI RECEIVER - xbox --HDMI--> receiver --HDMI--> TV - 5.1 audio signal but only 2 speakers on the TV so 5.1 audio signal does you no good, and yes i am aware of what he was trying to do with sending the signal back to the receiver via optical... which i know samsung tvs are unable to do

And his setup is neither of those.

His goes

Xbox --HDMI--> TV --Optical--> Receiver.

Which is what I said, repeatedly. Which is the problem. His TV is only outputting 2channel via optical.

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And his setup is neither of those.

His goes

Xbox --HDMI--> TV --Optical--> Receiver.

Which is what I said, repeatedly. Which is the problem. His TV is only outputting 2channel via optical.

gotcha... ill read better next time... but he def needs to change his setup .. that just doesnt make sense.

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Quite a lot of TVs have optical output, which would be a good idea, since it means everything that connects to your TV can output digital audio, but for some reason a lot of those TVs only do stereo over optical, which to me defeats the bloody purpose of the whole thing.

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Quite a lot of TVs have optical output, which would be a good idea, since it means everything that connects to your TV can output digital audio, but for some reason a lot of those TVs only do stereo over optical, which to me defeats the bloody purpose of the whole thing.

yea... my samsung has the optical out as well and when i read it only sends stereo i thought "whats the point"... but at the same time.. why would you not send the optical directly to the receiver?...

on another note... how come with HDMI xboxes if you switch your receiver to another input it will reset the xbox?... they need an update for that... my ps3 stays on no matter what input i choose for my receiver...

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yea... my samsung has the optical out as well and when i read it only sends stereo i thought "whats the point"... but at the same time.. why would you not send the optical directly to the receiver?...

on another note... how come with HDMI xboxes if you switch your receiver to another input it will reset the xbox?... they need an update for that... my ps3 stays on no matter what input i choose for my receiver...

That only happens if you use the HDMI cable with one of the other AV leads in at the same time, to which you need to dismantle to fit in correctly (presumably to get optical). It can be fixed by clipping a wire inside said AV lead.

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I haven't had any problems with my setup... but I was just reading this thread, and now I have a couple questions.

My current setup is XBOX --> HDMI --> RECEIVER --> HDMI --> TV. What do I need to do to make sure that I am getting full 5.1 from the xbox to my speakers connected to the receiver? I usually have the receiver set to DTS surround decode or something like that. I've never had problems with muted audio, but now I am wondering if I have it set up correctly... can anyone verify my setup?

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If your receiver is on 5.1 and the output is set to dolby digital in the 360's system settings, everything should be fine. Try playing a game like COD, throw a grenade behind you then quickly turn around, you should notice the explosion effect move around you.

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If your receiver is on 5.1 and the output is set to dolby digital in the 360's system settings, everything should be fine. Try playing a game like COD, throw a grenade behind you then quickly turn around, you should notice the explosion effect move around you.

I don't have CoD, but I can test it in fable 2 today... I'll see if its working correctly. The two modes I always find myself flipping between on my receiver are "DTS sur. dec." and "5 Ch. Music Enhancement" but to be honest I'm not really sure what I should have it set on.

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That only happens if you use the HDMI cable with one of the other AV leads in at the same time, to which you need to dismantle to fit in correctly (presumably to get optical). It can be fixed by clipping a wire inside said AV lead.

hmm.. ill check again today.. but i know my xbox will not boot to dashboard until I am on the correct input on my receiver.. no other av leads plugged in.

I don't have CoD, but I can test it in fable 2 today... I'll see if its working correctly. The two modes I always find myself flipping between on my receiver are "DTS sur. dec." and "5 Ch. Music Enhancement" but to be honest I'm not really sure what I should have it set on.

what type of receiver is it... look for AFD or auto format decoding... this setting will provide you with the optimal setting as long as you have your 360 settings correct..

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