HDMI and Sound

I am new to this High Def stuff. I am trying to set up a 5.1 surround
sound system. Is the HDMI just for video or does that include video
and audio? I ask because my receiver has HDMI inputs, so do I go from
the cable box to the receiver then from the receiver to my TV (using
HDMI)? I just want HD picture with surround sound.

From what I've been told, only the very high end receivers will take a
"sample" of the sound and feed the audio to the receiver speakers. What I
do with my setup, I run the HDMI from my satellite receiver directly to the
TV, and turn off the speakers through the menu option. I run an optical
audio cable from the satellite receiver to the audio receiver, and it works
great.





"Jon" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am new to this High Def stuff. I am trying to set up a 5.1 surround
sound system. Is the HDMI just for video or does that include video
and audio? I ask because my receiver has HDMI inputs, so do I go from
the cable box to the receiver then from the receiver to my TV (using
HDMI)? I just want HD picture with surround sound.

On Feb 27, 4:02 pm, "Jon" wrote:
I am new to this High Def stuff. I am trying to set up a 5.1 surround
sound system. Is the HDMI just for video or does that include video
and audio? I ask because my receiver has HDMI inputs, so do I go from
the cable box to the receiver then from the receiver to my TV (using
HDMI)? I just want HD picture with surround sound.

HDMI is capable of doing both audio and video however if your receiver
has "passthrough" it's only doing the video and you'll have to handle
the audio separately which is is not a big deal and can be handled
with an optical cable as Paul suggests or any S/PDIF cable.

On Feb 27, 3:02 pm, "Jon" wrote:
I am new to this High Def stuff. I am trying to set up a 5.1 surround
sound system. Is the HDMI just for video or does that include video
and audio? I ask because my receiver has HDMI inputs, so do I go from
the cable box to the receiver then from the receiver to my TV (using
HDMI)? I just want HD picture with surround sound.

HDMI will provide both digital audio and digital video, thats one of
the major selling points. You may need a digital toslink optical
cable from the cable both to a surround sound system though...you can
connect the box to the HDTV via HDMI.

Keith
http://www.eHDMI.com

"Paul J. Veres" wrote in message
t...
From what I've been told, only the very high end receivers will take a
"sample" of the sound and feed the audio to the receiver speakers. What I
do with my setup, I run the HDMI from my satellite receiver directly to
the TV, and turn off the speakers through the menu option. I run an
optical audio cable from the satellite receiver to the audio receiver, and
it works great.


This won't work on many TV's, my Pioneer 5070 for one.
The sound will not be in sync due to the tv's processing time.

I have to use the optical out from my tv to my receiver to be in sync.

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:13:13 GMT, "Nico"
wrote:


"Paul J. Veres" wrote in message
et...
From what I've been told, only the very high end receivers will take a
"sample" of the sound and feed the audio to the receiver speakers. What I
do with my setup, I run the HDMI from my satellite receiver directly to
the TV, and turn off the speakers through the menu option. I run an
optical audio cable from the satellite receiver to the audio receiver, and
it works great.


This won't work on many TV's, my Pioneer 5070 for one.
The sound will not be in sync due to the tv's processing time.

I have to use the optical out from my tv to my receiver to be in sync.

As you say, the TV introduces a delay on the picture. That delay has
to be introduced also to the audio in order to be in sync.

Do I understand correctly that your Pioneer TV takes the audio (on an
external input), applies the correct delay and sends it (back) to the
audio processor?
Does it work also for analogue audio inputs?

I have noted that some new Philips models has a markings on both
digital and analogue audio outputs that says "Display Synchronized"
but I don't know how it works.

I read about the newer HDMI versions and it seems that from version
1.3 it would support (mandatory ?) what I believe to be a transfer of
information from the TV to the audio processor how much the delay
should be to compensate the picture processing time.

Until this gets common we need manual settings in the surround
amplifier to set the delay (or pass the audio through a TV that
applies the delay).

/Jan

On Feb 27, 4:55 pm, "Jonathan Zeppettini" wrote:
On Feb 27, 4:02 pm, "Jon" wrote:

I am new to this High Def stuff. I am trying to set up a 5.1 surround
sound system. Is the HDMI just for video or does that include video
and audio? I ask because my receiver has HDMI inputs, so do I go from
the cable box to the receiver then from the receiver to my TV (using
HDMI)? I just want HD picture with surround sound.

HDMI is capable of doing both audio and video however if your receiver
has "passthrough" it's only doing the video and you'll have to handle
the audio separately which is is not a big deal and can be handled
with an optical cable as Paul suggests or any S/PDIF cable.

I use the optical cable route. The only glitch - I have two optical
inputs on my receiver, one connected to the optical output on the
cable box, the other to the optical output on my dvd. To get 5-1 when
I am playing the dvd, I have to turn off the cable box. There has to
be a more elegant solution.


Ken

On 2/27/2007 3:02 PM, Jon wrote:
I am new to this High Def stuff. I am trying to set up a 5.1 surround
sound system. Is the HDMI just for video or does that include video
and audio? I ask because my receiver has HDMI inputs, so do I go from
the cable box to the receiver then from the receiver to my TV (using
HDMI)? I just want HD picture with surround sound.

The HDMI cable carries both video and sound.

Don't buy the very expensive, very overpriced Monster HDMI cables that
are sold in many places. You can get a perfectly good hdmi cable for a
small fraction of the Monster prices on ebay or online vendors, and
possibly in some local stores.

Since your AVR system accepts hdmi input and provides hdmi output, you
should be able to run one hdmi cable from your cable box to your AVR
system, and then one hdmi cable from your AVR system to your TV. Of
course you will have the sound turned down (or off) on your TV since you
will be playing your sound through your AVR. You will need to adjust
the synchronization setting on your AVR so that the sound and the
picture appear to be in sync.

BUT, if you have a Motorola DVR, chances are it will not work through
your AVR. Most of the Motorola DVR's have firmware release 12.31. This
is true of most Comcast and most Time Warner territories, and other
cable companies too. There are two later versions of the firmware that
resolve the problem, but until your local cable company deploys an
update across your area the hdmi through the receiver to the TV won't
work. In that case you'll have to run an hdmi or other connection from
the cable box to your TV, and an optical or other audio connection to
your receiver. For more info on the problem see
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_...on_HD_channels