[mashmash]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Simple sir, TV acts as the intermediate. First it recieves audio from STB via HDMI. Then if I choose to listen via HT the TV mutes itself and sends audio to HT via HDMI itself. Else the audio is played via TV speakers. Now this is very convenient because the TV and HT will completely sync. Volume control of HT is done by the TV, the HT is switched On by the TV. Hence, the link between TV and HT is up and working perfectly. As airtel STB sends stereo audio to TV, the same is provided to HT.

Yes Airtel STB sends only Stereo via HDMI. Hence you need either optical or coaxial cable for 5.1 audio.

Originally Posted by audioholic

My STB doesnt have this option. Now that the connection between TV and HT is found to be perfect let me check with the Airtel folks

Best connection is 1. STB to TV via HDMI and 2. STB to Home Theater receiver via Optical or Coaxial.

You can also try STB to HT receiver via HDMI and then receiver to TV via another HDMI cable. This way you can utilize your receiver's HD upscaling features. I intend to try when I get my hands on another HDMI cable.

Originally Posted by shipnil

While I am not an Airtel subscriber, the set top box that I have gives me option of stereo sound or 5.1/dolby sound. May be you can check if such an option is there in your STB.

Which one do you have? No such option in Airtel HD boxes. Someone with Airtel HD Recorder box can confirm what options they have.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Please answer this one:
I haven't figured how you've paired your HT setup with the STB/TV.

I had to put my head into overdrive 2 days ago to get 5.1 sound out of my newly replaced Airtel set top box. The HDMI port of my STB conked off. So had to get it replaced by paying Rs.500/-. This STB had an optical out. So an optical cable sent 5.1 audio straight to my HT receiver. But...

The replacement STB that I got, did not have an optical out. It had a Coaxial out. I had no clue then, of what to do. HDMI would not send 5.1 audio along with Video. Finally after some research, I learnt that an RCA cable can be used as a coaxial cable. Its not as good, but does the job. Voila I now have 5.1 audio streaming from STB to HT receiver via an RCA cable connected to coaxial ports and Video streaming straight to TV via HDMI.

Hope this clears some air on getting best possible Video and Audio from Airtel boxes.


MaSh

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by audioholic

...Does Airtel really transmit 5.1ch sound on any channel or any movie?

Yes, Airtel does transmit 5.1 channels sound in its HD channels.

With the HD set-top box, you should be able to get the 5.1 channel audio stream in the optical or co-axial digital audio out.

[nilambuj]

Does someone know if DishTV HD has a 5.1 channel output through the HDMI port or optical cable or both?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

Yes, Airtel does transmit 5.1 channels sound in its HD channels.

With the HD set-top box, you should be able to get the 5.1 channel audio stream in the optical or co-axial digital audio out.

But why not through HDMI? Thats the question bugging me. Isnt HDMI capable of transmitting 7.1ch audio? Or are the 6 channels downmixed to 2 and transmitted? The TV can send 7.1ch audio to HT via a HDMI cable then why can't it receive at least 5.1?

I agree that using an optical cable may solve the problem, but then whats the whole purpose of HDMI?

Another observation is that in the STB there is no setting, or any mention of multichannel audio. Is any firmware upgrade required?

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by audioholic

1. The route for TV audio is STB-->TV-->HT all through HDMI. Using auto format detect on HT, I am getting only stereo audio from any HD channel.

To isolate the problem, can you try

STB-->HT-->TV setup?

Do you get 5.1 sound in that case?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

To isolate the problem, can you try

STB-->HT-->TV setup?

Do you get 5.1 sound in that case?

The useless sony HT I currently have has only One HDMI port for both Input and output. To add to the problem, there is no other way other than HDMI that I can send multichannel audio to HT. If I knew this input output limitation I would have stayed away from buying one. Since it had an ARC functionality I went ahead to purchase it as it was a no nonsense feature. I can send and receive audio through a single cable. Only problem is from STB to TV.

The TV displays that the STB sends stereo signals. In case I play a video from any other source it clearly indicates Dolby digital, dolby digital pro, DTS etc. The same is sent to HT and that route is problem free.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by audioholic

ARC functionality

I think this might be the problem, if you directly connect STB to HT (without TV) do you get Dolby or DTS 5.1 ?

Fortunately, if this (5.1 wtih STB-> HT) works then problem might be solvable.

If STB is giving 5.1 on HDMI, it might be getting lost on two handshakes. STB-->HT setup would help in troubleshooting.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

I think this might be the problem, if you directly connect STB to HT (without TV) do you get Dolby or DTS 5.1 ?

ARC just sends multichannel audio from TV to HT, and nothing else. I will try connecting directly, and will check.

If STB is giving 5.1 on HDMI, it might be getting lost on two handshakes. STB-->HT setup would help in troubleshooting.

I have replaced the STB with Laptop and through the same cable and ports I can send multichannel audio to HT. Hence, there is no loss of signal in the entire route. The TV also recognises whatever stream the audio is received unlike 'Stereo' when I connect STB. That is why I doubt if the Airtel STB really outputs 5.1ch. I have a spare Sony HDMI cable which also doesnt seem to resolve the problem. Guess the airtel STB can provide 5.1 only through optical or coaxial

[mashmash]

Originally Posted by audioholic

But why not through HDMI? Thats the question bugging me. Isnt HDMI capable of transmitting 7.1ch audio?

I agree that using an optical cable may solve the problem, but then whats the whole purpose of HDMI?

Another observation is that in the STB there is no setting, or any mention of multichannel audio. Is any firmware upgrade required?

Very very few STBs in India give out anything more than Stereo via HDMI. Thats the thing bugging everyone in this country. Airtel boxes have no setting to switch between Stereo and DTS.

Originally Posted by audioholic

The useless sony HT I currently have has only One HDMI port for both Input and output. To add to the problem, there is no other way other than HDMI that I can send multichannel audio to HT.

The TV displays that the STB sends stereo signals. In case I play a video from any other source it clearly indicates Dolby digital, dolby digital pro, DTS etc. The same is sent to HT and that route is problem free.

Yup, all components are fine, except for the STB. Is there no optical or coaxian input in the HT?

Originally Posted by audioholic

Guess the airtel STB can provide 5.1 only through optical or coaxial

That's correct.

[sagarpadaki]

The only option you have now is to check if your airtel stb has a digital/coaxial/spidf out at the back. If yes then buy a co axial cable and connect it to the digital input of your HT. Select the digital input as the aux mode in HT . with this when ever there is a surround channel you will get it in your HT

This is what I have done for my tata sky HD with Phillips HT .

If your stb does not have digital output ask airtel for a stb that has one.

[audioholic]

No other input in HT. Guess I have to send audio to TV via coaxial or optical, either of which must be there in the TV. From there, I dont think sending audio to HT must be a problem. For that I have to unmount the TV and that requires some amount of hassle as the entire TV-STB-HT setup is packaged without any mess of wires. Need another persons help to do this. In order to avoid hassles, I had left a spare HDMI cable connected to TV which I thought of using in case either of the current cables developed problem.

Suppose I provide optical audio to TV, will it ignore HDMI audio and use the optical stream? I dont see any setting in the TV. Given its a sony, I dont have too much hopes. But I bet either optical in or coaxial in must be there, if not both.

[HillMan]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Suppose I provide optical audio to TV, will it ignore HDMI audio and use the optical stream? I dont see any setting in the TV. Given its a sony, I dont have too much hopes. But I bet either optical in or coaxial in must be there, if not both.

Sony TV has option to select the source , so you will be able to use the HDMI as the source.

Why dont you just use the HDMI connection alone. HDMI has the capacity to pass digital audio and video. Also the audio will be 5.1 or what ever is sent by the channel.

Best routing is STB->HDMI->HT->HDMI->TV
In this the HT will decode 5.1 audio and give a perfect AV sync with TV. Otherwise there is chance of a small difference is audio and video sync. Depends on the procession prowess of the HT.

Next best routing is
STB->HDMI->TV
STB->Coxial/Optical (S/PDIF)->HT
If no Coxial/Optical use the AV out (red and white) cables to HT.

If the channel is encoding audio in Dolby, your HT will extract 5.1 audio.

Note: Using optical cable has no distinct advantage over good quality coxial. Both are digital and carry more than sufficient bandwidth.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by HillMan

Sony TV has option to select the source , so you will be able to use the HDMI as the source.

Why dont you just use the HDMI connection alone. HDMI has the capacity to pass digital audio and video. Also the audio will be 5.1 or what ever is sent by the channel..

I think you missed the discussion. Let me brief.

HT can be fed 5.1ch only through a single HDMI port available. No other input thanks to Sony engineers

Airtel STB is not sending 5.1ch through HDMI which has been verified.

My TV doesn't have an optical or co-axial audio input(last nail in the coffin)

. Too many limitations. At least they could have provided RCA audio jacks for each of the six channels.

STB has optical and coaxial out, but neither TV nor HT have either input.
TV has optical out, but HT doesnt have Optical Input
Both TV and HT sync beautifully through HDMI, and STB cant do the same

As of now cheapest solution is to find a STB from airtel that can send 5.1ch via HDMI. As usual best solution would be to bin the HT, but I have plans of building a hardcore HT someday. That would take a long time and hence cant do with temporary replacements of HT or part by part purchase

[HillMan]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I think you missed the discussion. Let me brief.

Yup, I missed the earlier discussion.

Did a quick google and there is enough evidence out there to suggest Airtel restricts the audio output to 2 channel PCM over HDMI.

If there is no option in STB to do a dobly pass through or use Dolby Prologic. You need to upgrade your HT to enjoy the full feature. I am surprised, your HT doesn't come with coaxial or optical input.

I'll suggest you go for a good HT receiver which will last a very long time. Should have at-least 2 HDMI input and 1 out.
Coaxial and Optical input.
Off course RCA in and out.

This will allow you to use existing players and will make it future proof (at-least based on technology around today). Should hold good for 5-10yrs. I don't foresee any major change in audio formats.

5.1channel is good for small rooms and 7.1 for halls. Having said that, we might see more and more 7.1 audio in future.

Thats because the dont mind the size of media now. Both bandwidth and storage is at our disposal now a days. A 700MB movie of yesterday is today 2GB. So we can afford more tracks and channels. VCD to DVD to BlueRay the capacity has increased by leaps and bounds. This will only go up.

Today BlueRay tomorrow something else. But the audio might remain the same for a long time. The available bandwidth on todays HDMI is underutilized, so this interface will also stay for a long time.

[neil.jericho]

Guys am a complete noob when it comes to this so pardon the ignorance

Im looking to get a good set of speakers to play music only off a mobile / ipod for a large room. I had checked out the JBL SB 200 soundbar and was quite impressed the sound output and reviews online seem to be quite good as well. The B&M stores seem to have it for around 20k which I think is a decent price.

I happened to hear a JBL SoundLink™ Bluetooth® Mobile Speaker II recently and quite liked the sound but I am not sure of its output and clarity (better or worse) as compared to the JBL soundbar. I am also not in a position to compare them side by side and have to trust my untrained ear which explains the confusion.

It seems as though this is a contest between a full sound output (JBL) vs the convenience of a portable player (Bose). Thoughts / suggestions / corrections / advice?