No audio (sometimes) with Sony STR-DH700

[Polyketide]

Hello,

I recently purchased the Sony STR-DH700 receiver and a set of surround sound speakers for my LG 42LGX HDTV. I have one HD cable connecting my Playstation 3 to the HD "BD IN" port and another connecting my TV to the HD "OUT" port.

When the receiver input is set to "BD" and the Playstation is on, I hear audio through the speakers. However, when the receiver input is set to "TV", I don't hear anything. I think this could be because the TV only allows me to select one input at a time (either Cable or HDMI 1), and the coax cable ("Cable") is plugged into the TV, whereas the HD cable ("HDMI 1") is connected to the receiver...? I've tried muting the TV speakers and switching to different surround sound modes without success.

Does anyone have suggestions? I would really appreciate any!

Thank you!

Chris

P.S. I don't have a cable box. My apartment supplies free cable to me in the form of a coax poking out of the wall. I feel like I might only be able to hear my cable audio through the TV speakers and not the surround sound ones because of this...

[sfbp]

I don't think you are going to get sound going FROM the TV to the receiver via HDMI.

1. You can get some RCA phono cable and make a normal analog input and select that when you want to watch TV.

2. You can get an optical cable (or coax if the DH700 does that) and assign a digital input to be connected when you press TV on the receiver.

At least (1) that's what I would do on my Onkyo receiver. I did it because my family sometimes get lazy and doesn't want to figure out how to make the cable box work. My TV doesn't have digital out, it's way too old.

If the video signal were coming from something else and going via the receiver to the TV as a video signal (whether HDMI or something else) then your sound would go to the speakers (since they are connected to the receiver?). But if your only source of picture is the RF in to the TV, this second arrangement (which I use) wouldn't work.

[Polyketide]

Hmmm... the STR-DH700 manual says that I can connect either 1a. digital optical, 1b. RCA, OR 2. HDMI for audio. The diagram shows the receiver's HDMI OUT going to the TV's HDMI in.

Would case 2. work if I had a high-def cable box plugged into the receiver, which was further plugged into the TV?

Thanks,

Chris

[sfbp]

You got it in one.

The difference between 1a/b and 2 is that 2 is NOT from the receiver TO the TV.

Actually now I think about it there's probably a setting to let the receiver use the TV's speakers (via HDMI), but you'll never get surround sound.

[Polyketide]

Alright... shoot. Looks like that's one more cable to purchase. Do you know about the quality difference between RCA, optical, and coaxial?

-Chris

[sfbp]

Wait.... you want to put the receiver before the TV, correct? Then all you need is HDMI from the box to the receiver (and of course HDMI from receiver to TV)

Sadly I will confess that I rarely use HDMI even though I have it for all relevant devices. The PQ with Component Video beats it by a Scotch mile.

So if 'twas me, would need two sets of component video and a nice high quality coax cable. Coax is supposed to be better than TOSlink but I seriously doubt that you will notice a difference.

As to receiving the TV into the receiver just get some audio cables and loop them back to a different input of the receiver. Probably not digital unless your TV has digital out. In this case you'll need one more digi cable for that direction.

[Polyketide]

That would be ideal. Unfortunately, I don't have a box. My apartment gives me free cable TV, but it's via a coax cable sticking out of the wall... this goes straight to my TV.

What's PQ?

My TV has a digital audio out, so I guess I will connect this to the receiver for sound.

-Chris

[sfbp]

Problem solved - your TV does have digi-out. Remember to switch to that input when (and only when) you want to watch TV (as opposed to DVD). I wouldn't want you to get a feedback circuit going! Maybe that protection is automatic but I wouldn't count on it.

Looks like your TV digi-out needs to be optical. If you have a TV with coaxial you will need to assign the input to the DH700, which is just a matter of some setting up using the remote.

PQ - Picture Quality, like SQ Sound Quality. Sorry.

[Polyketide]

Excellent. I've ordered an optical cable from good ole Newegg. I'll post back here once I've tried it out, but I have a feeling my problems are solved.

[Polyketide]

My optical cable is hooked up and I have sound now! Thanks again for your help.

-Chris

[sfbp]

I feel really stupid. Did you see page 78 of the manual? (and page 88 as well)

Someone else is having some problems so I started reading, and noticed this. Would have copied it here but Sony may have "copy-protected" the text in the pdf. How silly of them.

[Lazlo73]

G'day, I had the same issue however I plugged in an optical cable and I still don't have sound. The TV and Amp are talking to each other (synced up) yet I have no sound. The optical cable is working (light is on when you look in it) and apparently I may have a DOA. Time to call the shop I bought it from.

Additionally, I have only found that this amp doesn't upscale from component to HDMI which is a shame. Probably something I should have researched a bit better TBH. It means I can't listen to DVD's or watch Foxtel through my amp. Looks like I'll be getting Foxtel IQ HD sooner than I had thought.

PS3 sounds well wicked though.

[sfbp]

HDMI isn't necessarily any better than component. On my system it is worse. However looking at p.13 of that manual seems to indicate that if you have your tv connected to hdmi out that a signal coming in from the video input will in fact show on the monitor.

Check the section about tv control on p.78 too

[Guest ShifraAntigone]

If you are looking for the most features, the Sony would probably be good. But if your looking for sound quality, the Onkyo has a far cleaner sound than the Sony. I just upgraded from a Yamaha 105w/ch 7.1 to an Onkyo TX-SR 706 and the jump in sound quality was AMAZING

[sfbp]

I bought a second hand Onkyo TX-SR605 and it too is amazing. This on the recommendations of a lot of folk over at the AVSFORUM discussion board. The 706 is one step up - my Ebay vendor had upgraded to it