HDMI 5.1 audio
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I recently got a 5.1 speaker system and hooked it up to my TV using its optical output. I have a PS3 hooked up to the TV using HDMI, and after manually setting it to 5.1 mode, it happily transmits the 5.1 audio through HDMI to my TV, and the TV passes it on to the speaker system.
I also have a PS4, but the only audio setting it has for HDMI is LPCM/bitstream. My TV, I'm guessing, gets auto-detected as a stereo device regardless of the audio data format, and only gets stereo from the PS4.
I've read online that you can use an audio splitter like this to get the PS4 to give it 5.1 audio and extract it into its own optical output. However, I don't want to have to change cables from the TV to this thing whenever I want to use different devices (although I suspect the device may pass-through the HDMI signal with 5.1 audio to the TV), and it needs external power.
My question is, is there an adapter that would simply identify itself as a 5.1 device and pass it along, preferably without using any external power?
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@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
My question is, is there an adapter that would simply identify itself as a 5.1 device and pass it along, preferably without using any external power?
Do you mean a regular old HDMI splitter like this one: https://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=18785&seq=1&format=2 ?
I'm a little confused about your question.
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@blakeyrat No, not a splitter. Something that will inject the right code into the HDMI handshake that the PS4 will see "this device supports 5.1 Dolby and not just stereo, wink" and transmit a 5.1 signal rather than the stereo mix.
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@hungrier Ok; if that exists it's going to be hard to find.
I have a question though. Doesn't your 5.1 receiver have HDMI ports in it? Why don't you plug all your HDMI cables directly into it instead of making the PS4 go through the TV? What benefit are you getting from having the PS4 plugged into the TV instead of into your receiver?
I'm also not sure why the splitter wouldn't work. You could split your PS4 HDMI cable and put one end in the TV and the other in the receiver. I dunno what the PS4 would "detect" as the audio capability though.
And BTW almost anything that deals with HDMI is going to need power supplied from somewhere, HDMI carries none. It's not like USB. EDIT: oops I'm wrong; HDMI does carry a bit of power, but I've never seen an HDMI device that can practically use it to power its controller chips.
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@blakeyrat It's not a real home theatre setup with a receiver; it's a BD/DVD player with surround speakers, that has a toslink input for TV mode.
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@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
it's a BD/DVD player
How many HDMI inputs does it have? Does it have enough to take both the TV signal and the PS4 signal?
That's the important bit.
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@blakeyrat No HDMI inputs whatsoever, just its own HDMI output. If it had an HDMI input I'd just use that.
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Hm.
I think I finally get your problem here, which sums to: you have a really weird setup. 99.9% of people would use a receiver to switch their HDMI signals, which makes this all a non-issue.
The problem is even if you convince the PS4 that the HDMI audio signal is 5.1, nudge nudge... why do you assume the TV won't switch it back to stereo? After all the TV was the device advertising that it only does stereo in the first place. So it seems likely you'd spend bucco-bux on some weird bespoke hardware, only to have moved the problem one notch down the line.
Sorry I don't have any ideas, other than the HDMI splitter I mentioned above. (They also make cheap HDMI switchers, but this wouldn't help you unless you found a HDMI switcher that also split out the 5.1 audio. Which might exist, might be worth a Google.)
EDIT: take a look at this:
Claims to be a HDMI switcher with 4 ports, and a separate dedicated audio out. From the photo it appears to have a TOSLink optical connector on the side. Sells for a bit over $70.
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@blakeyrat said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
I think I finally get your problem here, which sums to: you have a really weird setup. 99.9% of people would use a receiver to switch their HDMI signals, which makes this all a non-issue.
Right, but for that I would have to buy a receiver and speakers, rather than my fiancee bringing over this thing she had.
@blakeyrat said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
The problem is even if you convince the PS4 that the HDMI audio signal is 5.1, nudge nudge... why do you assume the TV won't switch it back to stereo?
Because it works on the PS3. It has a setting (with a big scary warning that unsupported modes may blow up your TV) that let me force it to send a 5.1 signal, and the TV happily passes that along without mixing it back down to stereo. However, they don't have that setting on PS4.
HDMI switcher with TOSLink
That would probably do it, since it's got its own TOSLink output, and would presumably identify itself as supporting 5.1. And it'll also give me some more HDMI ports to plug stuff into.
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@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
I've read online that you can use an audio splitter like this to get the PS4 to give it 5.1 audio and extract it into its own optical output
I don't have an answer that meets all your requirements but I can confirm that this at least works. That's what I'm doing successfully with a PS3.
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@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
That would probably do it, since it's got its own TOSLink output, and would presumably identify itself as supporting 5.1.
I wouldn't necessarily take that as a given. It does have a light on the front for 5.1 and 7.1, but you never know if they coded a "safety feature" where if the device connected to the HDMI "out" advertises only stereo, it sends only stereo.
Either way, it's the best solution I can find for your problem.
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What do the speakers connect to? Is it some box that only has optical input? That sounds like my old (~2000) Cambridge Soundworks receiver.
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@dragnslcr said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
What do the speakers connect to? Is it some box that only has optical input?
@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
@blakeyrat It's not a real home theatre setup with a receiver; it's a BD/DVD player with surround speakers, that has a toslink input for TV mode.
It's not even an actual receiver. It's a disc player that happens to have a built-in amplifier and an optical in.
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@dragnslcr said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
Is it some box that only has optical input? That sounds like my old (~2000) Cambridge Soundworks receiver.
It's not that old, as it's at least recent enough to support 3D blu-ray and Netflix and stuff. But it doesn't have much for input, just optical and RCA in for audio. The intended primary use is to play blu-rays and stream stuff on the device, but I already have a PlayStation that can do that and more.
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@hungrier And this thing has connectors for individual speakers? That's the part that surprises me.
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@dragnslcr I used to have a thing like that. They're billed as "a simple sound experience for watching movies". Mine was basically the same thing, a DVD player with connectors for 5.1 speakers built in. Couldn't bring audio into it from anywhere, it only handled its own audio. I eventually replaced the central box with an actual receiver but kept the speakers (except the subwoofer, since it was crap) when I wanted to route more things through them.
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@dragnslcr The speakers are part of the package, and connect to the BD player. It's an all-in-one "Home Entertainment System" (but not this model).
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@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
@dragnslcr The speakers are part of the package, and connect to the BD player. It's an all-in-one "Home Entertainment System" (but not this model).
So similar to my Cambridge Soundworks set, just with a BD player built in. What kind of connector do the speakers use, just something like 1/4" plugs?
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@dragnslcr Some oddly shaped plastic connector with two pins; I'm assuming it's proprietary.
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@dragnslcr said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
@hungrier And this thing has connectors for individual speakers? That's the part that surprises me.
Must be a very weird device. Like a combination Blu-Ray and receiver, but shitty at both?
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@blakeyrat I don't think it's that weird, I've seen systems like this in stores for years. They're meant for people who don't want to build a real home theatre setup and hook up all sorts of stuff to it, but rather just get the one thing and use it. Ones with external inputs are probably less common, but it's a nice bonus feature for the systems that have it, and in my case it'll be the only thing I use.
As for the blu-ray player, it's probably on par with any other standalone one, maybe even a pretty good one in the pre-4K generation.
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@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
@dragnslcr Some oddly shaped plastic connector with two pins; I'm assuming it's proprietary.
Ugh. At least my Cambridge Soundworks set used a standard jack, so when I bought a new receiver, I could buy a few splitters, cut them with scissors to get to the bare wires, and connect the wires to the receiver.
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I ended up getting this HDMI switcher with audio extraction. It's a bit fiddly (sometimes I have to turn it/the devices off and back on to get it to chooch; turning it on before anything else seems to work) but when it works it works well.
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@hungrier said in HDMI 5.1 audio:
It's a bit fiddly
That's because you bought the Canadian version. Yes I followed your link.
U-S-A! U-S-A!
Anyway I don't think devices like that are designed to be turned off, ever. At least, my HDMI switcher doesn't even have an off button. More like a network switch than something you turn on and off.
