Keeping Old Tech Relevent with New Equipment.

[Frag Mortuus]

****Warning Long Post with Lots of Technical Jargon****

Hey guys,

I recently had to take my Onkyo TX-SR606 AVR out of commission because the HDMI board failed on it. My wife bought this for me about 5 years ago and at the time it was cutting edge. It was one of the first AVR's that supported the new lossless audio codecs on Bluray and it sported 4 HDMI inputs. This was great because at the time, my TV only had one HDMI input.

Well, now I am back to my old Pioneer VSX-922K. This thing sounds phenomenal. I kept it around because of how satisfied I was with it. The only reason I upgraded was because I needed more HDMI inputs and the Onkyo could decode DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True HD. This Pioneer has 3 Tos-Link inputs and 2 Digital Coaxial inputs. It also supports all of the Audio Codecs pre 2006 when Bluray and HD-DVD hit the scene.

So, here is a little background on my current setup:

Vizio 65" TV 4 HDMI inputs, 1 Component/Composite (shared), 1 PC input, 1 Tos-link Output. (I replaced the TV that only had 1 HDMI input).

Pioneer AVR 3 Toslink inputs, 2 Digital Coaxial inputs, 7.1 Analogue Input.

Wii U
Roku 2XS
PS3
PC
PS4 (soon)
Oppo BDP-83 Bluray Player

So, my conundrum is this: I have 5 HD devices and 4 HDMI inputs. 3 devices that output Toslink Audio and 2 devices that only output digital audio via HDMI. My TV only outputs 2 channel LPCM via Toslink which means if the device hooked up can't output audio via Toslink or Digital Coaxial I won't get surround sound with it. So, What is the best way to hook everything up to get the best performance?

Now being a bit of a Home Theater Geek, I knew that some of my devices are capable of things that most people may not realize. I still wanted to be able to enjoy the lossless audio codecs of BR but without HDMI, but how could I? Well, my Oppo BR Player has 7.1 analogue output. Meaning it has an individual RCA output for each channel, that can connect to the corresponding analogue input on the AVR. Now, if I set the Oppo to output PCM via the analogue channels, it will take the lossless codecs and decode them in the player and output via the analogue channels. If I had HDMI on my AVR, the Oppo would just send out the audio signal the disc produces and let the AVR do the work. So, there I have the lossless audio I want, without the need for HMDI on the AVR.

There goes one of my HDMI inputs on my TV.

Next, I have to output both the PS3 and PS4 via HDMI because since they both have Bluray built in, I can't get 1080p over component due to DRM. So, there goes 2 of my HDMI inputs and 2 of my Toslink inputs for audio. Games don't support the new lossless audio codecs which can only be sent over HDMI or the previously mentioned analogue outputs, Toslink and Digital Coaxial don't support enough bandwidth for the hi bit rate required for the lossless codecs.

Now, that my BR player and Playstations are hooked up, next is my Roku 2XS. For those that don't know. This is a streaming media player that has hundreds of apps like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu+. The reason I use this instead of my PS3 for those apps is because I use an app called Plex that can decode nearly every type of video codec. This allows me to stream movies from my PC to my TV with a Netflix like interface complete with metadata and no DRM. The PS3 has some sort of complex DRM software that can detect if a movie is illegal or not and stop it from playing after about 5 minutes or so. Unfortunately, the Roku only support either HMDI or Composite out. So there goes my last HDMI input on my TV, but limits my audio to 2 Channel LPCM since that's all my TV outputs.

So, now I'm out of HDMI inputs with my Wii U left too hook up. Luckily the Wii U outputs 1080p via Component but that limits your audio to stereo only. However, with the limit my TV puts on audio output, I'm stuck getting 1080p video and stereo audio. The good thing is that the stereo sound is still great quality and my AVR can do simulated surround from just a stereo signal.

Lastly is my PC, which is great because my TV has a PC input and I just use the extra long 2.5mm stereo cable from my PC to the TV's PC input for audio.

I just wanted to share that it is possible to still get great performance with new technology on older equipment.

Have you all had to "finagle" new pieces into your setup? Or had to do what I did and move back in tech a little bit and figure out how to make it work? I was pretty happy with how I got most of the features I wanted in my current setup. My wife and I are going to try to buy a house soon, so I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a new, more capable, AVR.

For those that stuck around: Thanks for Reading!!!!

[Anapan]

I only read most of the post.

What I did for my setup was get a Monoprice HDX-401TA. It's an HDMI switch that extracts the audio out of HDMI into Toslink-Optical, Coaxial, and Setero (via headphone jack). It allows me to use my HDMI devices with 5.1 audio on my harman/kardon AVR340 with optical (since it has no HDMI port).

The only problem I've had with it is the PS3 occasionally doesn't like it (Possibly DRM?) so I wired the PS3 into my TV and used a seperate optical-out into the receiver.

For my PC, I'm using a USB Behringer u-control UCA202 for the 5.1 optical at a cheap price. It took a whole bunch of messing around with filter settings in KMPlayer to get all the various formats and codecs outputting 5.1 correctly no matter the original encoding and channel source. My PC is quite a distance away from my entertainment center. I have 2 extra-long USB extenders chained together with a powered USB hub at the end and the longest HDMI cable I could buy chained to another quite-long one. This gives me audio (the Behringer USB), and all my controllers etc (the mouse and keyboard are wireless RF) right behind my TV.

I got a Logitech Harmony remote and an infrared repeater so a single click will turn the various devices on and off and set each to the proper input with rapid menu tweak commands even. I'm thinking of getting infrared controlled power switches so the older consoles' mains power can be activated with the remote as well - I'll just leave their power switches on and let the remote handle it.

Before the Harmony remote, I used this (well, a newer revision but this was closer):

[Frag Mortuus]

I actually thought about getting one of those devices to split the HDMI audio off to Toslink. Can you point me to where you got it?

[samsonlonghair]

I have a TV set that doesn't like analog rf over coaxial (can't blame it). This made it tricky to connect my top-loader NES2. I scratched my head for a moment, then I remembered my old VCR. I connected the NES2 top-loader rf output to the VCR's cable input. Then I connected the VCR's composite output to my TV set. The picture doesn't look too bad all things considered.

[Anapan]

Ebay user MOBILESHARK for 32.99 + S&H. MOBILESHARK Doesn't seem to have one ATM, but here's another:
Ebay link
Here's the product page @ Monoprice
If you get one, the LEDs are obscenely bright and badly colored, so electrical tape is necessary.