sound from tv to amp for watching movies from external hard drive

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foxy38

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#114784 3-Mar-2013 13:33

watching a lot of movies from a external hardrive via usb into tv,wondering whats the best way to get sound quality up . No usb slot on amp,so are using red white yellow cables from tv to amp , would i better with an optical cable or does hdmi from tv to amp work as well? Any help appreciated.....

foxy

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#773895 3-Mar-2013 14:31

Most digital files you'll *ahem* acquire from the internet will contain Dolby Digital or DTS audio tracks which your television will downmix and send to your amplifier.

The better set up is to pass the audio tracks to your amplifier for decoding. You'll need to look and see if your television is capable of passing the audio through. If not you're SOL.

davidcole

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#773927 3-Mar-2013 18:04

youre probably better with a media player that has usb for the videos, hdmi for the picute to the tv and an optical out for your receiver, or hdmi to receiver then get the receiver to feed the picture to the tv. Personlly I'd got the first method as my receiver doesn't take hdmi.

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foxy38

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#773932 3-Mar-2013 18:27

have got hdmi spare in reciver

foxy

foxy38

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#773936 3-Mar-2013 18:31

not sure why i would need a media player when the hard drive connects to the tv? just looking for sound options or does this give me better sound options ?

foxy

Dunnersfella

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#773956 3-Mar-2013 19:41

You'll get better sound when you use a media player tough...
USB HDD ---> USB cable ---> Media player ---> HDMI ---> Receiver ---> HDMI ---> TV.

You could just run an optical cable out of the TV, but you probably won't be getting the best sound... but it WILL work.

foxy38

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#773958 3-Mar-2013 19:47

the files r 1080 but sound isnt full dts as they r small file sizes so maybe optical just as good or would a media player still enhance....?

foxy

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davidcole

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#773967 3-Mar-2013 19:59

I dont know of any tv that pass dolby digital or dts to a receiver as raw (rather than downmix as stereo).

The optical out are generally only for outputting broadcast dolby digital signals - not for passing from media.

This is why we're talking about media players.

foxy38

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#773969 3-Mar-2013 20:03

all good am enjoying your replies didnt even think of a media player just thought usb into tv optical to tv stereo sound made into sort of surround via amp settings but with media player hdmi to amp will get me better sound...

foxy

davidcole

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#773974 3-Mar-2013 20:12

While the media players built into TVs are a lot better, personally I prefer having the brains seperated from the screen.

B1GGLZ

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#774018 3-Mar-2013 21:58

davidcole: I dont know of any tv that pass dolby digital or dts to a receiver as raw (rather than downmix as stereo).

My Sony ex720 does for everything except Blu Ray sound.
HDMI to the TV and optical to the amp works fine.
Also has ARC but unfortunately my old amp doesn't have HDMI sockets.

kiwijunglist

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#774055 4-Mar-2013 00:09

It depends on your tv as to whether it can pass out multichannel audio, since you didn't give tv model there is no way of knowing. If your TV doesn't support it, then buy a 3rd generation wdtv live hd for ~$150, don't let anyone tell you that there are better media players for <$250 because there are not!

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foxy38

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#774468 4-Mar-2013 18:12

tv is a series 6 samsung lcd

foxy

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#774481 4-Mar-2013 18:27

I'd imagine there are about 4-5 different series 6 lcd models released in NZ every year, so that doesn't narrow it down.

EDIT: there are 19 series 6 current model NZ LCDs

Most have optical audio out, which is probably what you should use here.

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foxy38

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#774484 4-Mar-2013 18:30

la46b650

foxy

kiwijunglist

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#774489 4-Mar-2013 18:35

use optical audio out to connect to your receiver, there is a reasonable chance this will give you 5.1 audio from your video files played back using the tv's built in video player

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