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kevcoops6849
Contributor II
Dec 6, 2014 3:32 PM UTC

Best optical switch for playbar?

Hi could anyone help me with choosing a good optical switch to work with my playbar as so i can get the best out of my sky box,ps4,xbox one and apple tv as i believe I'm not getting the best out of my sons set up(playbar,sub,2xplay 1s)when the optical is connected to my tv and not the actual devices themselves. any ideas would be great.
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    loobar23
    Avid Contributor I
    Jan 2, 2017 9:43 PM UTC
    Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I plan to add a sub and one Play:1 (I already have one Play:1) and then have a clean 5.1 configuration. As per many of these threads - my TV has a limitation on pass through of externally connected HDMI devices optical wise (and I suspect ARC wise as well). As the output is only stereo I cannot take advantage of Dolby Digital from the Sky box, though I can from the apps on the TV like Netflix.

    I don't think that this splitter will work if used in conjunction with the TV optical out, so a simple digital optical switch is needed. I think I have talked myself into it.....

    Regards.
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    AlexW
    Lyricist I
    Jan 6, 2017 7:11 PM UTC
    Hi loobar23, I had a simliar issue to you. My YouView digital box is connected to my Sony TV via HDMI, and even though I configured it (YouView to output (separately) HDMI and SPDIF surround sound, I wasn't getting surround sound via my two Play:1s. This is the kind of "downmixing" I've read about if you pass sound via HDMI though the telly (I'm a newbie as you can probably tell). So I've just bought myself a Fomson optical switch for £23 on Amazon and two extra optical SPDIF/Toslink cables. Now I've got TV and YouView box separately going into the optical switch via optical cable, with another optical cable connecting the switch itself to the Playbar. It works a treat. Now I've got surround sound on everything coming out of the Youview as well as from programmes coming from the Amazon Video app directly on the TV. ps: the switch comes with a remote control to toggle between the input devices. It comes with an infra red magic eye so you can hide the switch away.
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    loobar23
    Avid Contributor I
    Jan 6, 2017 7:31 PM UTC
    Hi AlexW

    Snap. I did the same and coincidentally have just set this up about an hour ago. Works perfectally. Unfortunately this is a slight ttade off as I used to have a full surround sound set up with AV receiver etc, but with little people tearing around the house I decided to start the process of downsizing my AV set up.

    So far so good and sound wise I can't complain. Next question....do I buy the amp....?!
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