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Hello, looking at purchasing a playbar but am pretty sure my Panasonic TV does not do 5.1 hdmi pass through.

Can anyone recommended what to buy (uk) to do conversion? Pretty simple setup, Apple tv 4 to playbar and TV to playbar. TV has optical.



I have found switches on Amazon which look to convert HDMI to optical solving my Apple TV problem but then do I need another switch after this to feed two opticals (the TV and The apple TV opticals?) As in if the converted Apple TV optical lead is plugged into the playbar from the Apple TV how do I also get the optical from the TV into the playbar if the socket is already taken? Just get a passive cheap splitter before playbar connection, will this work?



thanks for any advice



Tim
You're on the right track with the HDMI audio extractor for the Apple TV. I have an optical switch since I have 2 optical sources as well. I bought the ViewHD optical switch from Amazon which works great for me. I'm sure Amazon UK will have this or something similar. https://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-TOSLINK-Digital-Optical-Switcher/dp/B00G188Z7A
Thanks for the reply, that looks good, I have seen some that don't have power, has anyone tried one of those to save on another wall plug? or maybe a USB one that i can plug into TV as do have two free USB slots there...
This one appears to have USB power. https://www.amazon.com/Portta-Toslink-Digital-Switcher-Dolby-AC3/dp/B00KDZEWWO/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1512050621&sr=1-5&keywords=optical+switch
thanks, you have to manually switch the inputs with a remote? This is all seems a massive hack considering the cost of the playbar and what other soundbars will do for half the cost. Am wondering if its worth waiting for an airplay 2 compatible soundbar instead with HDMI inputs!
That is a downside. Fortunately I have the Harmony remote which controls various devices and makes the switching of my HDMI audio extractor and optical switch change to the appropriate inputs automatically, depending on the activity.
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