I have a Playbar & Sub with Samsung Tv (it doesn't pass through digital audio) connected to the Playbar optical input. Sky HD, Bluray DVD and Apple TV all connected to the TV by HDMI's.
All Audio In received by the Playbar is Stereo but I'm looking to get the best audio possible and aiming for DD 5.1 assuming that will improve the audio quality for my set up? I'm not looking to add Play 1's as rear speakers at least not in the foreseeable.
I've played around with the digital optical plugging Sky directly into the Playbar and get differing results depending on the audio format of the programme being broadcast. In cases where DD 5.1 is received by the Playbar all is good, however, when Stereo or DD 2.0 is received the audio is out of sync with the TV.
I have ordered a dual optical in switch with single out to connect the TV and Sky to the Playbar but given the syncing issues I wonder whether it's worth it and indeed whether the audio will be noticeably improved for my current set up.
Any advice you could offer would be very much appreciated.
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I ordered this off amazon yesterday:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01LL5RI3Y/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It arrived this afternoon and has sorted the issue. The Sky+ HDMI-out now runs into this little £20 plastic thing, which sends picture to TV via HDMI and 5.1 sound to PLAYBASE via Optical. The Sky+ "Digital Audio Output-HDMI" is set to Dolby D.
The PLAYBASE has completely come alive.
It's satisfying to have 'solved' the problem, but still utterly ridiculous that a £700 PLAYBASE, £700 sub, £600 TV and £50/month SKY box require a £20 bit of Chinese plastic to make them work properly.
But there you go...
I'm convinced the direct route of SKY+ > optical > PLAYBASE should work without the need to engage 3rd party plastic switches, so will keep working at it. But if anyone else is suffering the same issue, buy the thingy from Amazon. It works.
Hi Matt / all,
I realise this is a bit of a resurrection of this thread but hoping your experience with the Rooful box you linked to could help me.
I have a Playbar which is paired with my SkyHD + box, Apple TV and a BD player via a trusty Panasonic plasma (VT20) that I’ve no justification to part with and which still trumps most contemporary displays in pictutre quality to my eyes. Anyway, as is well documented there is no Dolby pass through via optical from the Panasonic which renders my Playbar a very expensive stereo upgrade only, other than for music streaming duties.
Looking for a proven solution I came across this thread and purchased the £20 box of tricks that Matt had success with. Essentially it’s not happening for me and I’m not sure if I’m just missing something obvious.
When I connect Sky via HDMI and the optical out from the Rooful to the Playbar I get nothing - no picture and no sound.
When I connect to Apple TV in the same manner I get picture but no audio. In settings DD is set to ‘on’ and I’ve tried ‘auto’ but also to no avail.
If it makes any difference I’m not using a 5V supply but instead relying on the power via HDMI per the specs for the Rooful box; I did note that the status LED are dimly lit when connected to Sky but much brighter with the Apple TV. Annoyingly there is no 5V supply included as it seems the manufacturer expects the majority of applications to be powered via HDMI. Also, for reference my SkyHD + box is one of the older 500gb models.
Any thoughts or other recommendations before I throw more money at this issue?
Thanks in advance,
Duncan
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