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So I have a Samsung 37" television that I can't get rid of because the space in the cabinet just barely holds this tv. I'm about to order a Playbase, the SUB, and two Play1's for a home theater setup. However, it seems like from what I've gathered, my television does NOT support Dolby 5.1 pass through from it's optical audio out. While I haven't been able to confirm this, the television has Dolby Digital Plus/Dolby Pulse and an optical audio out.



So my question is, can I make this work? I've read some old posts online about using an HDMI switcher? How does that work and what are the best new options of these devices? For what it's worth, the devices that I would be using with the Playbase are the (i) television, (ii) cable box (iii) DVD player and (iv) a Roku. So does the cable box audio out go to the Playbase in my case and then the cable box HDMI signal go to an HDMI switcher?



I'm confused, but would appreciate any direction before I spend all this money and throw out my receiver and Bose surround sound setup.
You get the HDMI switcher and plug your 4 devices into that using HDMI. Then you take the output of that and place it in one of the HDMI inputs on your TV - If your TV supports ARC (Audio return channel) then use that HDMI port. This will ensure that if you watch TV using the internal tuner on board your TV or apps on your TV the audio will pass back down the switcher to TV HDMI lead. Then you plug the optical audio out from the switcher to the Playbar. You will need to select the correct input on the switcher when you start watching TV
Thanks. Do I even need this if my TV has optical audio out? I ask because I don't believe my TV supports Dolby 5.1, even though it has optical audio out. Presumably my cable box from Verizon Fios has Dolby 5.1. I wonder if I just couldn't run the cable box audio out to the PlayBase/PlayBar and skip the HDMI switcher altogether?
The Playbar/Playbase doesn't care the origin of the audio siganal as long as it is in a format it can play. So the answer is yes you can connect the cable box directly to your Playbar
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