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Contributor I
December 26, 2013

Playbar + HDMI Splitter

So I got a Playbar for Xmas. My setup is 3-4 HDMI inputs into a pioneer receiver with 1 HDMI out to the TV which has no optical out. Obviously that's a problem. After attempting to get the optical on the receiver to work and failing I have optical running out of the back of the DirecTV Box. That won't work over the long run.

I bought product ID 10251on mono price.

Unfortunately it doesn't appear to have fixed the problem for whatever reason. If you've used this before and it has worked I'd like to know how you got it to work or that it does work the way I'd expect so I can continue to diagnose the problem as my receiver and not the Sonos or the mono price adapter.

Ok so now I'm considering another option but I don't want to get something and have it not work. I'm considering getting rid of the receiver entirely (its 5 years old) and getting a 4x1 HDMI switch with optical out. Will that work and is there one that someone can confirm will in fact work with the Playbar?

Thanks everyone!
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14 replies

Airgetlam
September 23, 2018
There's the problem. The Beam is expecting that the HDMI connection is via ARC. Since your splitter doesn't have ARC, then HDMI signal being sent back to the the Beam doesn't have any audio in it. Does your splitter have an optical output? If so, you could connect your Beam via optical to the splitter instead.
Bruce
Lyricist III
September 23, 2018
Thank you for clearing that up for me. From your response, a splitter with optical should solve my problem?
Airgetlam
September 23, 2018
Yes, it should. And sorry for the short hand, when I say ARC, I mean an ARC enabled HDMI connection. Which basically means it has the ability to pass audio back to a device.

But yes, a splitter with an optical output would work. There's lots of posts on these forums that link to various versions. I don't use one, so it's hard for me to recommend, but you're looking for something along the lines of this:

https://www.flexson.com/accessories/connectivity/flexson-3-input-hdmi-switch-audio-converter-for-sonos-playbar

Good luck!
Bruce
Lyricist III
September 23, 2018
Thank you again, you have been very helpful.