# Uh-Oh! (how do I get audio?)



## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

I just got a new streamer box and suddenly realized that there doesn't seem to be any way to get analog audio out of the thing and into my "ancient" analog AVR. Bummer.

Every device I've ever used up to this point always had left and right audio out of some kind (either RCA white/red or a mini headphone jack at the very least.

Now what? (My TV doesn't even have any kind of audio-out, either. I've always gotten it directly from the device.)

Edit to add: I guess the TV _does_ have an optical output. Maybe there's an adapter out there, somewhere...


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> I just got a new streamer box and suddenly realized that there doesn't seem to be any way to get analog audio out of the thing and into my "ancient" analog AVR. Bummer.
> 
> Every device I've ever used up to this point always had left and right audio out of some kind (either RCA white/red or a mini headphone jack at the very least.
> 
> ...


What outputs does it have ?


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

TV does have an optical-out. No good for the analog AVR.

Streamer only has HDMI out. It does have a USB port, maybe that could be utilized, somehow.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> TV does have an optical-out. No good for the analog AVR.
> 
> Streamer only has HDMI out. It does have a USB port, maybe that could be utilized, somehow.


How about this ?
Amazon.com: Amanka Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA With 3.5mm Audio Jack Audio Converter: Home Audio & Theater

There are several brands on the site for this: Amazon.com: optical audio converter


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> I just got a new streamer box and suddenly realized that there doesn't seem to be any way to get analog audio out of the thing and into my "ancient" analog AVR. Bummer.
> 
> Every device I've ever used up to this point always had left and right audio out of some kind (either RCA white/red or a mini headphone jack at the very least.
> 
> ...


Which streaming box did you get?

Rich


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

jimmie57 said:


> How about this ?
> Amazon.com: Amanka Digital Optical Coax to Analog RCA With 3.5mm Audio Jack Audio Converter: Home Audio & Theater
> 
> There are several brands on the site for this: Amazon.com: optical audio converter


Thanks, Jimmie. I will look into those.



Rich said:


> Which streaming box did you get?
> 
> Rich


It's an FTV2. I noticed on the side of the box it came in that it's supposed to have Bluetooth support for headphones and game controllers.

I wonder if I could I could somehow use that to output audio to an old smartphone or tablet that has a headphone jack...

I'm definitely gonna have to figure out a solution because there's no f'n way I'm gonna watch with the TV speakers!

Another (temporary) solution I'm considering is using an HDMI splitter into one of my capture boxes that has a headphone jack on it.

It'll be a right mess, either way. (I can't believe I didn't even consider this before ordering it.)


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Well, I decided to go with the jimmie57 solution. 

After taking a minute (yeah, that's about all it took) to set up the FTV I realized that converter is by far the most practical (if not the most elegant) solution.

It appears it will get its power directly from the (unused) USB port on the back of the TV.

If this works well enough it could wind up solving other annoyances as well. Not only might I not have to change audio inputs on the AVR as often, but it may possibly help to eliminate a nasty recurring ground loop hum (remember those?) that pops up every once in a while.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> *Well, I decided to go with the jimmie57 solution. *
> 
> After taking a minute (yeah, that's about all it took) to set up the FTV I realized that converter is by far the most practical (if not the most elegant) solution.
> 
> ...


His solutions are always good. If your TV does have an optical out port why can't you use that? You're only gonna get stereo (or PCM) out of the adapter and that's probably the same thing your TV set outputs. How old is your TV?

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> His solutions are always good. If your TV does have an optical out port why can't you use that? You're only gonna get stereo (or PCM) out of the adapter and that's probably the same thing your TV set outputs. How old is your TV?
> 
> Rich


Rich, his AVR only does the red and white connections. It is the problem.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> Rich, his AVR only does the red and white connections. It is the problem.


My God! How old is it?

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> My God! How old is it?
> 
> Rich


I don't know but it has to be a bunch. I have 1 that is about 12 years old and it has Optical and Digital inputs but no HDMI. It will probably be my next small upgrade. I buy the low end Yamaha.


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## longrider (Apr 21, 2007)

It is probably older than that. I just replaced a 18 yr old Sony that still had optical and digital inputs. What I dont know is when they stopped producing stereo only audio equipment


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Rich said:


> My God! How old is it?
> 
> Rich


My best guess is it's roughly 25 or so. (DPLII was just making its way into the higher-end stuff around that time).

I got a great deal (nearly half-off) on an open-box item and it was next to the highest-end that audio store sold.

Long story short my OT-3 vintage mid-range AVR (like jimmie57's with optical and coax-in but no HDMI) crapped-out a couple years ago and I realized I still had that old DPLII lying around.

After I connected it up and got it going (no intention of ever using DPLII, 2-ch only) I thought it sounded so much better than the digital unit I decided not to replace the AVR for a while, but try to save a few bucks for a new display.

It really _does_ have great sound from its main front amps. Nice and clean. And I was particularly stunned at how good the D/A converter is in the old HR21 is (especially the music channels)!

Also, the first time I heard my ripped (and uncompressed) CDs from the analog outputs in the box that has those I was equally stunned.

(I'm hoping the D/A conversion in that adapter is half as good.)


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

longrider said:


> It is probably older than that. I just replaced a 18 yr old Sony that still had optical and digital inputs. What I dont know is *when they stopped producing stereo only audio equipment*


I've still seen 2-ch stuff in catalogs. I think they're kind of intended for small-scale P.A. type or DJ use, but they're not real expensive I don't think.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> I've still seen 2-ch stuff in catalogs. I think they're kind of intended for small-scale P.A. type or DJ use, but they're not real expensive I don't think.


Something to try after you get it hooked up to the system.
Turn Dolby Digital OFF in your DTV receiver and your TV. This might cause this little adapter to NOT have to do the conversion and get a better sound. Just a thought.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

jimmie57 said:


> Something to try after you get it hooked up to the system.
> Turn Dolby Digital OFF in your DTV receiver and your TV. This might cause this little adapter to NOT have to do the conversion and get a better sound. Just a thought.


Yeah, I think that's even mentioned somewhere on the page for that device, to turn off Dolby "to reduce static" or something like that.

I'm not even sure if my TV passes 5.1 from HDMI to its optical port, (maybe from OTA only). I've already got the DVRs set to PCM. The big question is what'll happen from the streaming box. It does work through the TV speakers (yuck!) so I'm sure there's at least a stereo PCM signal available at its optical port.

If this works as well as I hope it does, then I'll probably be able to just leave the AVR set to that input and not have to change it between the streamer and the HRs (only having to change the input on the TV instead of both). This will be nice.

P.S. I just realized that longrider in the above quotes may have been referring specifically to when _Sony_ stopped producing stereo only audio equipment. Yeah, I have no answer to that.


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## longrider (Apr 21, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> P.S. I just realized that longrider in the above quotes may have been referring specifically to when _Sony_ stopped producing stereo only audio equipment. Yeah, I have no answer to that.


I was referring to audio equipment in general. I realized that even thought I had a 1999 vintage receiver with full digital processing that could have been a niche market at the time and 2 channel could have been the main market for years afterward


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

You can still find stereo only receivers on the market, aimed to people who treasure vinyl or just want a good AM/FM receiver. Example: Onkyo TX-8020, which has a phono input. Other manufacturers, such as Yamaha, have stereo receivers without a phono input, requiring either a turntable with built-in preamp or an external phono preamp.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

longrider said:


> It is probably older than that. I just replaced a 18 yr old Sony that still had optical and digital inputs. What I dont know is when they stopped producing stereo only audio equipment


Not sure about Sony AVRs, but I've seen some 2.1 AVRs recently (during my hunt for an AVR that would work with my Samsung TV). I think 2.1 is stereo with a subwoofer, no?

Rich


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

The Sony STR-DH130 is a stereo receiver. Sells for $119.99 on Crutchfield.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Rich said:


> Not sure about Sony AVRs, but I've seen some 2.1 AVRs recently (during my hunt for an AVR that would work with my Samsung TV). I think 2.1 is stereo with a subwoofer, no?
> 
> Rich


Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the "*.1" is supposed to mean subwoofer.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Success. The adapter works.

Thanks to Jimmie (and all who participated, too)!


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

The LG TV I'm now using (got it when my mom passed away) also only has only a TOSLINK output for audio. When watching OTA, it does pass 5.1 , but if you are using the HDMI ports, it only outputs PCM stereo. I'm using a low end Pioneer AVR that I got from Woot, and all the HDMI ports on the Pioneer have crapped out. The analog ports, the 2 Toslink optical ports, and 2 digital coax ports, all work fine. So, I can listen to satellite TV via TV in stereo, or use digital audio direct from them to the Pioneer. Most of the time, we just listen through the TV speakers, saving the AVR audio for things like music award shows / movies, etc. If it was just the wife - she would just use the TV speakers only.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Yeah, I kind of thought that the port was only supposed to pass 5.1 for OTA. (Mine's an LG, too.)

Interestingly enough though, I was able a couple of times (back when I still had my digital AVR) to "trick" it into passing 5.1 from HDMI to its optical port.

The input of the LG had been connected to the HDMI pass-thru port of a capture box. I can't remember the exact sequence, but it had something to do with the specific _order_ of having the computer disconnected or on standby while the capture box was still getting power to maintain the pass-thru, and then putting the DVR into Dolby from PCM.

It was quite by accident I happened to notice the Dolby logo appearing in the info banner of the LG. So I connected an optical cable from it to the TV and lo and behold, it lit up all six channels indicators on the AVR.

I've never been able to find any settings for that function in the TV's menus. I assume it's all supposed to be automatic to the TV and whatever device is connected to its HDMI port. Somehow, those automated signals must've been "blocked" by the capture device in the standby mode. Any other device connected the TV will not pass 5.1 to the optical port.

(Also, when the box was active, whle it was capturing 5.1, if I'm remembering correctly the TV's audio would then go dead until the DVR was put back into PCM mode.)

At any rate, for me at least, I'm one that doesn't tolerate audio from TV speakers for very long.


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