Help needed connecting home cinema

[admin_exported]

Hello all,

Firstly this is what I currently have:

Sony KDL-46x4500
Sony BDV-e870 (Home Cinema)
Sony PS3 Slim
Sky+ HD Box

I have them connected like this: HDMI Cable from TV to Sky+ HD Box
HDMI Cable from TV to Sony BDV-e870 (Home Cinema)
Fiber Optic Cable from Sony BDV-e870 to Sky+ HD Box

This way I get the sound coming from the Home Cinema System when watching Sky and when watching a film from the Home Cinema System.

But this is where my dilemma comes in to place, where and how do I connect my PS3 so that I get sound from the Home Cinema System and obviously video from the TV?

Here is the URL for the Technical Specifications for the Sony BDV-e870 http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hch-systems-with-blu-ray-disc/bdv-e870#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

Any help is greatly apreciated, as son is getting impatient and I am getting frustrated! []

 

[professorhat]

Since your Sony Home Cinema unit only has one digital optical input and one digital coaxial input, if your Sky HD box does not have a digital coaxial output (i.e. only optical), you have two choices:

1. Purchase an optical splitter (like this one) - it will allow you to connect both the Sky box and the PS3 to the one optical connection on your Sony, but you'll need to manually switch it over when you want to watch one or the other.

2. Purchase an optical to coaxial converter (like this one) - with this, you can connect either the PS3 or the Sky HD box to the Sony unit using the digital coaxial input. This solution will need an extra power socket, plus you'll need to purchase a coaxial cable to complete the connection.

 

[f1only]

Hi Barracuda

Can you not connect your Sky+ HD box via a coaxial connection to the back of your Sony BDV-e870?,

then the ps3 to the optical to the BDV-e870 & ps3 HDMI to the TV? you then just change the audio output on the ps3 telling it to send it via the optical cable.

Regards ... f1only

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies professorhat and f1only.

I don't like the idea of either of those to be honest professorhat.

What f1only stated sounds like a very clever idea and would be perfect to get around the stupidness that sony has made by only having one digital optical input.

 

[Anonymous]

On a side note I find it very odd that the home cinema system can not just be connected to the TV via HDMI and just play the sound of anything that is showing on the TV let it be Sky or PS3.

 

[professorhat]

Barracuda:Thanks for your replies professorhat and f1only.

I don't like the idea of either of those to be honest professorhat.

What f1only stated sounds like a very clever idea and would be perfect to get around the stupidness that sony has made by only having one digital optical input.

Well yes, connecting the Sky HD box directly to the Sony HT system via coaxial is of course the best bet, but as I alluded to in my first sentence, this can only be done if your Sky HD box has a coaxial output (and most don't from what I understand). So if it doesn't, your only options are the ones I've given you.

To be fair, very few all-in-one systems have more than one optical or coaxial input as they're not designed to allow connection of lots of devices, they're designed to be simple units which someone can just use to plug into a TV and away they go. For more complex systems, you really need to go the route of having a separate AV receiver and speaker package which have many more inputs as a standard.

Barracuda:On a side note I find it very odd that the home cinema system can not just be connected to the TV via HDMI and just play the sound of anything that is showing on the TV let it be Sky or PS3.

Indeed, it would be great if this was possible, but I've never seen a TV which allows this I'm afraid. Some now include Audio Return Channel (ARC) functionality through HDMI, but this will only output sound from the built-in TV tuner generally, not any of the devices which are also connected into the TV.

 

[daveh75]

professorhat:
Barracuda:Thanks for your replies professorhat and f1only.

I don't like the idea of either of those to be honest professorhat.

What f1only stated sounds like a very clever idea and would be perfect to get around the stupidness that sony has made by only having one digital optical input.

Well yes, connecting the Sky HD box directly to the Sony HT system via coaxial is of course the best bet, but as I alluded to in my first sentence, this can only be done if your Sky HD box has a coaxial output (and most don't from what I understand). So if it doesn't, your only options are the ones I've given you.The original SkyHD boxes only had optical ouputs. All boxes since, have both optical and coaxial outputs

 

[professorhat]

Ah okay, I thought it was only one brand of the boxes which weren't being used any more which had them. Thanks for the info.

 

[daveh75]

You might be confusing the optical and component outs prof. The early boxes had optical and component video outputs. On al later/current boxes component video was dropped, but coaxial outputs were added.

Still, you had no way of knowing what type of box the OP had (and there are still a lot of the early boxes around), so at least you gave him other options