Panasonic SC-BTT775 - can I get 5.1 from SkyHD with this?

[admin_exported]

I'm new to HDMI connectivity. I'm 'upgrading' from a CRT, AV Receiver and DVD player to a flattie and home cinema box. (I'm married, she's fed up of not just pressing a button (manufacturers: wake-up!): what can I say?)

I'm looking at the Panasonic TX-P50GT30B (currently £1299 in John Lewis with two pairs of glasses) and the Panasonic SC-BTT775. I was looking at buying cables, so I checked out the connections on the 775 and was suprised at the lack of HDMI inputs.

I'm also upgrading to SkyHD and will probably get some kind of media player, depending on how good the DLNA stuff is. I was expecting to plug them into the 775 as I would the previous generation into my AVR. So, now I'm wondering about the Audio Return Channel on HDMI2 on the GT30. Do I plug everything into the telly and it routes the audio automatically down HDMI2 to the 755 so that I can get 5.1 from SkyHD, a PS3, XBox, Wii or media player? If not, is there no way to get 5.1 from anything other than the built-in blu-ray?

I'd appreciate any help. The telly's on order by the rest is still burning a hole in my pocket!

 

[The_Lhc]

Skyhd doesn't do 5.1 over hdmi, only over the optical connection, so you need to plug that into the av system. Plug the sky hdmi into the tv. That way you can still watch tv without the amp on.

 

[duaplex]

Exactly what I have done with mine. Its incredible, you would think a HD box would have such basic functionality, especially with SKY. This is why I will be saying "Hello TiVo" when my subscription ends.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, so forgetting SkyHD because I can see from this and other posts that SkyHD has a rubbish implementation, what if I want to use a PS3 or some other HDMI-enabled box and still get 5.1 sound?

 

[The_Lhc]

Okay, so forgetting SkyHD because I can see from this and other posts that SkyHD has a rubbish implementation, what if I want to use a PS3 or some other HDMI-enabled box and still get 5.1 sound?

You can't (assuming you mean HD 5.1, any optical/coax digital connection will carry standard 5.1), so in this case far from being rubbish, Sky's setup is possibly the only device you WILL get 5.1 from.

Either way the PS3 or "other HDMI-enabled box" will have to have an optical/coax connection because the bdp/amp you bought is so badly specced.