HTPC Audio with older receiver

[Jovec]

My current setup is Windows 7 Media Center which outputs RGB to TV and SPDIF to a receiver (that predates HDMI) for audio, controlled with a Harmony remote. However, there are a few issues with this setup:

1) I don't need receiver audio for basic TV watching, but I would like it for movies and music
2) When watching ClearQAM HD 7MC cannot control the audio volume - it's either on of off

If I bought a HDMI receiver, would it pass the HDMI signal if it was off? And would it mute the HDMI audio output if it was on? Otherwise, I'd get audio from the receiver and from the TV simultaneously, and there is no easy way I can see to automatically mute the TV audio without having the TV's mute OSD graphic constantly on the screen.

Without buying a new receiver, I could run HDMI from my 7MC to my TV, then take my TV's optical out to my receiver. However, I still run into the issue of double audio. Is there some way I'm missing to easily disable the TV's built-in speakers? This seems like something that might require the vendors proprietary system link connections.

Mute - leaves an onscreen graphic while muted
Internal TV mute - requires navigating the menu (if there was a 1-button IR command for this I'd be golden)
Manually lowering the volume to 0- Wife factor


*7MC should really allow you to assign a separate audio output for each main function.

 

[alyarb]

in my experience I have never been able to scale S/PDIF with any version of windows. You adjust volume at the receiver and at the receiver only *unless* there is an additional software layer (youtube, MPC, VLC) that lies in between your multimedia content and windows audio "output device." But yeah, the windows "volume" control panel will only toggle TOSLINK; you cannot change the volume with it. You will need to find a software configuration that works for you, or you will need to go HDMI->TV and the TV's TOSLINK->Receiver. Have all your volume control done at the receiver on your logitech remote (regardless of the input you select).

I don't understand how this config will give you "double audio." There is only one audio cable and it goes from the TV to the receiver. Are you talking about using the TV speakers and theater speakers at the same time? Because that's dumb. Keep your TV volume down and use the toslink bridge. With your TV volume set to zero it should still output SOME kind of audio signal over the TOSLINK for watching regular TV. The toslink out is not strictly tied to an HDMI passthrough (at least mine isn't). if it is, just get stereo RCA jacks from your cable box and use another input at your receiver.

 

[Jovec]

I'm with you on the Toslink volume. With Vista you could use AC3Filter or FFDShow to process the audio which allowed Windows to manage the volume. I don't think you can do this with 7MC and the media foundation codecs though.

The double audio I'm referring to comes from the fact that the TV speakers need to be on if I don't want to use my receiver for audio - i.e. basic TV watching.

Assuming I bought a HDMI receiver, what I'd like to be able to do is when the receiver is on to have it mute the HDMI audio such that:

7MC --(HDMI a+v)--> Receiver On --(HDMI v only)--> TV

and conversely:

7MC --(HDMI a+v)--> Receiver Off --(HDMI a+v)--> TV

In such a scenario, I could leave the TV speakers on and they would either play audio or not depending on if the receiver was turned on. The receiver would need to do two things:

1) mute/block audio pass-through on HDMI when turned on
2) pass both audio and video from a fixed input to a fixed output (I assume that on low-mid receivers these would be specified by the manufacturer - example, HDMI In 1 would always pass to HDMI Out 1 when the unit is off).

I'd like to know if HDMI receivers work this way before I buy one.

Conversely, my setup is pretty basic, consisting of a (non-HDMI) Xbox 360, a HTPC, receiver, and TV. I wouldn't need an HDMI receiver if I could turn the TV speakers on and off with one button, but Mute leaves an on-screen graphic. The only other ways I know would be to manually lower and raise the TV volume, or use the TV setup menu to enable/disable the speakers.

Like I said, if 7MC allowed you to assign a unique audio output per function, example:

Live TV - > Analog
Music -> Toslink
Videos -> Toslink

Then this is also a non-issue. There are software programs designed to do this, but from what I understand they are cumbersome. They are merely keystroke+mouse replicators designed to automate the steps you would do yourself. Media Center also needs to be restarted in between playback device changes.

 

[alyarb]

what i can't understand is why you won't patch your non-HDMI TV audio to another input on your A/V receiver so that you never have to use and never have to modify the built-in TV volume.

also have you tested to see if the HDMI -> TV -> TOSLINK -> Receiver works for regular TV watching?

 

[DaveSimmons]

My Onkyo 705 does not pass through HDMI (or anything else) when switched off.

And would it mute the HDMI audio output if it was on? <-- yes if you press the Mute button for the receiver, otherwise no.

The problem I see with HDMI -> receiver -> TV is to switch to TV audio you'd need to mute the receiver -and- turn the TV's speakers on. To switch back to receiver audio you'd need to unmute the receiver -and- turn the TV speakers off.