Another surround sound issue
I've looked around, but have not found an answer to this one.
Here is my set up:
Contour 2 box -> HDMI to TV -> optical audio to Receiver from the TV.
With this set up, i cannot get surround so...
Forum Discussion
No the TV does not have a HDMI-ARC port. Yes the receiver has HDMI ports.
Sounds like by your question my set up would not work?
If your receiver has HDMI ports then you should change your configuration. You should run an HDMI cable from the cable box to the receiver HDMI input. Then run another HDMI cable from a receiver HDMI output to the TV. This will fix it for you but you will always have to turn on all 3 devices every time you watch TV. No need for optical connection.
OP has no Audio Return Channel on the TV.
Right. So do the setup as I suggested but keep the optical connection just for the Smart Apps on the TV.
No need for optical connection.
keep the optical connection
In the scope of the OP's question, you contradicted yourself.
OP always had 2 sources of programming: Cox or Netflix. However, the audio format was different per source (Stereo vs. Surround respectively). For Netflix audio to the AVR, OP always needed the optical.
I agree with your original suggestion to use the AVR as the HDMI switcher. Meaning, connect all HDMI to AVR to let AVR do all audio decoding and steering.
The original problem was no Cox Surround with the following connections: 1) Contour > HDMI > TV 2) TV > Optical > AVR
The reason is some TV sets will not forward Surround from an external source (Cable Box, Blu-ray, Media Server). However, if the source is internal to the TV (ATSC, QAM, App), the TV will forward Surround. The OP fed TV with Cox via HDMI; however, TV could only up-channel 2-channel Stereo to AVR.
