4k TV Help

[GWhiz49221]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and was hoping if someone could help me out with my current situation. I recently purchased a Sony 4k TV (X850B 4K Ultra HD TV) with my Sony surround sound. When I connect my MBP (2011) throught Thunderbolt/HDMI to play a movie my television says that the external speakers are not avaialble. I can play the movies using my TV speaker but no surround sound. I've checked my connections several times and I know my surround system in correctly setup because it plays when I swithch to a different input. Any input would be greatly appreiciated. Thanx in advance.


-GWhiz

 

[wongster]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and was hoping if someone could help me out with my current situation. I recently purchased a Sony 4k TV (X850B 4K Ultra HD TV) with my Sony surround sound. When I connect my MBP (2011) throught Thunderbolt/HDMI to play a movie my television says that the external speakers are not avaialble. I can play the movies using my TV speaker but no surround sound. I've checked my connections several times and I know my surround system in correctly setup because it plays when I swithch to a different input. Any input would be greatly appreiciated. Thanx in advance.


-GWhiz

how do you have the surround hooked up to the tv?

 

[GWhiz49221]

The surround sound is hooked up with the HDMI ARC. I think I figured out the problem but now I'm looking for a solution. I used my friends MBP Air (2013) which has an HDMI input/output. There is no thunderbolt adapter required to run the HDMI and it worked perfectly. So I'm thinking it has to do with the thunderbolt adapter that I have to run in order to plug in my MBP using HDMI. If I were to purchase a Apple TV would it allow audio to play 5.1 or only 2.1?

-GWhiz

 

[wongster]

what type of surround system do you have. it is always better to connect audio sources directly to the surround system instead of relying on the arc. if your surround system has other hdmi in, connect the macbook directly to that and have the surround system pass video to the tv or if the surround has optical in, connect and fiber optic from the audio out of the tv to the in of the surround.

an apple tv is capable of doing 5.1, but like i said, its better to not rely on the arc and go directly into the surround system.

heres an article i read on cnet about arc. http://www.cnet.com/news/what-is-audio-return-channel-arc/

 

[GWhiz49221]

My system is cheap little thing (Sony E2100) and it only has HDMI ARC out. I've also considered running the audio with the optical cable but that will only allow me to run 2.1 instead of the 5.1. I've also hooked up an audio return from my headphone jack to the receiver and that works but the audio isn't as clear as I would like.

 

[priitv8]

My system is cheap little thing (Sony E2100) and it only has HDMI ARC out. I've also considered running the audio with the optical cable but that will only allow me to run 2.1 instead of the 5.1. I've also hooked up an audio return from my headphone jack to the receiver and that works but the audio isn't as clear as I would like.

Strange. My MY2011 Sony TV allows 5.1 pass-through to surround receiver also via optical. The only problem with mine is, that it will not pass through anything but Dolby Digital 5.1.
If you try to send DTS, it will just downconvert it to stereo sound.
If Sony has meanwhile improved their Bravia firmware, you will have to find out yourself 😉