Optical audio (toslink) vs. HDMI: any difference?

[Fred Derf]

Three of the pieces of video equipment in my home theater have optical digital audio outputs. Currently, they're connected via HDMI to a TV that has an optical output; the optical output is connected to one of the optical inputs of my AV receiver. Would there be any advantage in running the optical outputs of the three devices right to the receiver rather than having them go through HDMI and the TV?

Fred

 

[Ilya]

It is hard to answer your question without knowing which components you have. In general, HDMI is a much better audio interface than Toslink. But not all components can take advantage of its benefits. Most TV sets, for example, do not support advanced audio over HDMI. Usually, the best choice is to connect everything through your AV receiver, not through your TV set. For example, if you have a Blu-ray player, you definitly want to connect it directly to your receiver - that's the only way you can take advantage of the advanced audio formats.

 

[Fred Derf]

Thanks for the quick response. The devices are two Dish Network VIP-622 HD satellite DVRs and a Western Digital WD-TV (a standalone box that plays video off an external hard drive). I was concerned that connecting via toslink would be a waste of time and money, with no improvement or benefits, but it sounds to me like it's not. I think I will connect them individually to the receiver. Thanks for the info.

Fred

 

[Ilya]

What kind of receiver?

(Sounds like none of your components support advanced audio, so, HDMI will not give you any audio advantages over Toslink, like it would for Blu-ray or PS3)

 

[Fred Derf]

It's a Panasonic SA-XR25. The owner's manual reads: "This unit can decode the following signals: Dolby Digital (including Dolby Digital Surround EX), DTS and PCM. It cannot decode MPEG or Dolby Digital RF signals from a laser disc player."

Hope this helps.

 

[Ilya]

Ok, this receiver doesn't have HDMI inputs, so you can't route HDMI through it. Toslink is your best bet then.
Connecting audio directly may or may not give you any advantage depending on whether the TV set passes DD stream unchanged or not.
And if you decide to buy a Blu-ray player to be used with this receiver, make sure to get one with multi-channel analog outputs (6-ch audio). This will give you the best sound.

 

[Fred Derf]

Thank you so much for the info & advice.

 

[digiblur]

Some TV's will take the 5.1 audio via HDMI but only output the audio from the HDMI to optical with 2.0 audio. So be sure you are getting 5.1 audio from your TV when using one of the HDMI inputs.

 

[jayn_j]

Two other issues, both concerning switching.

The receiver probably only has 2 TOSLINK inputs, as that was the standard a couple of years ago. That means you would only be able to use two of your components.

Second, if the TV does output 5.1 over TOSLINK, you have the advantage of doing all your source switching at the TV, and just letting the receiver handle the one input.

We are all technophiles on this site and tend to forget that families use these systems. If you set something up where you need to switch both the receiver and the TV in order to watch a DVD, the WAF goes way down. Harmony remotes only help so much, especially when people fuss with front panel controls and get them out of synch.

 

[Fred Derf]

Two other issues, both concerning switching.

The receiver probably only has 2 TOSLINK inputs, as that was the standard a couple of years ago. That means you would only be able to use two of your components.

Second, if the TV does output 5.1 over TOSLINK, you have the advantage of doing all your source switching at the TV, and just letting the receiver handle the one input.

We are all technophiles on this site and tend to forget that families use these systems. If you set something up where you need to switch both the receiver and the TV in order to watch a DVD, the WAF goes way down. Harmony remotes only help so much, especially when people fuss with front panel controls and get them out of synch.

According to the TV's manual, it does do 5.1 over TOSLINK, so I guess I'm OK and should leave things as they are.

 

[digiblur]

According to the TV's manual, it does do 5.1 over TOSLINK, so I guess I'm OK and should leave things as they are.

Make sure it does... my TV also claims to do it, but what they are talking about is from the digital tuner in my TV not via HDMI. For instance I can have my Xbox360 with a 5.1 audio game going with the Xbox hooked up via HDMI to the TV. I can clearly see on the audio receiver the display is showing 2.0 audio. As soon as I change the TV to use the digital over the air tuner on a 5.1 program it switches to 5.1. Not all TV's pass 5.1...some do...some don't. And I totally agree on letting the TV do the switching. It gets confusing for people to switch the input on the audio receiver and change the input on the TV.

I wish I had a TV that had 3 HDMI ports and passed 5.1 out via optical or either an audio receiver with 3 HDMI inputs that would do the switching. But I'm not about to plunk down the money for that nice feature.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I've found the toslink connection to sound a lot better than my HDMI connection. I believe it to be a matter of my Onkyo having better D to A converters than the D* box. The difference in sound quality wasn't a small one either.

 

[Fred Derf]

I've found the toslink connection to sound a lot better than my HDMI connection. I believe it to be a matter of my Onkyo having better D to A converters than the D* box. The difference in sound quality wasn't a small one either.

Oh, I wish you hadn't said that. Now I'll always be wondering if I'm getting the best sound quality by using HDMI. Problem is, my receiver has only 2 toslink inputs, and I have 3 devices (actually, 6 if you include the 2 DVD burners and a DVD changer).

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I'm sorry about that, but I just call as I hear 'em. There are after market switch boxes that will let you add additional digital inputs. why 2 DVD burners? I have one that's connected directly from my D* box, I just output the sound over RCAs because I never use it for playback, the audio is just there so I can monitor if I'm feeling paranoid.

 

[TheForce]

I don't believe toslink handles the bandwidth of HD Master audio. You get sound but not at full bandwidth quality. HD Master audio requires either HDMI 1.3 or a BD player with built in decoder and audio analog outs to the receiver.

 

[Ilya]

Don, Fred doesn't have BD or any other components that could handle advanced audio. We are talking plain DD here, so Toslink should be fine.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I don't believe toslink handles the bandwidth of HD Master audio. You get sound but not at full bandwidth quality. HD Master audio requires either HDMI 1.3 or a BD player with built in decoder and audio analog outs to the receiver.

I was speaking solely in context of the sound coming from my D* box. The toslink connection is audible superior to the HDMI connection. Since my D* box passes nothing higher than DD, the other codecs are not an issue for me. You are correct about toslink not being able to pass the higher resolution codecs, however.

 

[mgilfilen]

I have the same question:I have 4 components: HD cable box, Apple TV, blue ray dvd and Mac computer. They all have HDMI and tos-link outputs (The Mac has DVI to HDMI monitor converter and usb to tos-link audio) I have a Sony AV receiver / surround processor with 4 HDMI inputs and 4 toslink inputs and one HDMI output which sends video only to my projector. I know I have to use the HDMI and toslink on the Mac since DVI only sends video, but what about the other components? will I get better quality sound with the HDMI audio or tos-link? I already have plenty of both cables but if I had to go buy them I would have my answer.

 

[Ilya]

Since you have an A/V receiver with four HDMI inputs, I would just use HDMI for everything. (And Toslink in case of DVI).

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