Extracting Surround Sound from HDMI Signal....


Hello!

My wife is technologically challenged so I have connected the HDMI outputs from my ATT/Uverse box and Apple TV box directly to the TV. This makes it simple for my wife to use as she doesn't need surround sound for most things. (The TV is an older Mitsubishi rear digital projection model with two HDMI input ports.)

This is all well and good, but because of the handshaking between the TV (which will only recognize stereo audio) and the two boxes, the HDMI outputs from the ATT and Apple boxes default to PCM stereo. And even though I've got optical taps from both boxes going to the optical inputs on my Marantz receiver, the receiver only gets a PCM stereo signal, because the TV is telling the boxes that it can only process PCM stereo.

So, is there a way, a box perhaps, that I can put between the ATT/Apple boxes and the TV that will extract a surround sound signal that my Marantz can utilize and still provide stereo sound to the TV?

In other words, I'd like to have the TV work on it's own with stereo sound and not require my wife to turn on and fiddle with the Marantz receiver. And then, if we want to, simply turn on the Marantz and add surround sound to the mix.

Thanks for all suggestions!
wmartinb
If you figure that out, I'd like to know. I had to run the HDMIs through my Marantz receiver and then to the TV. Have to turn on the receiver to get any signal to the TV. My wife still screws up the remotes every now and then.
I can't think of a way to accomplish this. And if you add another component just for this purpose, would it just as practical to add a dedicated AppleTV box and if the ATT box has component and digital audio, why not use that to a second input on the TV? Just a thought based on what I read of your issue.
Theo: I'm not sure what you're suggesting. My current setup has the ATT box going directly into one HDMI input on the TV and the Apple box going directly into the other HDMI input. That makes it simple for my wife, but since the TV can't process/decode multi-channel audio, both the ATT and Apple boxes default to PCM stereo.

I found this on the internet: http://www.allaboutadapters.com/hddodtsdihdo.html

It appears that you can throw a switch and force the optical to output one of several formats. I'm thinking this might work for me, but I need to call them and see if I will still get a pass through of stereo audio to the TV if the switch for the optical output is set for 5.1

The quest continues.