Audio only works for Cable when I try to switch my TV input

[MikeMillerUK]

So I recently bought an Xbox One and am trying to get things set up. I am able to plug it into my TV's HDMI in port, and almost everything works fine. The only issue is that when I change the input on my TV so that I'm viewing the Xbox screen, the audio continues to play for the cable channel. Some "professoinals" set up the whole system to function with a Logitech Harmony 700 universal remote, and I am guessing that the sound system is connected to my cable box, not the TV. My old Xbox 360 used to work fine because I could use the audio plugs to plug directly into my audio system, but now it can only connect through the TV since it only uses an HDMI cable. Please help!

 

[ien2222]

Hey,

Could you list the exact components your are using? And if possible, pictures of the I/O panels to see how they've hooked it all up so far? If you can't take any pics no worries, as long as we can look up what you are using we'll be able to tell how it should be hooked up.

 

[MikeMillerUK]

Hey,

Could you list the exact components your are using? And if possible, pictures of the I/O panels to see how they've hooked it all up so far? If you can't take any pics no worries, as long as we can look up what you are using we'll be able to tell how it should be hooked up.

Unfortunately I can't get an accurate picture. It is a wall mounted TV, and the cables run through the wall down to the sound system which is housed in a small unit. I'll give as much detail as I can. For the Xbox, it is using the only possible connection setup (I think), as it has to plug into the TV. That is the only connection involved for that equipment. The sound system is a Pioneer VSX-D914. The TV is a Samsung, model PN50C550G1FXZA. Let me know what other information you might need.

 

[ien2222]

That's ok about the pics , I know alot of people wall mount and have cabinets.

Ok, first let's check this. Does either the TV or Xbox have an digital audio out connected to your AVR? (they would be optical connections)

If it's no, you'll have to put a connection in and the easiest way would be to just connect the xbox to the AVR.

If it's yes, look to see which input on the AVR it's plugged into (it should be either the CD recorder or Satellite input), make sure it's connected to an input and not an output, then select that input and see if you get sound. If it works, make sure you're remote selects that input on your AVR if you can. I haven't used the harmony before and I don't know if it lets you stack multiple commands for a certain action (like switching your TV input to xbox and then switching your AVR to the correct input). If it doesn't let you, then just assign one button to switch the TV and another to switch the AVR.

If you don't get any sound, you may have a bad input so try the other port and see if that works.

If it's still no, now it's getting tricky for me. Could be a bad cable, but perhaps the on the TV/xbox there might be a setting that you need to turn on or something like that to get it to output on the optical. I can't find an online manual for the xbox for me to check so I can't help there so you'll have to poke around in the settings and see if there is anything there (I think it's always on but looking around doesn't hurt). If the TV is connected, make sure that the external speaker is set to on and look for anything else that might have something to do with it (the Samsung manual isn't the best at telling you what's going on).

 

[MikeMillerUK]

That's ok about the pics , I know alot of people wall mount and have cabinets.

Ok, first let's check this. Does either the TV or Xbox have an digital audio out connected to your AVR? (they would be optical connections)

If it's no, you'll have to put a connection in and the easiest way would be to just connect the xbox to the AVR.

If it's yes, look to see which input on the AVR it's plugged into (it should be either the CD recorder or Satellite input), make sure it's connected to an input and not an output, then select that input and see if you get sound. If it works, make sure you're remote selects that input on your AVR if you can. I haven't used the harmony before and I don't know if it lets you stack multiple commands for a certain action (like switching your TV input to xbox and then switching your AVR to the correct input). If it doesn't let you, then just assign one button to switch the TV and another to switch the AVR.

If you don't get any sound, you may have a bad input so try the other port and see if that works.

If it's still no, now it's getting tricky for me. Could be a bad cable, but perhaps the on the TV/xbox there might be a setting that you need to turn on or something like that to get it to output on the optical. I can't find an online manual for the xbox for me to check so I can't help there so you'll have to poke around in the settings and see if there is anything there (I think it's always on but looking around doesn't hurt). If the TV is connected, make sure that the external speaker is set to on and look for anything else that might have something to do with it (the Samsung manual isn't the best at telling you what's going on).

I think the problem is that the Xbox only has one output, and it's an HDMI out, so the optical/audio stuff is all bundled. That output has to go straight to the TV, so the problem is definitely going to be between the TV and the Pioneer system. For example, If I'm watching TV, there is no problem, but then if I go to the TV and manually switch the input (source) mode (because there is no way to change input on the Harmony), then the TV will switch it over no problem, but the audio doesn't change; it will keep playing the audio for whatever was playing on TV. I used to solve this problem by doing what you recommended and just directly connecting the Xbox to the AVR, but that functionality no longer exists on the new Xbox. So I need the audio to switch to match the input (source) being used on my TV (i.e. HDMI1/DVI, HDMI2, PC, Component, etc). I assumed that the system would automatically be playing whatever was being displayed on the TV when the source was changed, but since it doesn't, I'm wondering if maybe there is no direct connection between the TV and the AVR, and maybe it's somehow connected to the cable instead (although I'm not sure if that's even possible)?

 

[ien2222]

The Xbox will output sound using both HDMI and optical (there's a separate port for the optical on the back of the Xbox). If you are just using the HDMI feed from your Xbox, then the TV will need to reroute the sound to the AVR. Either way it will be an optical interconnect that you will have to plug into either the CD Recorder optical in or the Satellite optical in on your AVR. Then when you are playing your Xbox, you'll have to switch to that input on your AVR.

As it stands, anything that it directly plugged into the TV won't be played on the AVR without that connection.

 

[MikeMillerUK]

The Xbox will output sound using both HDMI and optical (there's a separate port for the optical on the back of the Xbox). If you are just using the HDMI feed from your Xbox, then the TV will need to reroute the sound to the AVR. Either way it will be an optical interconnect that you will have to plug into either the CD Recorder optical in or the Satellite optical in on your AVR. Then when you are playing your Xbox, you'll have to switch to that input on your AVR.

As it stands, anything that it directly plugged into the TV won't be played on the AVR without that connection.

The only "out" port on the Xbox One is the HDMI out. There is no separate optical out port. This is not an Xbox 360, it is a newer Xbox One. Sorry if I'm making things too complicated! I'm rather new to the home entertainment scene ... Would I have to add an extra cable between the TV and the AVR in addition to the already existing connection?

 

[ien2222]

Ack, sorry, it's labeled as s/pdif.

You can see it between the two HDMI ports. And for that matter, the TV optical out might be labeled as that also.

No need to apologize, we'll get there

I

 

[ien2222]

Hmmm, just read a article that might affect this. Currently the optical out on the xbox only outputs stereo, surround isn't supported though it's mentioned that they plan on supporting it later. Are you running 5.1?

 

[MikeMillerUK]

The Xbox will output sound using both HDMI and optical (there's a separate port for the optical on the back of the Xbox). If you are just using the HDMI feed from your Xbox, then the TV will need to reroute the sound to the AVR. Either way it will be an optical interconnect that you will have to plug into either the CD Recorder optical in or the Satellite optical in on your AVR. Then when you are playing your Xbox, you'll have to switch to that input on your AVR.

As it stands, anything that it directly plugged into the TV won't be played on the AVR without that connection.

I just went back and looked at the setup based on what you said about things plugging into the TV not playing through to the AVR; I found the s/pdif port you were talking about, and I've been able to set it up! Thank you so much for all the help!

 

[ien2222]

So everything is good then?