Laptop HDMI to TV, Yamaha Receiver only has Optical to TV

[madglee]

Plugged in my laptop to my TV with an HDMI cable. My Yamaha receiver is pretty decent but old and only has an optical out to my TV. The problem is that I am only getting sound from the actual crappy TV speakers, not from the receiver, regardless of input.

Is there some way to get my 5.1 sound? Maybe there's not. While I understand computers, somehow hooking up stereos and TVs eludes me.

 

[americanaudiophile]

If you have the optical out of the TV connected to an optical input on the receiver and you have set up the receiver so that the optical jack is assigned to an input (such as TV) then you should get sound. You can try checking the TV audio set up menu too. This is a fixed output so the TV volume control won't work.
The TV speakers will still play unless you turn the volume all the way down or turn them off in the TV menu.