Solved! Placing HDMI/ARC Between Receiver and TV

[chambke623]

Howdy. I've scoured the archives but haven't seen this particular question:

I currently have a single HDMI cable running from my Denon receiver to my TCL Smart TV's HDMI-ARC jack. Works great. However, I want to get the audio from the TV to run to both Zone 1 AND Zone 2 on my receiver. Zone 2 on the receiver must be an analog signal.

Can I insert an extractor between the TV and Receiver in such a fashion that the signal from receiver to the TV is not affected, but the signal from the TV to the Receiver is spilt to an HDMI signal AND an analog signal that I would feed to analog input on the receiver -- then out of receiver on Zone 2.

 

[americanaudiophile]

I don't think that it will work because the extractors won't generate an analog audio output unless you set the TV to output in stereo PCM which means no digital surround sound from the Denon in zone 1
The work around would be to use the optical audio output of the TV instead. You will need to split that.
https/www.amazon.com/Portta-Toslink-Digital-Splitter-Dolby-AC3/dp/B00NBTRC4O?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_4
One output goes to the receiver. The other would go to a 5.1 compatible optical to analog converter.
https/www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-Digital-Converter-5-1-Compatible/dp/B00CWELGMS