need some help / advice pls

[Alex]

tricky69 said:

Sky Box connects to the Media centre, then from there to the DVD/Amp via the audio cables. PS3 connects the same way

What's the Media centre? Do you mean your surround speakers?

What I am trying to ascertain is if there is a digital audio connection from your Sky box to the DVD/amp. HDMI can carry audio and video, but I can't remember if Sky boxes support this. You may need to configure it in the Sky system setup. If not, you may need an optical or coax cable to carry the audio from your Sky box in addition to the HDMI.

I am fairly sure your existing kit will support surround sound from Sky, you just need to work out how to connect and configure it!

[tricky69]

thjats the issue, my dvd/amp doesn't support the optical cable i need with the sky box.

So what i am trying to work out is can i get and amp that will replace it and still plug my basic speaker cable into it as that is all buried. The other issue is that all the amp i find that have connection for speaker wire have a different connection for a subwoofer. So that means i will have to get a new subwoofer.

I don't mind spending the money as long as i know it will work...
the only bit i can't/wont change are th speakers as the cables are buried, my TV as it is fine and my PS3...
The TV has a 'media centre'.. i think it simple acts as the back of the TV so it makes it easy to put the tv on the wall and you only have t cables to worry about.

[greggers]

Alex said:

What's the Media centre? Do you mean your surround speakers?

What I am trying to ascertain is if there is a digital audio connection from your Sky box to the DVD/amp. HDMI can carry audio and video, but I can't remember if Sky boxes support this. You may need to configure it in the Sky system setup. If not, you may need an optical or coax cable to carry the audio from your Sky box in addition to the HDMI.

I am fairly sure your existing kit will support surround sound from Sky, you just need to work out how to connect and configure it!

There isn't an optical input on his dvd player/amp. Sky boxes only put out true 5.1 Dobly over the Toshlink/Digital cable (unless that's changed pretty recently on the new boxes?). However, an AV receiver will give you pseudo surround sound by splitting out the stereo that comes over the HDMI lead. Unless you actually put an AV receiver into stereo mode it will generally send sound to all of the speakers.

If you want true Dolby 5.1 rather than just sound out of all the speakers you need an amp that will take the picture over HDMI from the sky box and the audio over the Toshlink/Digital cable from the sky box.