Audio formats/connections

[TimmyMallett]

I'll be planning a home cinema room soon when we move as we will have a basement room thats crying out to be used.

I really need it to be as budget as possible but I do have Mission rears, floorstanding fronts and centre that I'd like to use as they've been in the attic for years now and I would like to start again initially without a sub but will probably add an active one at some point.

Given most of the source will Sky movies (and not the mainbox that can do Dolby +) my understanding is that I can use the hdmi out of the sky q mini box , as opposed to the optical out, and into the av unit and pass through hdmi out to the TV. If that is correct, will the TV get audio if the av unit is off?

Apologies for the stupid question, I havent done this stuff for years and I'm not up with the new formats like Atmos and connections like arc (can arc support Atmos?)


I will probably be buying used from ebay so just need to find what I need (I'm guessing just any 5.1 Dolby capable av?)....or maybe a cheap unit from Richer....

[mk2 24v]

If the AV reciever you go for has hdmi pass through, then yes the TV will get sound if the amp is in standby mode

You just need to make sure it is of the correct type of hdmi standard so there isn't compatibility issues

[STiG911]

Yes, you're right. My Pioneer VSX-922 is eight years old and does HDMI pass-through for a single source - you need to tell the receiver which HDMI port to pass-through in the settings, but that's it. When the receiver is off, both sound and video will go directly to the TV.
Insofar as I'm aware, ATMOS enabled tracks will do the same but if your gear won't detect an ATMOS track, it'll default to DD5.1 or TrueHD depending on which format is on the disc.

Edited by STiG911 on Tuesday 20th October 12:21

[TimmyMallett]

Thanks both