Can't get sound out of my Surround Sound speakers. Help?

Question

Hi - I have a Onkyo HT-S5100 7.1 Channel Home Entertainment System. I have HDMI coming from my PS3 to the receiver, my cable box via HDMI also going to my receiver and have HDMI going from receiver to Samsung 650 TV. I assigned input channels for both cable/satellite and for PS3 and they both work showing up beautifully on TV. The problem is I am still onle getting sound from TV and not from Onkyio speakers. All speakers are connected correctly and the system also did a run thru check to each speaker making sure they all worked. How do I get sound out of my Onkyio speakers? Cable TV and PS3 work great running thru the Onkyio receiver but the the only sound is coming from the TV. Everything is connected via HDMI. What am I doing wrong? Please help. Thank you.

Answer 1

onkyo receivers from 500 series and below, are not able to process audio on hdmi.

600 series and up are able to process both video and audio on hdmi.

suggestion; try txsr606, txsr605, htsp908

Answer 2

Is your cable system set up for HD? Are you paying for HD programing ?

If not the reason you are not getting sound through your surround speakers is that it is broadcast in 2.0 or two channels not in 5.1 or surround sound.

Answer 3

Hah.  Welcome to the big lie that is HDMI.

While HDMI DOES carry both digital video and audio signals required for HD and surround sound, the receiver is not capable of doing anything with the HDMI connection other than simply passing it through to your TV.

Yes, that's right, the big promise of the simplified cabling is a lie.

To get surround sound, you'll have to connect a separate audio cable from each of your devices to your receiver.  Just remember, this needs to be an optical audio (or TOSLink) cable or a digital coax cable if you want surround sound.  

One other note, your satellite box can output audio on both the HDMI and optical cables simultaneously but the PS3 can only use one or the other.  So if you want surround sound, be sure to go into the PS3's Sound Settings menu and turn OFF HDMI audio.