Its been working fine with the gen 2 using official firmware and custom, my surround system confirms the presence of non-decoded DTS and Dolby with a indicator light, then decodes it.
So, I simply placed the WDTV live plus in its place, set the audio to digital , there is no indicator light on the surround system and no sound, the only way I get surround sound is plugging the WDTV directly into the surround system via optical.
So far I’ve tried several official firmwares and some custom ones, no difference. Having ruled out the TV and surround system (using gen2), I conclude maybe digital sound is not been passed through the HDMI cable, only stereo.
Any ideas anybody, its been bugging me for a while now lol.
Ya, according to the manufacturers of most TVs when I’ve looked this up in the past, the Optical Out is only for things the TV’s tuner is decoding, and often not for anything input to the TV.
The manuals end up saying things like:
SANYO :
“Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is available at the Digital Audio Output only when received as part of a Digital Antenna signal being viewed on the screen.”
JVC :
“No audio out on optical when using HDMI.”
TOSHIBA :
“The DIGITAL AUDIO OUT terminal may not output some digital audio sources because of copy restrictions.”
PIONEER :
"Note: When signals are input from the HDMI terminals, no signals are output from the DIGITAL OUT terminal if they are copy guarded.
SAMSUNG :
“[the digital terminal] outputs stereo only from HDMI sources.”
The laws appear to be fuzzy as to whether the HDCP HDMI signal can be passed or not, so most manufacturers stay in the clear by refusing to pass it, and some/many won’t pass an HDMI signal that _ doesn’t _ have HDCP.
It seems pretty clear that your Gen2 doesn’t use HDCP (because it’s not required to) so the HDMI gets passed by your brand of TV, but your Live Plus does use HDCP (because it’s required to) so the HDMI gets blocked.
As far as a quick look around tells me, Calibre-Vantage from the UK would be the only HDTV screen that will pass the HDCP signal from a Live Plus over its optical out. There may be others, but I’m not seeing them.
The TV make is Vizio, the model I’m not exactly sure, but 100% the generation 2 wdtv player does the passthrough the Digital audio to the tv and the tv does the same to the sourround sound system. I guarantee that, but this WD TV live plus will not do it for nothing. I know because the system detects it then decodes it, where as the TV volume is silent.
If the Gen2 can pass the digital audio through the HDMI, surely the live plus can?
Frankly; I have never experienced any of the audio issues that have been attributed the WDTV Live box. I have found badly authored source material on genuine DVD’s.
I own a Samsung PS50C550G1F 50 inch Plasma TV. I can confirm that the WDTV Live will pass through 5.1 audio via HDMI to the Samsung PS50C550G1F and Toslink output from the Samsung PS50C550G1F to a Yamaha RXV-457.
The only audio issues I experience are with bluray HD audio which WD does not have a license to decode. Those blurays get played the old way. Place the bluray in the bluray player and press play on the remote.
Frankly; I have never experienced any of the audio issues that have been attributed the WDTV Live box. I have found badly authored source material on genuine DVD’s.
I own a Samsung PS50C550G1F 50 inch Plasma TV. I can confirm that the WDTV Live will pass through 5.1 audio via HDMI to the Samsung PS50C550G1F and Toslink output from the Samsung PS50C550G1F to a Yamaha RXV-457.
The only audio issues I experience are with bluray HD audio which WD does not have a license to decode. Those blurays get played the old way. Place the bluray in the bluray player and press play on the remote.
So you have a live, or a “live plus” as far as I know, they are 2 different models.
The TV make is Vizio, the model I’m not exactly sure, but 100% the generation 2 wdtv player does the passthrough the Digital audio to the tv and the tv does the same to the surround sound system. I guarantee that, but this WD TV live plus will not do it for nothing. I know because the system detects it then decodes it, where as the TV volume is silent.
If the Gen2 can pass the digital audio through the HDMI, surely the live plus can?
I also have a Vizio and it passes multi-channel digital sound from it’s digital audio output. TV’s that have optional wireless rear speakers are the ones most likely to have this feature.
Unfortunately, neither the LIve or the Live + are licensed to output surround sound through HDMI. Stupid, I know.
Hold on, so the Gen2 can do it, but the live and live+ cannot, if thats the case, that is very lame, I thought that the devices got better than the previous ones, not worse ???
Well, if there is no fix for this, eg, custom firmware or the s00-custom options file, then how about the WD TV Live Hub, Anybody know if that can send the surround via the HDMI as passthrough?
I currently have the WD hooked up to the sound system directly via the optical, its the only way, but why not, well My TV has 4 nice HDMI ports, My sound system has few inputs, only 1 optical input.
The way I see it is this (crude diagram)
HDMI 1-------
HDMI 2-------
All other TV inputs --------------TV-----------Surround system
HDMI 3-------
HDMI 4-------
If you get that crude diagram, you can see how convienent it would be. Always use same input device on surround system, no messing around there, except for volume.
Which firmware do you have on the live+ and which settings are you using, and please, if you have the patience, make me a crude diagram of your wiring. Also list your brand of TV, just incase this is a firmware tv compatibility issue or something.
Also, a trade would be nice if yours is working lol… jk
I understand it’s convenient. I’m in exactly the same boat and my AV receiver only has 1 toslink input. Fortunately, it also has two digital coax inputs and I got a toslink to digital coax converter to make do.
As I said, the HDMI ouput of your Gen2 is not copy-protected, and doesn’t need to be.
The HDMI output of your Live Plus is copy protected, and does need to be.
Virtually no TV in existance will pass the copy-protected audio from your Live Plus over its optical out. Many won’t even pass the unprotected audio from your Gen2, although I do understand that your particular TV will.
All you can really do if you want to stay TosLink and don’t have enough optical inputs at the receiver, is to get a switch and plug all your optical outs from your devices into the switch and then just one cable from the switch to the AVR.
You’ll never be able to get WD to only send an unprotected stream from the Live Plus – it would break their licensing agreements.
My Lives and Live+'s have always worked with Surround via HDMI, EXCEPT for a brief period in late 1.03.xx (resolved in 1.04.xx) where it stopped working on my PIONEER VSX-919 receiver. It started working again in version 1.04.xx.
During that same time, it REMAINED working on my PIONEER VSX-920.
All of my devices are HDMI connected to the AVR, which is then HDMI connected to the TV. All of the TV’s have their internal speakers DISABLED since the AVRs are handling 100% of the audio.
As I said, the HDMI ouput of your Gen2 is not copy-protected, and doesn’t need to be.
The HDMI output of your Live Plus is copy protected, and does need to be.
Virtually no TV in existance will pass the copy-protected audio from your Live Plus over its optical out. Many won’t even pass the unprotected audio from your Gen2, although I do understand that your particular TV will.
All you can really do if you want to stay TosLink and don’t have enough optical inputs at the receiver, is to get a switch and plug all your optical outs from your devices into the switch and then just one cable from the switch to the AVR.
You’ll never be able to get WD to only send an unprotected stream from the Live Plus – it would break their licensing agreements.
Hmm,
Why is this copy protection build into the WDTV live and not the Gen 2, I understand what they have done, but why do Gen2 devices not need it and Lives do?
Also, copy protecting only from the HDMI still leaves the optical port open to copying, whats the point of the copy protection if it only prevents copying from one port and leaves another completely open to copying…
