I am running a Yamaha RXV-3800 with a Epson 1080 home Cinema projector. I am using Barry's script to play my music which is on my home theater pc, which is also connected to my receiver via HDMI. Everything works fine, but my problem is, Everytime I play my music the video source HAS to be my pc. Once you switch the source on the receiver to CBL/DTV for example, it kills anything coming from the computer. I even ran a separate digital audio cable from the pc to another input like CD. Same problem! Once I switch the receiver to CD it turns off the pc and any sound coming out of it.

So my question is, is there anyway to get it to play one video source and a separate audio source at the same time. So far all I can come up with is buying a squeezebox duet and which connects via wifi and running that as CD. Are there any other options I can try?

If you re feeding the receiver via HDMI then I suspect that the receiver considers the HDMI input a video input and not an audio input. There is only one Pre/pro I know of that will consider an HDMI input to be audio only if that is what you want.

Is there any way of getting your sound out of the PC as optical (toslink) or Coaxial, or if you are not using encoded music (DTS) then stereo analog? If so will the Yamaha accept an audio only connection of that type. The Slim devices receiver which is half of the duet and a lot cheaper than the duet package would nicely solve your problem if your Receiver can take one of the inputs I mentioned above.

The only issue with just buying the receiver is getting it initially setup. It can be done and the methodology for doing it without the Duet Controller is published on the SlimDevices forums.

Thanks Barry

I tried to run an audio only (optical), but if the pc seems to shut down once the source on the receiver is switched to anything other that pc.

I also looked into getting the Slim devices receiver but was a little afraid I wont be able to do the initial set up! I have looked at the info on the Slimdevices forum and it looks pretty straight foward.....I guess its worth a shot.

Thanks for the help. Let me know if you think of anything else.

I do not understand how the PC knows the receiver is switched to another input. it gets no feedback on the optical link. If there is still an HDMI connection from the receiver to the PC, then if you switch off the HDMI connection at the Receiver the PC will now it, but if it wasn't putting out an HDMI signal it should not care. I must be missing something.

If the PC is using Vista, this is due to the new audio driver model - it only allows one active sound output "device" at a time. Analogue, HDMI Sound & SPDIF are seen as different "outputs". There are some workarounds but it will depend on your specific hardware.

In the past (using XP), you could send out audio over HDMI, SPDIF and analogue simultaneously if your hardware allowed it (although proper HDMI gear was less common then), with no drama. Many would use this to have digital output to a main theatre, and the analogue stereo feed for a second area, etc.

This has created a bit of hassle for the HTPC users who want sound passed through no matter what your receiver is set to (to maintain WAF). It has also lead to a spike in the cost of the old Creative DTS-100 units on eBay as people find innovative workarounds for their differing setups.

I actually use old creative SB4 cards with the digital I/O extension, combined with my Squeezeboxes. As the squeezebox has 2 digital outputs (optical & coax), one goes straight to the receiver as "Squeezebox" input, the other goes to the digital input on the SB Card in the PC, which can then be passed through to the receiver via the HDMI input when nothing else is on.

That is interesting. I am a dedicated XP user and use no Vista. Another reason why Vista should be placed into the graveyard of bad ideas. I wonder if Windows 7 will have the same audio design "Feature"

At Microsoft the rule is "If you can't fix it, Feature it"

If you are trying display a Video Image from one Device connected to the Receiver and then to the projector (e.g. Set Top Box) and play Sound from another Device connected to the Receiver (e.g. Your PC)
Connect the,
1. Set Top Box to the Receivers TV/CBL Inputs (Audio/Video Input) with e.g. HDMI cable.
2. PC to the Receivers CD Input (Audio only Input) with Optical/Coaxial or RCA (Analog).
3. Make sure the Receivers Inputs are correctly Assigned.
4. Set Audio Select to AUTO
5. Select TV/CBL Input with remote to display Video Image and then select CD Input to get PC sound.

You can not connect the PC to a Audio/Video Input and select another Audio/Video Input or vice-versa because the Receiver is always going to select the LAST Input you select and display that Image it does not know you only want Audio.

I have a Yamaha 2700 and do this all the time with other Devices e.g. CD Player and Tuner. I do not know if they have removed this ability for the 3800 but the easiest way to check is to select a A/V Input (TV/CBL) and then select Tuner (Radio) if the image from the A/V Input is still there every thing is sweet!

Thanks Jasonvp


I actually solved the problem today! Instead of uf using a HDMI cable I bought a PC to HDMI cable (which does audio only.) Then I used the SPDIF cable for audio source and ran it to the cd input on the receiver (what you describe above). So now when the video source is not pc it can still play the sound coming from the "CD" at the same time.

I guess what was happening before was once the HDMI cable is used it does both video and audio, cancelling out any other audio connections present.

Who Knew!! thanks for the help Barry, Roti and Jasonvp