Connecting Sanyo 55" Smart (Roku) TV to AVR

PaperBoy007

PaperBoy007

Hanging out at the 49th
Subscriber
Of course, as soon as I have my home theater set up between my old LG 47" tv and my Yamaha RX-V861 AVR, my wife decides she has to spend some money and bought a new TV. Not that I am complaining, but now the ROKU is built in.
The TV is a Sanyo Class 4K Ultra HD (2160p) HDR Roku Smart TV. With the old Yamaha AVR I had Roku 3 set top box and LG DVD/Blue Ray and a Chromecast Ultra hooked up. I had the DVD and Chromecast going through an auto switch because there weren't enough HDMI inputs to go around. The auto switch always defaulted to Chromecast so now I think I can get rid of the switch and just plug the Chromecast and DVD/Blu to the two available HDMI inputs on the AVR.
My question is, can I just run a optical line out of the TV and connect it to an optical input so that I get the benefits of surround from the built-in Roku as it no longer has to run thru the AVR and I wouldn't want it to anyway as the AVR is 1080p, not 4K?

Eventually I will upgrade the AVR to something from this century, but for now it is what I have and it was free and has been working great for the past month or so since I hooked everything up.

I'd appreciate any opinions you guys have to offer. Here is what the back of the Yamaha looks like:

Yamaha RX-V861 back.jpeg


Here's what the quick setup guide for the Sanyo FW55R70F:

FW55R70F Quick Sart-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
Yeah, the audio will come out on optical to the AVR. However, what sort of surround you get depends on what the TV does with the signal.

Some only pass real (discrete) surround from the TV tuner and the Smart TV apps (internal sources), while converting external sources to 2 ch. Some pass discrete surround from both internal and external sources. Unfortunately it's not always clear which way it does it.
 
Well, I guess when I get the TV hooked up I'll try the optical cable and then find something on Roku to test the sSurround.

One thing I see is that they say the TV can connect to soundbar through the optical cable, so I guess that should push through the surround audio. Then I'll just need to figure out what setting to put the AVR on when watching ROKU vs. DVD/BluRay or Chromecast
 
Last edited:
Yeah the optical will work for you.. you might have to change a setting or two in the tv menu..
 
The key indication will be what the receiver shows. If the receiver shows the surround format as Dolby Digital you're golden with discrete surround. If it will only go to a matrix mode like Dolby Pro Logic then the TV is only passing PCM (could be a setting), the program is only 2-ch, or your receiver doesn't recognize the format and your receiver is creating the surround.
 
And if you are already using the two hdmi inputs on the yamaha, plug the optical from the tv into the md/cdr input..
 
I will try all these suggestions. Going to swap the new TV to the wall mount on Sunday. I have to move the mount up a little as the smaller TV just clears my right side speaker by about 3". The new TV, if the mount is centered, would sit too low.
 
I am able to get 5.1 surround using the optical cable out from TV to AVR. What's nice about the 55" Sanyo Roku Smart TV, besides the fact that it is 4K and huge at least seems so compared to the old 47" LG, is that you can launch your VCR player, Chromecast, and even the old DVR right from Home Page on Roku. Beats having to flip through the inputs. Haven't found buttons for on/off, channels, or inputs on the TV itself, so no losing the remote. Need to look at the manual, such as it is. Will have to investigate later, catching up on Fear the Walking Dead and World Beyond. Had to move the TV mount up about two inches to clear the right SS-M7. I'm a happy camper again.

One last thing. Thanks everyone from your help.

Edit: Changed DVR to VCR
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom