I found a cheap optical cable that was on clearance the other day. Normally a $20 cable for $3.
I figured I would hook my tv up to my receiver with it, since all I have are analog cables. I disconnected the analog wires and plugged in the optical one. It works great while watching tv, but when I try to play my xbox 360, no sound plays on the receiver at all. I am guessing that it has something with the 360's sound output being analog or something like that, but not completely sure. Is there a way to get digital output from the xbox 360? I didn't see any digitil outputs on the back.
Why is this, and is there a way, so it will play the sound through the receiver, without directly connecting the 360's wires to the receiver. I would just connect it directly to the receiver, but, since my receiver doesn't have component video connections, I wouldn't be able play it in HD.
I have my X-Box 360 hooked up to my T.V. with the component video wires as well as the standard RCA sound wires, I also have my gamecube and VCR hooked up with the composite wires (yellow-video and red and white) and with my DvD to the T.V. with and HDMI.
Then I have a digital optical wire running from the T.V. to the Digital Optical port marked DvD on the back of my reciever, when my Reciever is set to DvD, I will get playback for everything that is hooked up.
So I guess, try hooking the red and white cables to the T.V. (on In), thats how mine works.
That's how mine is also setup, but when I select my input 3, which is what my xbox 360 is hooked up to, I don't get any sound out of the receiver. I just went and got another optical cable and going to run it straight from the 360 to the receiver. I didn't realize there was an optical port until screwing around with it a bit. Wish I could just do it like yours is set up, but it doesn't work. Must just be my tv or something. I got so many damn wires, its going to be tricky to hide them all.
Just because you connect your video cables directly to your tv, it doesn't mean you have to connect the audio to it, too. Anyway, if you connect the audio on your 360 to your tv the way you're describing, even if you get it to work, you will not get the best sound from the 360. In order for you to get digital 5.1 from the 360, you'll need to connect the optic output to your receiver.(either directly or through a system selector) If you have a surround sound system that supports optic, coax and/or HDMI inputs, it would be in your best interest to use these whenever possible. If you do not have enough audio digital inputs on your receiver for both your tv and 360(and DVD player), you may want to invest in a system selector. This will increase the number of devices you can hook up to your receiver(and TV). You can get a decent one pretty cheap these days.
