heres my situation... i have 3 hdmi sources and 1 hdmi input on tv the tv has 5.1 optical out i am going to buy a new receiver that has 3 hdmi a/v pass thrus however when i test the tv i dont get 5.1 out of the digital out i have run 2 tests. 1 with hdmi out of cable box, that gave me audio, just no 5.1 then i ran the hdmi out of the dvd player and i didn't get any audio at all i'm guess a bad hdmi cable?
The optical out on tvs, is for getting HD channel's 5.1 surround, from over the air (antenna). It's not for doing a daisy chain of a signal. You may also need to go into the cable box setup menus, and set the audio output to Dolby Digital. Understand though, that the only channels that broadcast in 5.1 are HD channels, premium movie channels (HBO, Starz, etc.), and some PPV channels. When you get a new receiver, I'd suggest one of the new Onkyos (TX-SR605 and up). They can process even the new HD audio formats over HDMI, so they'll do what you want. Especially if you're ever going to get a Blu ray player. Can also look at Yamaha RX-V663................
and if u really want to bang ur head against the wall onkyo tx-sr875 with 4 hdmi inputs waiting to be connected to synergy f-3 klipsch speakers
