I've been playing around with my HTPC setup and I've run into a bit of a snag.

(If you don't want/need to read large block of explanation text skip to red font below)

I currently have

HTPC--via HDMI-->TV--via analog RCA-->A/V receiver, which works perfectly fine -- the computer outputs the sound thru the HDMI to the TV which then sends it to the A/V receiver and all is well.

I got an old Soundmatters virtual surround set-top speaker (circa 2003) in my Woot Bag of Crap today and wanted to see if it could work w/ my existing setup. It's old, so it doesn't have an HDMI in -- only analog and digital via optical or coax.

My TV, which is a Sony Bravia V40-XBR1, has an audio optical out port, so I ran an optical line from that to the Soundmatters, hoping that the sound would successfully go from HTPC to TV (thru HDMI) and then to the Soundmatters (thru the optical). This, however, would produce silence. I then switched to my cable box to see if IT would output sound (cable box --> TV --> Soundmatters), but that resulted in silence as well.

Then, per the Soundmatters's manual's suggestion, I directly connected it to my cable box (bypassing my TV and A/V receiver) via the optical line. Lo and behold, the sound worked, so it's not a problem with the optical line itself.

This suggested to me that it was a problem with the TV's optical out, which was confirmed when I ran the optical line from my TV's optical out to my A/V receiver's optical in as a test (temporarily disconnecting the existing analog connection) and there was no sound.

Herein lies the problem: My HTPC does NOT have an optical out, so I can't directly connect the Soundmatters to it like I did with the cable box. It DOES, however, have a audio coax out. The Soundmatters also has a audio coax in, but I don't have an audio coax cable. I could get one off of monoprice for really cheap, but before I do, I'm just wondering --

Is there any way to make a (device)--HDMI-->TV--Optical-->(Other device) setup work?

I Googled for a long time and found people reporting that Sony Bravias do not pass through audio from an HDMI input out through their optical outputs. Does anyone have any experience with this or know it to be true or not?

To recap,

HTPC--HDMI-->TV--RCA Analog-->A/V receiver = works
HTPC--HDMI-->TV--Optical-->Soundmatters = doesn't work <<This is what I want
Cable box--Component-->TV--Optical-->Soundmatters = doesn't work
Cable box--Optical-->Soundmatters = works
Cable box--Component-->TV--Optical-->A/V receiver = doesn't work


Sorry for the excessively long post.
Thanks for any help in advance >_<

You need to go optical from PC to your receiver, HDMI audio is not HD audio

I don't really care about whether or not it's HD, I just want to see if I can avoid buying/running another cable by somehow mashing together the setup that I have.