TV to Surround Sound in 2011 Rushmore

[danemayer]

I'm stumped on connecting the TV audio out to the surround sound. Our 2011 Rushmore came with the Sharp TV model LC-42SB48UT, and the surround sound is the Panasonic SC-PT480. Surround sound works fine when playing DVDs.

The TV has RCA phono outputs, but the surround sound has no such inputs.
TV has Coax Optical audio output, but the surround sound has no such input.
Surround sound has conventional optical audio input, but the TV has no such output.
Surround sound accepts new HDMI audio input, but the TV has the older HDMI that does not send audio out.
The surround sound has an iPod dock that plays from my iPhone, but even with a very hard to find adapter cable, I can't get TV audio to play - surround sound just looks for the iPhone/iPod and doesn't accept the TV as legit.

Has anyone successfully connected these this Sharp TV to this Panasonic surround sound?

 

[Charlie Harris]

Dan,

While I dont have the Sharp/Panasonic set up, had the same issue. Take a pic of the back of your Panasonic and back of the Sharp. Go to Best Buy or Radio Shack and have one of the youngsters tell you what to use. Also I had to cut the volume off of my TV in the menu and use only the amp volume. Also had to set the amp to aux mode for it all to work.

 

[branson4020]

Dan,
I looked at the manuals for both those units and I see why you asked the question. The Panasonic manual says if no optical output available from TV to use TV audio-out and receiver aux-in. Maybe the aux-in is a digital input?

 

[danemayer]

The problem is the connectors on the surround sound box don't match the connectors on the TV. The surround sound box has 3 input connectors: one for the iPod/Iphone, another for Optical Audio. The third is tricky; it's the HDMI output cable.

I've tried the iPod connector without success. It seems to only accept iPod/iPhone sources.
I've tried the optical audio but the connector on the TV is a different type from the surround sound. I've not been able to find an optical cable or other device that bridges these different connectors.
I've looked into the HDMI connection to send audio from the TV to the surround sound. The new HDMI standard permits TV audio to return via this cable, even though the HDMI cable is primarily used to send signals to the TV. However, while the surround sound will accept audio in via this cable, the TV doesn't meet the new standard and doesn't send audio via HDMI.

If the surround sound box had RCA phono INPUT connectors, as well as outputs, everything would be fine.

I keep hoping there's another 2011 Rushmore owner who's figured out what I'm missing.

Or maybe Heartland screwed up when they selected this Panasonic surround sound model.

 

[jbeletti]

Hey Dan - are you in Austin now? If not, where? Perhaps another Heartland owner nearby can drop by to have a look.

Jim

 

[branson4020]

Dan,

If the digital audio out from that tv is not a standard optical cable, then its 75 ohm coax (electrical, not optical.) Can't very well adopt that to an optical input. Where's this "aux" input the Panasonic manual talks about? Is it compatible?

 

[danemayer]

The video and audio phono jacks that feed standard output to the TV are the same connectors the manual refers to as AUX. I know they send audio to the TV because that's how the setup was wired from the factory. I haven't tried using those connectors as inputs, but who knows? Maybe they've got a 2 way circuit. Time to try it.

AND WE HAVE A WINNER! The AUX jacks are for both output to the TV and input from the TV.

The connector on the TV labeled digital audio out is referred to as a Coax Digital Audio Connector.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Jim,

I just resolved it. The AUX connectors on the surround sound are for both output and input. In many years of working with many types of audio and video equipment, it's the first time I've seen this.

 

[jbeletti]

That is odd Dan. I've heard of this in the digital video world with multi-pin connectors, but not in analog. Glad you got it figured out. I think you just helped a lot of folks with the Panasonic Home Theater/DVD system.

Jim

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Aw shucks, I'll be going through Austin tomorrow. I was hoping to be the guy that figured this out.

 

[ChopperBill]

Oops! A cut and paste I made from a post yesterday.
"Just going to add, I dont know why the manufactures dont do this when they install the A/V equipment. I am guessing this "problem" is one of the top 3 posts and would only cost the manufacture two bits and less than 1 minute of time to do."

 

[danemayer]

Heartland installed the system with an RCA Phono A/V cable from the DVD output to the TV inputs. This routed DVD video and audio to the TV, allowing DVD audio to play through both the surround sound and the TV speakers. The video quality of this arrangement is poor (VCR quality), not DVD quality.

What they should do is ship with an HDMI cable connecting the DVD output to the TV, and the A/V cable connecting TV audio outputs to the DVD/surround sound box. The additional cost would be minimal. While some people will argue that you have to spend $20-30 on an HDMI cable, I use cheap HDMI cables at home and in the RV without any problem. They could add an HDMI cable for less than $5.

It would also be really helpful to create a one page document that diagrams the connections, and TV and surround sound settings. I know there are going to be many different combinations of TVs and surround sound/DVD boxes, but someone must have determined ahead of time that the specific combination works as intended - it wouldn't take too long to go the extra step and document it for the user.

 

[ChopperBill]

Heartland installed the system with an RCA Phono A/V cable from the DVD output to the TV inputs. This routed DVD video and audio to the TV, allowing DVD audio to play through both the surround sound and the TV speakers. The video quality of this arrangement is poor (VCR quality), not DVD quality.

What they should do is ship with an HDMI cable connecting the DVD output to the TV, and the A/V cable connecting TV audio outputs to the DVD/surround sound box. The additional cost would be minimal. While some people will argue that you have to spend $20-30 on an HDMI cable, I use cheap HDMI cables at home and in the RV without any problem. They could add an HDMI cable for less than $5.

It would also be really helpful to create a one page document that diagrams the connections, and TV and surround sound settings. I know there are going to be many different combinations of TVs and surround sound/DVD boxes, but someone must have determined ahead of time that the specific combination works as intended - it wouldn't take too long to go the extra step and document it for the user.

Harbor Frieght has 6' HDMI cables for $9. I paid $7 a couple of weeks ago. Works no different than the high dollar units. Harbor Frieght cable

 

[sher524]

Dan
We just purchased our 2011 Bighorn 2 weeks ago and I am having the same problem. Could you ellaborate on how you hooked this up? I have tried a HDMI cable from the TV to the receiver with no luck.....however, we are on DISH, so that could be the problem. I put receiver on AUX, but no sound from speakers. Has anyone solved this problem that has DISH DVR hooked up?

 

[danemayer]

Sound from the DVD player goes directly to the surround sound speakers. Video from the DVD player can go to the TV either thru RCA Phono connector (yellow to video, red white and white not needed unless you want audio going to the TV speakers), or via HDMI cable from DVD player to the TV.

Sound from the TV goes into the Surround Sound system via RCA Phono connectors (red/white). They're connected to the Audio Out (doublecheck that you're using the OUT) on the TV and to the only RCA phono connectors on the back of the DVD Player (those connectors are audio in and out).

If I recall correctly, to hear the TV audio, you have to switch the surround sound to AUX and there may be a secondary selection. You may also have to make a selection on the TV menu to turn on audio output. Our RV is in the shop, so I can't get to it to refresh my memory.

I have DirecTV hooked up, connected to the TV via RCA Phono jacks. I can't say with 100% confidence that I've listened to DirecTV programs thru surround sound, but I think I have. I'm pretty sure that once you have audio correctly routed from the TV to the Surround Sound system, it doesn't matter how you got the audio into the TV.

 

[sher524]

Thanks for the help.....red/white cable from TV to receiver worked.....Hubby will be VERY HAPPY!!!!

 

[Dianna]

I'm having a similar problem, with my Sharp TV and Panasonic surround system, with DISH satellite. When running audio cables from the output of the TV to the input of the Panasonic, I get surround sound with the antenna or cable but NOT with the satellite. In order to get surround sound to the satellite I have to go directly from the satellite receiver to the surround sound system.
Any suggestions?

 

[cookie]

I go directly from the satellite receiver to the surround system using a fiber optic cable. Works great.

Peace
Dave

 

[danemayer]

Last week I hooked up our DirecTV high def DVR to the TV via HDMI cable and found that the TV won't feed audio out when using the HDMI as input. Tried using the RCA phone output from the DirecTV box - but there's a slight delay relative to the TV speakers - have to turn the TV speakers down when using the surround sound speakers. I'll have to give the digital audio connection a try to see if that works better.