[audiogoober]

I recently connected our two channel living room audio system to our TV in an effort to slightly enhance the audio while watching TV. Does anyone know why the toslink audio output from my Samsung TV to my Eastern Electric minimax plus DAC would be periodically losing signal? It cuts out for about 1 second every now and then.  More frequently on certain channels. The signal from the cable box to TV is HDMI. The toslink signal indicator on the DAC flashes when this signal interruption occurs. I've tried two different toslink cables with the same results. I've had the 2 channel system for years and the DAC's optical and s/pdif have always worked flawlessly if fed from my squeezebox touch....so I know it's not a problem with the DAC. Could the issue potentially be something with the HDMI to Optical conversion within the TV?

[*Scotty*]

I have a similar problem with my TV when fed from Comcast cable as well as HD broadcasts over the air. My guess is severe jitter causing is cause a loss of lock with the DAC. I am going to try an HDMI to SPDIF break out box and see if the results are any better. These boxes are under $30 from Amazon.
Scotty

[audiogoober]

I have a similar problem with my TV when fed from Comcast cable as well as HD broadcasts over the air. My guess is severe jitter causing is cause a loss of lock with the DAC. I am going to try an HDMI to SPDIF break out box and see if the results are any better. These boxes are under $30 from Amazon.
Scotty

Thanks Scotty! I'll give one a try as well.

[youravhandyman]

I haven't tried the HDMI to SPDIF box yet but your issue is likely the Dolby encoding of the signal coming out of the TV.  This is a common issue for many sound bars that had optical inputs but could not handle the Dolby decoding.  Several manufacturers made solutions, including this one from Gefen http://www.gefen.com/kvm/gtv-dd-2-aa.jsp?prod_id=5980 that was often included in with these sound bars, but I don't think this will resolve your specific issue.  Just hope it put you on the right path to finding your solution.  I have used this exact device to feed audio off of a Samsung 46" TV back into a distributed audio system with no drops.  The TV was several years old at the time though.
 
I wonder if the break out box you describe will decode the Dolby too?

Matt

[David C]

I have the same set up with an Easter Elect DAC fed from my Samsung TV and I get the periodic loss of optical signal and sound as well . I too tried a new toslink cable and the problem did not go away. My TV is hooked up to the sat box via HDMI. The only fix that worked for me was to end up going component (6 RCA feeds from that sat box to the Samsung) Using that connect to the TV I have no loss of sound via optical to EE DAC.

Maybe this bit of info will help someone out there who is more savvy  than I am figure out a better solution if  there is one

[audiogoober]

I have the same set up with an Easter Elect DAC fed from my Samsung TV and I get the periodic loss of optical signal and sound as well . I too tried a new toslink cable and the problem did not go away. My TV is hooked up to the sat box via HDMI. The only fix that worked for me was to end up going component (6 RCA feeds from that sat box to the Samsung) Using that connect to the TV I have no loss of sound via optical to EE DAC.

Maybe this bit of info will help someone out there who is more savvy  than I am figure out a better solution if  there is one

Thanks Everyone. David C -  with the RCA connections are you still using HDMI or did you remove that?

[David C]

Sorry to be a tad late in response. I removed the hdmi and have no problem with the optical feed for sound

[audiogoober]

Sorry to be a tad late in response. I removed the hdmi and have no problem with the optical feed for sound

Thanks. I'm going to try a HDMI to SPDIF break out box first then possibly a audio decoder. I think the HDMI is necessary for HDTV with our setup. Can you still get everything in High Definition with your RCA connections? Our cable box doesn't have RCA outputs but I may be able to get a different cable box.

[Audioclyde]

I had what sounds like a similar issues; my pre/pro would often lose lock of the digital signal (toslink) from my cable box.  I would also get intermittent buzz/hum.

I added a Jensen transformer for cable TV setups in the cable before my cable box, and now all is well.

Randy