Having an Onkyo receiver as part of your home theatre system is a great boost towards achieving quality audio and visual signals from your TV. With an AV Receiver such as Onkyo’s, you can be sure that you’ll receive images and sounds that are clearer and crispier than what you used to hear previously from just your TV. Most TVs and receivers come with HDMI ports, so it is easier to connect the TV to the receiver using an HDMI cable.
However, you can equally connect your Onkyo receiver to your TV even if you do not have HDMI – by using an optical cable. To connect the Onkyo Receiver to your TV with an optical cable, plug one end of the optical cable into the Optical Digital Out port on your TV and then plug the other end of the cable into the Optical Digital In port on the receiver. After connecting the two, you can adjust the Settings on your device to determine how the TV sound gets played through the receiver.
Connecting your Onkyo Receiver to your TV using an optical cable using the above method is very simple and easy to do by yourself. You can simply connect any TV brand to the receiver provided it has the port for the optical cable connection. If you are ready to learn more about this connection method, then read on because there is still a lot more to discuss on this topic.
Does Optical Cable Support Audio?
As I said earlier, most modern devices use an HDMI connection. Therefore it is more likely for you to come by an Onkyo receiver and a TV with HDMI ports than it is to come by the same devices with optical ports.
However, in the absence of HDMI ports on your devices, you will find other ports on your TV and receiver that you can still make use of.
A popular alternative port that you will find on your TV is the port for optical cables or RCA.
If you are new to optical cables, you may be wondering whether or not the optical cable supports audio transmission. Fortunately, the answer is yes.
The optical cable basically transmits digital audio signals between two devices, in this case, it’s between your TV and the Onkyo Receiver. The cable is made up of fibers and works by transmitting digital audio signals in the form of light pulses.
This transmission is far better than analog signals which is evident in the output sound quality that you hear on your listening device.
How Do I Connect Onkyo Receiver to TV With Optical Cable?
Now that you know that you can use an optical cable for your connection, it is important to know how to connect the TV to your Onkyo Receiver via the optical cable.
Before you connect the TV to the Onkyo Receiver, it is advisable to turn off all the devices and complete the cable connection before you turn them back on.
Remember that you can connect the receiver to any TV at all provided the TV has the port for the optical TV. In this article, I will be using an Android TV as an example, but you can use other TVs as well.
Depending on your TV’s model, you may have to consult your TV’s manual on how to set your TV’s audio system after you finish with the cable connection.
The steps below will help you to connect your Onkyo receiver to your TV:
- Plug one end of the optical cable into the Optical Out port on the TV. You can locate this port on the backside of the TV.
- Plug the other end of the same cable into the Optical In port on the Onkyo Receiver.
- Turn the TV on.
- Depending on your Android TV’s model, look for the Quick Setting button on the TV and then press it. Go to Settings after that. On some other Android TV models, you’ll have to press the Home button on your remote and then go to Settings.
- From Settings, go to Select Display And Sound.
- Navigate to Audio Output, Speakers, and then choose Audio System.
- Choose between Fixed and Variable Options for the Audio System to activate the audio system.
After going through the above steps, you should be able to hear the sound of your TV on your TV’s speaker, home theatre system, and receiver depending on whether or not you chose the Fixed or Variable Audio System as your option in the Settings.
You should take note that you can hear the audio from the TV on the TV and the receiver once you go through the steps.
However, if you choose the Fixed option as your Audio Output, you can adjust the volume on your receiver. If you do not want to hear the audio on your TV speakers, you can simply turn down the volume of the TV with your remote or mute it and still be able the listen to the audio on your receiver or home theater system perfectly.
For a Variable Audio Output Setting, the volume of the audio on your receiver is dependent on the volume of the TV.
So, if you turn down or mute the volume on your TV, the volume on the receiver will equally turn down or go mute.
In this case, you can not listen to audio on your sound system while your TV’s volume is mute.
Also Read:
Ways to connect wireless speakers to Onkyo receiver
Why is Optical Audio Not Working?
When connecting your Onkyo receiver to a TV via optical cables, there may be times that you will not hear the audio from your TV.
If you happen to be in such a situation, you should not worry so much since I have some tips here to help you fix the situation.
Usually, the audio on your TV will not work if the optical cable is not well connected. By that I mean, you will not get any sound on your receiver if the optical cable that is linking your TV to the receiver is loosely connected.
In such a situation, gently and firmly press the optical cable into its designated port and make sure that it makes contact with the metallic conductors in its port.
You may also experience problems with your audio if the components of your home theater system are compatible with your TV.
You can cross-check with your TV’s manufacturers to see which devices are compatible with your TV’s model if you want to solve the problem.
Lastly, outdated TV software may cause audio problems in your connections. Always make sure to update your TV’s firmware to its latest version and you’ll be fine.
If none of the above tips works for you, you may have to replace your optical cable or seek assistance from your TV’s manufacturer.
Can I Use Both HDMI and Optical Cable at the Same Time?
You will realize that in recent times, most TVs have both HDMI and optical cable ports.
This is common since the trend of using HDMI for signal transmission is on the rise among users.
Also, the different ports on your devices serve as alternatives to each other so that in case, you do not have HDMI you’ll be able to use optical cables in vice versa.
With that said, you may be wondering if you can use the HDMI cable and the optical cable on your TV and receiver at the same time.
You can literally connect both cables to their respective ports on your TV but the TV won’t allow you to use all two at the same time.
What happens in such a situation is that only one of the two ports will be active at any point in time, so if the TV is using the optical cable, it won’t be able to use the HDMI.
The receiver and TV automatically respond to whichever of the two cables was connected last.
Final Thoughts
An Onkyo receiver is a great addition to spice up your TV viewing experience. With improved audio and visual signals, you will watch the TV viewing experience get better and better.
Most of the receivers use HDMI cables for their connection, but with an Onkyo receiver, you’ll have the option to use an optical cable even if your TV does not use HDMI.
Connecting an Onkyo receiver to a TV with an optical cable is quite simple and you should be able to do it all by yourself after reading this article.
You should always look out for ports that are labeled as Optical In or Optical Out on your Onkyo receiver and TV and once you plug the optical cable into those ports, you will be good to go with the audio transmission.
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