CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

A couple of months ago I got a Fire Stick for my living room TV. This is pretty dope, I thought, and I like having it up here, but I'd rather be watching my projector. So rather than moving the Stick downstairs, I ordered another one for the HT.

Just got it, plugged it in, and ... uh-oh. Sound. Or, rather, NO sound. My receiver (a 15+-yr-old pre-HDMI Onkyo HTR510) has no HDMI inputs. The Stick is plugged into the projector, and the video is great, but... I don't see any way to get at the audio signal. There's no output jacks on the Fire Stick. I assume you're supposed to plug your HDMI audio/video source into your receiver, and let it route audio to the speakers, video to your projector.

I see there are HDMI audio splitters as cheap as $13, but I suspect you get what you pay for. Does anybody have recommendations for a good and not-expensive splitter? Prefer optical SPDIF output, but RCA connectors would work. How important is e.g. HDMI 1.4 vs 1.4b vs 2.0 vs 2.0b? Same Q for HDCP?

I was looking at something like https://amzn.to/3bhGmKX

Strange thing while setting up the Fire Stick ... It connected right up to my wifi and started downloading updates. WITHOUT me ever specifying what wifi to use, OR providing a password!! HTH did it connect to a secure WPA2 wifi with no password!?

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:35 pm Post subject:

Do you have anyoter Amazon anythings plugged in at the same time? Amazon has started to network ad-hoc via 900mhz band and encrypting packets back to their servers.
Big business is watching you. Literally. AMazon bought Ring doorbells and added the 900Mhz feature. You can't opt in, you can't opt out.

As for your sound issue. I use to have an HDMI switcher with RCA outs. Worked well. Just try one of those HDMI to SPDIF boxes.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

The only other Amazon gizmo in the house is my other Fire Stick. The new Stick did detect the old one when I started setting up -- "Looks like you already have a Fire Stick" or something like that. So I guess maybe the old Stick educated the new one via Bluetooth or 900MHz, and told it the wifi password ??

You CAN opt out of the 900MHz thing, though: https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/amazons-sidewalk-network-is-turned-on-by-default-heres-how-to-turn-it-off.html

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 4:51 pm Post subject:

Does the projector not have a 3.5mm audio out jack? Most do. Worst case, you can use that. www.factorelectronics.com has a 4 x 1 HDMI switch with audio out. I'm a dealer if you need one.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:40 pm Post subject:

I've been using this HDMI audio extractor for a year now on a PS5 and it works great: https://amzn.to/3Em5nRG
SPDIF/Toslink (optical) and coax (digital) out. Lots of similar boxes available. Limited to Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 of course, as only HDMI supports the higher end lossless formats like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

Kal

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

No Curt, I don't think so. It's a JVS RS45. It has 2x HDMI inputs, RJ45, Dsub9 RS232, component video, 3D synchro emitter, screen trigger, and some kind of strange Remote connector. No audio out as far as I can see.

Kal, I'm glad that works for you, but I'd be leery of it given the low ratings on Amazon. 1/4 of people gave it 1 or 2 stars. The one I linked in the first post has half as many 1- & 2-star ratings, and gets almost 70% 5-star ratings. Better yet, https://amzn.to/3jMaB1g has 94% 5- and 4-stars, with 1 DOA unit out of 25. Neither of them have SPDIF coax out, but my receiver's single coax input is already used for my DVD player.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 5:08 pm Post subject:

Certainly - though be careful of ratings on highly technical devices like this that have limitations. Skimming reviews many say "doesn't work" which really means "I don't know what I'm doing / I'm not using it correctly". Wink

The good news is that these sorts of boxes are pretty darned cheap.

Kal

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Well I ordered one of these: https://amzn.to/3kp7Tze

FireStick plugged into "HDMI input" on the splitter. "HDMI output" goes to the projector. Digital (optical) audio out to the receiver.

Aaand nothin. Video passes through just fine, but no sound. I've tried PCM, I've tried Digital Dolby, I've set the splitter to 2CH and plugged in earphones. Nothin.

Unfortunately I don't have another optical-digital source to verify that signal path, but the cable and the inputs worked the last time I used them. Don't know if I have a faulty unit, or if I've just set something up wrong. Has anybody else gotten one of these HDMI splitters working with Fire Stick? Any ideas?

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 4:34 pm Post subject:

Weird. I don't have a fire stick. I did have a 4x2 HDMI matrix switcher and it worked well with ATSC, Bluray, PS3 and put analog L+R over the head phone jack.

When you are playing something on the Firestick does the optical cable's light modulate or is it a steady light?

Looks like you got an answer to your question on Amazon"

No sound with firestick 4k. i tried pcm, dolby digital, etc. tried setting it to 2ch but still no sound in the earphones. any tips for firestick?
Answer:
I'm using this HDMI Audio extractor with my regular Amazon Fire stick. I don't think mine is 4K model so I'm not sure if that matters. But mine works great. I have the "mode" setting switched all the way to the right on "TV" mode. I am able to run headphones or my computer speakers. I was previously only using my computer speakers which have built in amplification so I checked to see if basic headphones also work and they work fine. My advice would be to first double check to make sure you have the picture working properly because it could be that the HDMI port just needs resetting. If the picture is fine and it's set to "TV" on the back of the extractor splitter but still doesn't work, it could be a defective HDMI cable, a defective converter or possibly the 4K version of the Fire Stick instead of the base model is the issue. When I first set mine up, it didn't work right away. But after I reset my HDMI connections on both ends, it came to life and worked great. I hope this helps. see less
By Brian V. Menard (Author) on November 11, 2021

**kal** · Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:56 pm Post subject:

I know there are definitely some idiosyncrasies. The first $20 box I bought wouldn't pass the colour space correctly (had to be manually set in the projector). Putting a 2:1 HDMI splitter I already had in front of the extractor solved that issue, with nothing connected to the second output. Ended up buying a second box that worked correctly. Weird.

Kal

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

I may have to exchange this one -- I suspect the unit is faulty.

AR, good thought on the optical signal. No, it doesn't modulate, just a steady glow. I assumed it was too high-freq to see. Should it flicker?

That answer on Amazon wasn't too helpful. "I don't have the same Firestick, but stereo works on mine." Well this could easily be different between different versions, AND this is for my theater so I'm not looking for just stereo. Unfortunately I can't find any way to respond.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 10:43 pm Post subject:

Yeah Gary, try another model all together. Remember these are CCC ( Cheap Chinese Crap ) and are hit an miss.

I wonder if your FireStick is faulty? Maybe a software/frimware update?

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

It's brand new, and it did a firmware update when I first installed it. So I'm guessing not.

The vendor responded to me last night, mostly with stock solutions, which I told him I'd already tried. I explained in more detail -- we'll see if he comes through. If not, it will be "different CCC" time.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:37 am Post subject:

Have you tried the different power on sequence? Start with the display, then the audio box, then the Firestick? Also trying the 3 way sound switch in each position as you do the power up sequence.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Not systematically, but I think I tried all the different possibilities. And yes, I tried all three positions. I tried three different signal sources (two firesticks and my laptop), and checked sound at the internal headphone jack. Three different signal sources and no other dependencies — I think the splitter is the problem. The vendor agrees and is sending a replacement.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:33 pm Post subject:

Yeah sounds like you got a bum unit. Hope the next one works.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Welll, bother. The vendor gave fantastic support -- quick responses, got me a replacement unit within 36 hours. But I just can not make these things work. I thought there was absolutely no sound coming out of the splitter, since every source I tried produced no audio. Then as I made "one more pass" through the different connection options, suddenly there was sound!? At that time I was testing a DVD player, and somehow it got set to the alternative (2channel) audio track. I didn't want to listen to the director's commentary, so I switched it to the main 5.1ch setting -- and poof, no sound. And no matter how much I messed with it, I couldn't get any sound working.

Very strange. Apparently it works for most people, according to the reviews. But I used 4 different sources (2 Fire Sticks, DVD player, laptop), 2 different splitters, different settings (PCM, etc) .... and I can't make it work. Grumble

**kal** · Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 9:25 pm Post subject:

Weird.

I have a love/hate relationship with HDMI. When it works it works quick and easy. Plug and play. When it doesn't, you need a degree in electrical engineering / communication protocols / encryption rules to figure out why it's not working.

The non-locking connector also sucks.

Kal

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:53 am Post subject:

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Well that’s what this is, without the switch. It’s the “extract audio signal from HDMI and send over SPDIF” that I need.