witt312 Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 What is everyone's go-to choice for extracting hdmi audio in order to distribute a 2-channel stream through an audio amp while retaining the original stream on the hdmi-out port? The cable co. is mandating new boxes which no longer have rca or toslink outputs. I currently have boxes shared through a WyreStorm matrix (MX-0808-PP-POH) with audio via both AV amps and distributed audio. I'd prefer not to have to dedicate sources in order to retain multichannel audio for the family room. I ran across the Atlona 4-input extractor, but don't really want to pay $2K to replicate what I already have. Thanks for input. ERDrPC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Amazon has a few that will decode Dolby (up to 7.1) for $50 or so. Both Toslink and stereo audio outputs will have 2 channel audio and the multichannel audio is retained on the HDMI passthru. Unfortunately, more and more devices are dropping these features, so going to need to add more doohicky's to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witt312 Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 The ones I've gotten from Amazon and tested all convert the outgoing audio on the HDMI port to the lowest common format used, which in my case is 2-channel. If you have successful experience with certain models, I'd appreciate if you could share a name/model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 You need to buy ones that explicitly say Dolby down conversion with multichannel pass thru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorterTX Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 I purchased this model a couple of months ago on the suggestion of a previous post by @mallom and it has worked great so far. I use it for for my Apple TV 4K to pass through all the latest multi-channel audio formats as well as Dolby Vision to my Marantz receiver. I then use the stereo audio out on that device to connect to my Control4 audio matrix for two channel distribution applications. You are limited on the output if using the stereo out instead of digital as to what formats it will pass through. I was only interested in stereo sound when it came to distributed audio anyway so it worked for me. Adding to what @lippavisual said, If you are connecting it through HDMI to a receiver for multi-channel make sure to slide the audio switch to "pass" because if you have it set to "2ch" it will be liked you experienced in that everything will be 2ch audio. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XRT9VGL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witt312 Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 I'm going to give the following box a try this time around: https://amzn.to/2q64FYj Since my current HDMI matrix only supports up to 1080P , I don't need to worry about dealing with 4K (for now). It looks like it should solve the problem I'm trying to solve since Xfinity maxes out at Dolby5.1. Any higher quality audio/video source would likely need this: https://bit.ly/2q57Tv2 Hopefully I'll be able to post successful results once its delivered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BraydonH Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 I have ran into this too. We used to use ProConnect because they were cheap and worked great. But AVAD dropped the line and now we dont have any sort of replacement without spending big bucks. It was the EX1HAD and the price was great. I dont know if I am crazy but I cant even find the proconnect website anymore. I guess they are really gone now. AVAD replaced proconnect with MSTR Brand and they dont have something similar in their lineup. Ideally this product would cost around $75 CAD or so, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witt312 Posted November 18, 2019 Author Share Posted November 18, 2019 Had time over the weekend to test out https://amzn.to/2q64FYj The good news is that it does correctly pass through the digital signal via HDMI and convert the signal to stereo via the headphone jack. The sound level via the headphone jack is very low though. Output level from the built-in rca jacks is better, but isn't usable if the source signal has voice dedicated to the center channel. All the TV's in rooms with distributed audio throughout the house have their audio out wired back to the c4 audio matrix and volumes are normal when routed this way. Initially our vendor tried using this method instead of extractors, but we kept running into issues with the hdmi matrix locking video sources to certain rooms. This also wouldn't work for our outdoor setup that was installed later on. A bit back to the drawing board now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BraydonH Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 I mean this will work great https://atlona.com/product/at-hd570/ But the price point is steep. Way too steep to use to convert the audio from an EA1for example. But if budget is not a concern that will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adidaswood Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 On 11/18/2019 at 10:44 AM, BraydonH said: I mean this will work great https://atlona.com/product/at-hd570/ But the price point is steep. Way too steep to use to convert the audio from an EA1for example. But if budget is not a concern that will do. msrp on that? Looks like snapav has one as well, id guess not quite as expensive as Atlona's https://www.snapav.com/shop/en/snapav/splitters-converters/binary-260-series-4k-audio-extractor-b-260-hdmi-2a I've also been thinking about this as I run out of devices that have RCA outputs. I need a solution for this for appletv, roku, and at least one cable box. What if you did one of the amazon ones mentioned above and left it set to pass through to send hdmi to your HD matrix or Display and then use the optical out to a DAC for your 2 channel and send that to your AV Matrix\distribution. as mentioned above the amount of doohicky's starts to add up, but i think it would work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adidaswood Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 This might work even better https://www.snapav.com/shop/en/snapav/splitters-converters/binary-trade%3B-hdmi-audio-de-embedder-b-240-hd-2ac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 This one is the best on the market at a fairly decent price. Allows HDMI pass through with all multichannel audio, allows multichannel audio out on the toslink and also decodes the multichannel to 2 channel stereo audio on the 3.5mm output. http://www.hallresearch.com/page/Products/HD-AUD-IO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiAVguy Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 I’m a big fan of the Kanex pro. Simple. Cheap. Reliable. Use them in my own home and have worked out perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witt312 Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 To complete the circle here, I ended up getting a really good price on https://atlona.com/product/at-hdr-m2c/ and swapped it in for the Amazon sourced converter. Beyond the obvious build quality improvements, being able to adjust 2-channel sound levels via the web interface is nice feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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