I am trying to play MKV's from NAS Hard Drive via media server on my new Sony Bravia TV then output sound to my Sony amp.

My amp is a Sony HT-DDW800 & is connected to TV via HDMI - it is around 8 years old (?) & assume has no ARC facility to play sound back via HDMI

I have a an optical lead connected from TV to Amp & can get sound on some files but I don't think this allows for top end DTS soundtracks.

What are my options apart from a new amp with ARC?

..

First off does the TV have ARC? If not then getting a new amp won't make a blind bit of difference. You don't say what model the TV is so can't check but a lot of recent TVs have ARC so chances are it does but better to be safe than sorry And no the amp does not have ARC.

Some surround formats can be carried over SPDIF, but not the Dolby Digital + or DTS-HD formats as they require too much bandwidth. But plain 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS should be OK. Mind you the amp can't decode those two formats anyway so wouldn't make any difference if the TV did pass them on.

Specs here

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/con...HT-DDW880/list

Thanks for your quick response

My TV is a SONY BRAVIA KDL50W829 & it does have ARC on HMDI 1

I suspect that if you want to be able to play the full range of formats then you will need ARC and an amp capable of decoding those formats.

If you can find one in your local Richersounds the Yamaha RXV 377 is a very decent receiver for not a lot of money that supports ARC and the higher end formats

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ama-rxv377-blk

While most current amps feature ARC, this won't gaurentee you DD5.1, you would benefit more from the HDMI inputs/output (s). You could run NAS directly to the amp then amp to TV, that way you should be able to cover most current audio formats like DD5.1, DTS, DD+, True HD and DTS HD MA. - would mean a new speaker package too.

What media player are you using?

The Sony system speakers should do as a stopgap if the OP can't afford a full replacement. They seem to be fairly decent spec and the sub looks to be an active one so should work OK with something like the Yamaha I linked to.

It's not clear from the OP but it's possible that the TV might be the media player. My LG is certainly capable of streaming video directly off my NAS drive so quite possible the Sony is as well.

Just looked at the speakers and I agree they do look a little more substantial than speakers normal found in AIO systems, probably better than many entry model packages, should be no issue with the Yamaha amp you linked too.

Are the TV based media players generally compatible with HD audio?

I use Plex, seems to play anything I throw at it, tried others like PS3/WMP in the past but fall down on certain file types/audio.

Your TV only supports Dolby Digital via the Optical output. It doesn't understand DTS, and both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA are beyond what the Optical can handle, so the TV won't pass any of those or convert them to DD. I suspect it's the same story with ARC on HDMI. BTW, it's input 2 that is ARC enabled, not 1. Though it doesn't make a difference because the TV still doesn't output anything better than DD or stereo PCM.

You've hit the limits of Sony's built-in media player, and the TV's inability to handle alternative audio formats makes it a poor choice as a hub device. It's the same story though with most TVs, so don't despair.

The answer is an outboard media player. There are so many to choose from now and at such a wide range of budgets that a blind recommendation would be pointless. If you are a bit techy then a Now TV box (£10) and sideloading XBMC/Kodi is about the cheapest solution. At the other end of the spectrum are the various NUC devices. In the middle are things like Android TV boxes, Raspberry Pi2 and Amazon FireTV. OpenLec and XMBC/Kodi are popular choices as the media player software to run on these devices.

Once you have your media player of choice then the next stop is an AV receiver + speaker package. The receiver will do all the audio decoding and pass just picture to the TV via HDMI.

Thanks for your help guys

Some good suggestions in there