Originally Posted by JEFF62:
“Another problem now! I thought this was all solved. So I have now connected an optical switcher with one optical lead from the home cinema to the switcher and one optical lead from the sky box to the switcher and another from apple tv to switcher. When I did this thee was no sound from the sky box again. Seems I have to enable ARC to use the switcher then no 5.1 sound again. So looks like the only way i am going to achieve 5.1 sound form the Sky box is to always have the optical lead directly from the sky box to the HC and disable ARC. Why will it not work with an optical switcher?”
What switch do you have? And does the Apple TV work? If it does then swap the connections round, ie take the optical plug out of the back of the Apple TV and plug into the Sky box and vice versa. So the cable that was in the Apple TV is now in the Sky box and the cable that was on the Sky box is now on the Apple TV and the switch positions are also reversed.
If the Apple TV continues to work then the cable and switch must be working. If the Sky box does not work then it must be something to do with the Sky box. But if the Apple TV now does not work and the Sky box does then it could be the cables or the switch.
So next test is swap the connections on the switch round and see what effect that has. If the Apple TV now works again then it is probably the switch, especially if the Sky box does not work. If the Apple TV is still not working and the Sky box is then it's the cable from Apple TV to switch.
Also make sure the cables are properly inserted into the sockets on all the bits of kit. Make sure there is no gunge on the end of the cable blocking the light. A good test is to have the cable plugged into the Sky box or Apple TV and point the other end at a sheet of paper and you should see the red laser light.
And use the shortest cables you can get away with.
You should NOT have ARC enabled as that will override the optical input.