I have a samsung LE40M87BDX full HD LCD TV, Sky HD, XBOX360, PS3 and DVD Recorder connected through a Pioneer Receiver amp.

the problem is the amp does not have enough HDMI ports for all the kit so i want to plug some of them into the HDMI ports on the TV and route the sound back to the amp with TOSLINK optical cable.

unfortunately the output from the TV seems to only send stereo.

do any of you guys know how i can make it send 5.1 as they do when connected directly to the amp

Sky HD only sends stereo via the HDMI lead, so you can't do anything, you need an optical lead from the HD box to the amp.

how c**p is that however do you know if the ps3 does the same or is the output on the tv stereo as well because i cannot get anything to pass 5.1 via the tv optical out

I've no idea what might come out of the TV optical socket, but doesn't your amp provide optical switching as well?. Many of the amp's I've seen don't handle audio at all via HDMI and you HAVE to use optical for it.

You will not get anything but Stereo from the TV optical out, this is normal & the same with any tv that has optical out. This is simply because sound from the internal tuner is Nicam stereo & the TV is not designed to rout 5.1 sound through the set from external sources. However if you pass the optical to your Amp. it should at least be able to play it as Pro-Logic sound

thanks for your replies, the amp can handle the optical easily and i dont use the hdmi for anything but picture so as the Tv cannot help me i will have to spend a vast amount of money getting an amp with more HDMI and optical connections.

unfortunately my family are technically challenged so i have to make life simple for them even if it costs