Death of the digital optical components

[parabolica]

I have a pretty janky, low-cost home cinema set up that relies on connecting components to an old Sony all-in-one DVD system via digital optical cable in order to get sound out of its surround sound speakers. The picture is handled by HDMI switch going to a projector; its bargain basement stuff but served me well for years.

One of the components - the one I use 99% of the time - is an old gen 2 Apple TV which is on it's last legs; app support has all be stopped for most but the biggest issue is the airplay being patchy and constantly dropping. Being able to stream via my phone is the key thing and now that seems to be harder and harder.

Obvious solution is to replace with the current gen ATV, however it looks like they no longer support digital optical; it's all HDMI only which is no use for my 15 year old home cinema system that only has DO and analogue sound inputs. I've tried looking at alternatives (anything that has airplay) but none seem to offer digital optical out - does anyone know of any?

I don't really want to go down the AV receiver route as I like the simple set up I have right now; just need to try and find something more reliable than that gen 2 ATV if possible.

[dundarach]

couldn't you extract the toslink audio?

[Mr Pointy]

Would an HDMI to Toslink converter do what you need?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hdmi-toslink-converter/s?...

[parabolica]

Ah I hadn’t even thought of that. Will look into it this weekend, thanks

[GCH]

Same reason I haven't moved to the newer apple TV - no optical. My 3rd generation works just fine - loss of the youtube app was a gripe, but otherwise it is still great.

One possible workaround for you is to pick up a (very) cheap airport express, which handily has an optical out (toslink). Setup your new apple tv to always output the sound to it, and then a toslink to optical cable to get it from the airport express into your amp/dvd thingy.

Edited by GCH on Friday 29th October 16:41