No audio through optical cable.

[ThatGuy]

Just received the upgraded Pik TV digital box, but plugging in the optical cable port to the sound bar does nothing. It worked flawlessly on the previous Pik TV media box.
Did I get a broken device?

[xray]

You should be able to see if there is any light coming through the cable. Don't look at it directly though. If not then either the optical port is turned off or is faulty. I don't have a Pik box but look around the menu to see if there is a setting to turn it on/off.

[ThatGuy]

Light does come through the cable, and the port itself also lights up. If there is a setting to activate the port I have been unable to locate it.

[KHR]

Hi @ThatGuy 

Have you checked that audio is working via HDMI through your TV speakers (just to check that this isn't the issue?).

And just since people have different levels of technical literacy, have you validated that the soundbar is turned on, the volume is turned up, and nothing is muted anywhere?

[ThatGuy]

Great questions. Yes, I have verified that the tv speakers receive sound via HDMI cables. Also, the sound bar itself is set to the proper source, and the volume is up. The media box itself is also unmuted and volume up.

Could there be a hidden setting I missed, or maybe the media box is faulty?

[KHR]

Hi @ThatGuy 

There aren't any settings you need to change. I am working with the resident expert on the device, and he was able to get his JBL soundbar to work by connecting directly to the TELUS TV Digital Box. He did have to unplug and replug the soundbar though, so this might be worth a try. What brand of sound bar do you have?

Other team members have successfully connected their TELUS TV Digital Box to their TV via HDMI and then TV to Sonos soundbar via optical audio. This might be worth trying to validate that your optical audio port on the new box isn't faulty.

[ThatGuy]

I'll try again to unplug the sound bar in a few hours. (Thanks for helping up to this point, by the way.)

Sadly my sound bar is an RCA, but since it worked fine with the previous Telus media box I'm hopeful it will work with the new one.

[ThatGuy]

Power cycling the sound bar hasn't helped.

Furthermore, the media box itself spontaneously rebooted itself.

[xray]

It's possible the Pik box will only output sound via HDMI or Optical but not both. The default would be sound via HDMI. Look for a setting that controls that.

Do you have another device with an optical out to test the soundbar to make sure it's working? Does your TV have an optical out?

Does your soundbar handle surround encoding (Dolby, DTS)? If not there may be a setting on the Pik box to output stereo rather than surround sound.

[ThatGuy]

The previous TV box could handle both. But if this one cannot, the only audio option I can find is to enable hdmi CEC. But, the sound bar can only be connected directly to the TV box and not the TV itself, so I don't see how that would help.

The sound bar is functioning. I tested it with the older TV box.

I don't actually know if the sound bar handles surround sound encoding. I haven't found any relevant settings in the TV box menu, anyway.

[ssouci]

I have the exact same problem with the new box!

the former PikTV box worked fine on optical out sound (I sent optical signal to a DAC, and then to my vintage amplifier)

[ssouci]

I have tried:

- verified that red light is being transmitted out of PikTV box through the optical cable (leading into my DAC)

- tried changing the box settings for Device > Sound > surround sound on/off

- tried changing the box settings for Device > HDMI > CEC on/off

still no go, no sound at all coming out of the optical outout

note: sound going through the HDMI cable into my TV works fine, but then I can only get terrible TV built-in sound... I want proper full stereo sound for when I watch movies, just like I was able to do with the former PikTV box from its optical out

[KHR]

Hi @ssouci @ThatGuy 

Apologies for the delay on this - we've got our technical teams and the set-top box vendor looking into this. As you can imagine, there are an infinite number of different speaker manufacturers and audio setups (direct to soundbar, through digital to audio converters, etc. etc.) so we are still trying to identify root cause and I hope to have a resolution soon. 

Unfortunately, the Pik Media Box is 6 years old and will no longer be supported by Google. In order to keep up with Android security patches and avoid any vulnerabilities, we need to upgrade our hardware. While the legacy Pik Media Box will still work to access Pik TV for the next few weeks, it will be deprecated soon.      

[ssouci]

thanks KHR for let us know!

a bit confused about what you said though... the sound signal coming out of the spdif optical output jack should be using a standard communications protocol, and a standard toslink cable -- precisely so that it CAN be hooked into a variety of sound devices and work for everyone... isn't that the case?

[WestCoasterBC]

As a workaround use the spif output of the tv to sound bar. Then any source to the TV is fed to the soundbar. 

[ssouci]

thanks & yes that is an option... BUT, my TV is over 20 ft away, meaning that I would need to buy a 20-25 ft toslink optical cable, and run it all the way back to my stereo control center (where the PikTV box also resides)... really don't want to do that for several reasons

[KHR · Accepted solution]

Hi @ssouci @ThatGuy 

We have confirmed with our vendor that there is a bug with older audio setups that don't support Dolby Digital. This has been resolved in the next firmware, but unfortunately, I don't have an ETA for the release on that. We're testing it right now and hope to have an update soon.

For now, the workarounds are to go TELUS TV Digital Box via HDMI and use TV audio, or, as @WestCoasterBC suggested, use the TV optical out. I know this doesn't work for everyone's different cabling configurations, but wanted to post it here for other users.

Thanks for the patience!

[ssouci]

thanks KHR!... so I will wait for that firmware fix (and will not buy a super long toslink cable!)

Q1: are the firmware updates automatic, or do I have to initiate somehow?

Q2: same question for the PikTV app... I no longer see an option do have apps updated (whether manually or automatically)

[KHR]

Firmware and app updates will be pushed automatically - nothing to initiate on your end. 

[ssouci]

great & thank you again..... can you please post here when firmware update happens?

[ssouci]

any update on this?