J-Tech Digital Premium Quality 1080P HDMI to HDMI + Audio (SPDIF + RCA Stereo) Audio Extractor Converter (JTDAT5CH)

10 reviews for J-Tech Digital Premium Quality 1080P HDMI to HDMI + Audio (SPDIF + RCA Stereo) Audio Extractor Converter (JTDAT5CH)

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Lizz + Michael – March 25, 2020

   I normally wouldn’t spend this much detail talking about a product, but I figure…if you’re searching for this product…you probably need it, and you also probably have a similar story. I wish someone would have walked me through this when I was wondering if this was the right piece of equipment to get.STORYTIMEIn my “man cave” I’ve got Panasonic Plasma HDTV from 2008 that still works great, and produces a beautiful picture (NO BACKLIGHTING! I’ve yet to see a modern TV reproduce the deep blacks in its color range that this thing makes). I’ve also got a Sony 5.1 surround sound system that works great, HOWEVER… the HDMI video ports are pass-thru.Basically I can’t split the video from the audio. Didn’t matter much until two years ago…PROBLEMI decided to try gaming again, and my systems were old, so I upgraded to a PS4 and bought a slim.What I didn’t realize is that the audio output options are severely limited with the slim. The ONLY output is HDMI.It was incompatible with my audio and TV setup. I could either run it to my TV and use the TV’s sound.But I could not get the sound to my sound system.I didn’t have the money to get a new sound system, and I still liked my TV. Then I found this splitter.This little thing has SAVED THE DAY! It splits the audio, so that I can keep all 3 of my pieces working together.It works GREAT!I’ve been using it for well over a year, and never once have I had an issue with it. There IS a slight delay in the TV receiving the picture when I first turn everything on, but it is minimal.If you think you need this, you probably do. And it WILL work. Especially if you have the PS4 problem like me.Good luck!

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Morris C. Chance – April 17, 2020

   I have ROKU & wanted to get the sound from the external speakers. I have a Yamaha 5.1 home theater receiver and a LG television. I purchased the J-Tech HDMI Digital extractor that will extract the sound from the TV and send the signal to my receiver where the Yamaha speakers are hooked up. I contacted J-Tech customer support. They were very helpful and easy to communicate with via email. Nathon (the tech rep) gave me easy to understand directions how to achieve my goal.Here are the directions.Connect an HDMI cable between the HDMI output port of the ROKU and the J-Tech Digital Audio Extractor HDMI Input.Connect an HDMI cable between the J-Tech Digital Audio Extractor HDMI Output and the HDMI Input of the LG TV.Connect an RCA cable from the J-Tech Digital Audio RCA Outputs to the Aux Inputs of the Yamaha 5.1 Receiver.To get audio, be sure to have the Aux RCA Input selected on your Yamaha receiver when watching content from your ROKU

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Stephen Brown – July 12, 2020

   I bought this for use in-line on the HDMI connection from a Firestick (and occasionally other HDMI sources) to a projector.The intent was to extract 5.1 PCM audio from the HDMI to an optical SPDIF interface on a 5.1 capable soundbar/sub/surround set.I used this successfully for various streaming service applications – primarily Plex, Disney+, Amazon, and Netflix – running on Firestick 4k or Nvidia Shield.It worked great – after I figured out the needed configuration on the app and streaming device.The difficulty is because there is no return path for the Audio device (soundbar) to communicate its capabilities to the HDMI source so that it can select supported format for encoded audio over HDMI.The solution was (generally):-set switch on Extractor to 5.1-read list of supported encodings for sound device-manually configure the application or streaming device to only support the list of encoding formats that the soundbar documentation said it supported.This generally worked – unless the app/source did not support any of the encoding formats supported by the soundbar (that only happened once, in which case I had to manually move to stereo only).Anyway… it does what it does very well, but some tweaking at the source will probably be needed to get it to work for you if you want to get 5.1 surround.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Dan M. – July 12, 2020

   Like a lot people I am using this to strip off the audio from a Fire Stick 4K to use with a projector and receiver. Set up for 5.1 and changing the output of the Fire Stick to Dolby Digital only and everything works great. Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ no problems. Sound is in 5.1 for most content, receiver recognizes the source as Dolby Digital and decodes it properly. So far it’s worked perfectly every time we’ve tried it. No weird glitches or having to restart it. And yes the 4K Fire Stick works just fine with the 1080p version of this, my projector is only 720p so I figured why bother spending more money when I’ll never need this thing for 4K. The Fire Stick sees it as a 1080p device but I set it to 720p and it works great. Audio is nice and loud too, normally my receiver is set for like -20 but with this hooked up, -30 on the volume knob sounds just as loud. Happy so far. Not happy that so many streaming boxes don’t have S/PDIF outputs built in. Seems like a waste. Even the new Roku Ultra ditched the optical out. Mistake. Fire Cube doesn’t even have an optical out. It’s the equivalent of getting rid of the 1/8″ headphone jack on your phone in my mind. Streamers should never exclude the option. But as long as they do, J-tech and others who make audio extractors will stay in business. Recommend this one though, works great.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   RangerDog – August 1, 2020

   I have a nice, bright and functional 720P plasma screen TV and was given a Sonos Beam sound bar. (I’m a big Sonos fan and have many of their other speakers.) Problem was my 2003 TV has an older HDMI port with no ARC (audio return channel) which the Beam requires to be fully connected to the TV. The Beam also accepts sound through an optical (aka SPDIF or TOSLINK) out, but that’s another thing my old TV lacks. The only device I use to watch this television is an Amazon Fire TV Stick.After looking at so many different HDMI audio extractors this one seemed to have more reviews from people with similar situations, although I was unable to find any showing the use of a Sonos Beam. This extractor unit lacks extra cables some other brand include but I already had what I needed which would be a short HDMI cable to from the Fire Stick to the extractor and another HDMI cable from the extractor to the TV. The Beam comes with the optical to HDMI connector.Simple set up: just plug the extractor into power, then the Fire Stick connects to the HDMI in. Connect the extractor’s HDMI out to the TV and the optical out to the Beam. The next step was turn off the TV’s internal speakers via the TV’s menu. Then I set up the Fire Stick to use Dolby 5.1 audio out, but not Dolby Plus which the Beam doesn’t read. I tried the switch on each of the three settings: Pass, 2 channel and 5.1. They all successfully produced sound. I’m leaving it on Pass (pass-through) for now since the Beam seems quite capable of handing that output.It is all working exactly as it should and I’m quite pleased. If anything fails in the future I will update this review but I’m hoping that won’t be necessary.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Kyle R. Johnson – September 25, 2020

   I have an older stereo receiver that has some digital audio inputs but does not have HDMI.Most of our media is coming from streaming services these days, and we use Chromecast to get it to our TV. But to get the sound to our receiver I’ve had to route it from the analog headphone output signal of the TV. This was not ideal for many reasons. It required a lot of adjustments from show to show to get the best sound without clipping, and the overall quality was just not good even when the best settings were found.I had contemplated getting a new receiver with HDMI, but that would have been several hundred dollars. And my current receiver worked great other than lacking HDMI.Luckily I found this little box which isolates the digital sound signal and transmits it in a format my older receiver could understand. For less than 1/10th the cost of a new receiver this little box has brought me back into the world of digital audio and immensely improved our living room sound system.Super easy to set up, never needed to call tech support or anything. It’s very straightforward.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   MRTN – January 11, 2021

   I had a situation where we were showing a video of several interviews for a celebration of one of the pastors from our church. My blu ray player only had an HDMI output and the projector to which I was connecting it did not have an audio out. I needed to be able to connect the audio to a sound system in the hall where the celebration was to take place. I placed the order for the J-Tech on a Monday afternoon and the device arrived in good shape on Wednesday afternoon. The celebration was on Thursday. I connected the device in line between the blu ray player and the projector and took the audio output and sent it to the hall sound system. It worked perfectly. The celebration was several hours long. The sound was very clean and the video was top quality. This device saved the day for me. I am also very happy that it can do both 2 channel stereo, or 5.1 digital surround sound. It is too early for me to comment on the longevity of the device because this is only the first time I used it, but I plan on using it a lot in the future.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   JoeRetired – January 18, 2021

   This review receives 5 Stars because I was able to utilize the RCA stereo output to supply my Sennheiser audio headset with a usable signal and that is why I bought the “box”. I received the J-Tech Digital Premium Quality HDMI 2.1CH/5.1CH Audio Extractor, Model JTDAT5CH/JTD-ID:80 in a soft side mailing envelope along with two HDMI cables I ordered to connect the “box” with. Connecting was simple with the Roku Ultra HDMI output, connecting the Roku out to the “box” in, “box” out to my Onkyo AV receiver, Streaming Box HDMI #3 connection in. The “box” RCA connections were made from the “box” to the AV Analog In #4 RCA in connections. I plugged in the “box” power supply into an electrical outlet, then plugged in the power supply connection into the “box” power supply. The red light on the “box” turned on. I then selected ROKU on the AV receiver, which already was set up to “turn on” the system (TV, AV Rec, Roku) to view audio/video from the Roku through the AV receiver and on to the TV. I confirmed that audio was normal through the AV receiver out to the speakers as usual. The video came on at the TV as usual. I turned on the Sennheiser headset, put it on and did not hear any audio. I selected on the AV receiver the Satellite reception and sound came through the AV receiver system and also into my headset – normal. I reselected Roku and within a couple of seconds, audio and video from the Roku came on through the AV receiver but not through the headset. I tell you all this just to remind you to make sure you understand how a AV receiver works. I should have thought about this prior to connecting the “box”. My Onkyo has Zone 2 and that is what outputs audio to my headset. I had failed to understand and set up Zone 2 for my Roku. I went into the Setup of the Onkyo, went into Input/Output menu and selected Analog output to the proper output to match the HDMI input – Streaming Box #3 HDMI with Analog #4 output. I then selected Zone 2 to Streaming Box and sound turned on in my headset. So, the box worked. Then, I checked the position of the switch, Bypass, 2CH Stereo, 5.1CH and it was selected to 5.1CH. I thought that can’t be, RCA outputting 5.1?? I selected 2CH stereo and both the audio and video turned off. After a couple of seconds, both the audio and video came back on. Video looked good but audio seemed the same as before but what could I tell – I was listening to 2 channel stereo – I think. I selected Bypass on the switch and the audio/video turned off and after a couple of seconds came back on. Video seemed the same, audio also. No matter where I put the switch it seemed that nothing changed on audio or video. I left the switch in Bypass, headset playing audio and the AV receiver providing sound and the TV playing video. Well, okay I get what I want – audio through the headset and Roku seems to be good. And, I learned some more about my Onkyo AV receiver. The “box” and cables were delivered within the two days provided by Prime, in a large padded envelope, in a new package and I used the two new 18″ HDMI cables to plug in the “box”. I recommend buying the “box” because it gives me headset audio and still allows audio to be passed on to the AV receiver as though nothing changed. One thing I have not done is to check the audio programming when streaming a movie from either Netflix or Amazon through the “box” to check the AV receiver decoding Dolby. If that works I will not be updating this review. If it doesn’t work – I will update the review to provide those comments. Good Luck – the box seems to be “plug -n-play”.

9. 

   5 out of 5

   Jay B. Sigel – January 18, 2021

   Finally, a black box that really converts and amplifies sound from HDMI sources, suitable for headphone usage! This device converts HDMI signals from multiple HDMI sources (via an HDMI selector switch), that was then sent to a 1-to-4 HDMI splitter and from there sent to 4 devices in an RV: 3 HDTVs and one HDMI AV receiver. The J-Tech device has a selector switch for pass-through and it was placed between the HDMI splitter and the AV receiver. I plugged a Sennheiser wireless headphone into the J-Tech device. It was loud and clear! The audio output from the AV receiver was unaffected (same as before). This particular setup allowed sound to be heard from all of the TVs, which didn’t have ARC features, as well as from the speakers from the receiver. It allows me to use the headphones, which keeps my wife happy (she complains that the volume is always too loud). The sound to the headphones is in sync with the sound from the TVs and the AV receiver speakers. It works perfectly and is so easy to connect that you don’t need the enclosed instructions.

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Hamish – February 18, 2021

    Bought this for my Apple TV 4. Apple removed the optical out during this release, and my soundbar was suddenly useless. Someone recommended this solution and I’m glad to say it works great! It restored all functionality to my soundbar with no degradation to my sound or picture quality at all. I know a few people reported their image quality dropping but I haven’t noticed anything. My TV is an older 1080p Samsung model with no support for any modern features like HDR, so maybe that’s why nothing was affected.In addition to that, the sound is excellent as well. I took out an older Apple TV (one that had an optical out port) and compared sound between an Apple TV plugged into the converter and one plugged directly into the soundbar. No difference whatsoever, at least to my untrained ears.As for the product, it’s made out of high quality materials and feels very solid. It feels built to last and hasn’t given me any issues. I was worried after a few reviews said I would constantly have to reboot my setup and that the Apple TV would cut out, but I’ve experienced none of that after a week of using it for hours a day.Overall – excellent product. Suited my needs perfectly. Highly recommended.