Home Cinema Question.
 

We want to get a projector and screen and need some advice on the projector.
I already have a Sonos 5.1 surround sound system for the TV but it only has Optical in for sound. I will be using it for the home cinema.

I'm looking for a projector that has Optical out a Dolby digital. I will be using either my blue ray player or my Roku streaming stuck so two HDMI ports neaded and an optical out that supports Dolby Digital.

Budget is 2k for a projector but will be less if I have to buy an AV Receiver; so budget for both is the same.

TIA.
CtL

You could always use HDMI to Toslink optical extractor if you get stuck and do not want to buy receiver.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=hdmi+to...f=nb_sb_noss_1

Might be worth making an appointment with Richer Sounds to get their thoughts on it, assuming the stores are still open? I have used them for AV stuff for a decade or more and always found them to be excellent at what they do.

I have a Sony DN-STR1050 to tie everything together with switchable outputs to the TV or projector, but that is also doing the 5.1 speaker output. The new model is the STR-DN1080 which has Chromecast built in and Atmos support, but it almost seems a waste to use a beast like that and then do optical audio. Its a damn good piece of kit though.

This Benq projector would seem to fit the bill though with 2 HDMI inputs and optical out: Benq w2700

That's what I was about to suggest. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neoteck-Ext...dp/B01J9ZVPZK/

Projector-wise ... I've owned projectors since the early 90s (used to work as an AV technician back then) and the best, by far, that I've ever owned is a Casio LampFree projector. The one I have (XJ-F210WN) is about 3 years old now, and discontinued (closest replacement is probably the XJ-F211WN-UJ). It's very quiet, generates very little heat and is very, very bright (watchable even in daylight on a 100 inch screen).

There are all sorts of Toslink adapters available, working in either direction. I actually use one type to take the sound output of my TV and convert it to analogue signals for my old-school hifi system.

I'm not clear on why you'd need an optical out from the projector. Wouldn't you just need an HDMI in, as all you're feeding to it is the video signal, with the sound signal being fed from either your bluray or Roku to your Sonos for audio (or other receiver)?

Or am I missing something (quite possible! ;) )

As I understood Sonos has only optical in and no HDMI but either blueray or Roku or both does not have optical out.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Thanks to them and a bit more research and I'm looking at these:
BenQ TH685 DLP 1080p
And
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SBK13..._3SyMFb5RM2ZNZ

Observations or thoughts please?

Correct.

Looks like only V high end projectors have 5.1 support with optical out.


So looks like an AV receiver is required.

I see that BenQ projector is 1080p. Have you not thought about going for 4K UHD?

A bit more expensive but probably still within budget.

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-proj...enq-w1720.html

For Digital Audio (Optical) Output there is this one, but might push the budget a little.
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-proj...nq-tk810m.html