I'm seeing loads of posts about this in the community forums. Just do a search for "optical" and nearly all of the issues are about the same infurating problem.
You can only pass 5.1 if the sound output mode is changed from "internal tv speakers" to "audio system". Otherwise the 5.1 source is always downmixed to stereo PCM. I can sort of see the logic behind this but it is infuriating in practice for anyone who doesn't have an ARC receiver.
The problems are:
1) Every time you want 5.1, you must press Option, Sound Settings, then scroll right to the bottom to the speaker output option (which is off the screen), then change then speaker output mode. It's incredibly tedious and takes about 20 button presses each way.
2) Try explaining this to my mother when she turns on the TV and there is no sound!
If someone in my household is murdered over this (probably me), Sony will be entirely responsible.
@Sony, is it technically possible to have simultaneous internal speakers and 5.1 optical via firmware update? If not, can you add another option like "Always Enable internal speakers on volume up"?
