Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
My optical output on a Samsung doesn't have volume control by the TV. The connected unit controls the sound. Though our set up doesn't kill the TV's sound output. For that we use the TV volume control via the Direct TV remote.
The optical output is just raw digital signal, and your receivers DAC decoders it. There's no volume data contained,unlike RCA cables that varied the output voltage.

I think people are ditching video components, just like most folks have ditched audio. With ARC and CDC controls though, that's fine. It lessens a jumble of cables. I have one HDMI candle going to my TV, from my receiver. Every thing else goes through that, and I have it setup to bypass, so we can watch TV without the receiver on as my wife prefers that.