Running HDMI and Optical to Denon Receiver for separate zones

Question

I have the AppleTV (generation 2 I think) that I had setup in the following manner:
HDMI direct to Denon receiver for main room (both video and audio) - Zone 1
Optical audio to "Optical to RCA" converter then RCA cable to Denon for audio to patio - Zone 2
This allowed me to AirPlay music from my iPad to the AppleTV and output that audio to both zones at the same time. The added convenience was to carry my iPad around (in or out) to change music as needed. I hadn't used the patio speakers in a while but now notice it won't output to the patio (zone 2) speakers. I have double checked cabling, confirmed speakers work outside by changing to the radio tuner, etc. I have power to the Optical to RCA converter with a red light On. So my guesses are:
1) something has changed on the AppleTV not allowing output to both HDMI and Optical (new update make changes?)
2) possibly the converter isn't working although it is showing power and I have done nothing with that box since setting this up a couple of years ago
When I look into audio settings I see "auto" and 16bit for output, Dolby Digital auto, on, or off, but nothing that specifically calls out optical.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

Well,  chalk one up for Alley_Cat. I went back to the drawing board and started playing around with various settings to see what I could find out. After playing around with the various listening modes, I noticed I could not get the receiver to play in "Stereo" mode in Zone 1 at all - everything coming from the center channel. Did some research and found I needed to push a button on the remote D/ST (Direct/Stereo..I think) and that fixed my Zone 1 issue. Thinking that would solve the Zone 2 issue, I checked those speakers and still nothing. After playing with it some more, I took one last look at the back of the receiver and noticed in my frustration earlier I put the RCA plugs in the "out" jacks and not the "in". Switched those and lo and behold worked again.
To be clear, the mis-aligned RCA jacks was not the original problem, and I cant say for sure it was the D/ST button because I tried a number of things before switching the jack locations...but it is fixed for now. Fingers crossed it will stay that way! Thanks.