fwphoto Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 OK, so I think (so does SWMBO) I've been a good enough boy this year to get me a new HT system! Yea! There will be a HDTV, Blu-ray player, AVR & probably 5.1 surround. What cables will I need to make it all work? (Aside from speaker wires.) The HDTV will get the digital cable right from the box, but how about the AVR & Blu-ray? Do I just run HDMI from Blu-ray to AVR & then HDMI again to HDTV? Is HDMI a 2-way connection to & from the HDTV to the AVR? What about all the digital audio ins & outs? Does HDMI supercede them? Also, any tricks to hide the cables to/from the wall-mounted HDTV besides tearing up the wall & putting cables inside? TIA, Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oblio Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Go to Monoprice for your interconnects Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwphoto Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 Go to Monoprice for your interconnects Absolutely! I just want to know what I need to get me going. Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 Here is how I would hook it up. HDMI from Blu-ray to AVR. HDMI from AVR to HDTV. In my setup, I hooked everything up to the receiver, then one HDMI out to the projector. This allows the receiver to do all of the video switching and you can leave the TV on one input. Not sure why you would need a 2-way. HDMI will take the audio/video from the blu-ray and send it to the TV. To me, that would be a one-way connection. HDMI does supersece digital coax and fiber optic. HDMI carries the audio and video so there are less cables (which is always good). It supports HD audio (DTS Master, Dolby TrueHD etc) where digital coax and fiber optic only support up to DTS and Dolby Digital. When hooking up electronics, here is the order of preference HDMI - 1080p and HD audio Digital Coax (for the audio), Component Video (Blue, Green, Red cables for the video) - Does not support HD audio but does does support 1080p Toslink (fiber optic for audio), Component Video (RGB cables) - Does not support HD audio but does does support 1080p You can get all of these connections at monoprice.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwphoto Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 Youthman, Not sure why you would need a 2-way. I was thinking about the audio from the digital cable that goes directly to the HDTV via RF jack, going back into the AVR. Does that make sense? Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 I'm not familiar with the RF jack. What are you wanting to accomplish? Are you wanting the audio out of your TV to go into your AVR? In that case, I believe your HDTV should have either an HDMI out, a Digital Coax or Fiber Optic out so you could send the audio from your TV into the AVR in order to utilize the speakers that are hooked up to your AVR. Is that what you were asking or did I totally misunderstand what you said? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwphoto Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 I'm not familiar with the RF jack. What are you wanting to accomplish? Are you wanting the audio out of your TV to go into your AVR? In that case, I believe your HDTV should have either an HDMI out, a Digital Coax or Fiber Optic out so you could send the audio from your TV into the AVR in order to utilize the speakers that are hooked up to your AVR. Is that what you were asking or did I totally misunderstand what you said? I think you've got it. Do you not have cable TV from a provider? Mine is Time/Warner & it comes in through a receiver box, then a RF cable goes from the box to the TV. I was just wondering if the HDMI from the AVR to HDTV was only one way (AVR to HDTV) or if it would also carry the audio from the TV back to the AVR to play through the surround system. If not, the HDTV has an optical out that I'd run to an optical in of the AVR. I suspect that would be better than running an HDMI back to the AVR just for the audion. Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 Do you not have cable TV from a provider? We actually do not have cable. We watch maybe one TV show a year so we really don't use a "TV". We have the projector for movies which we enjoy and my 10 yr old son has a 19" LCD TV that he uses in his bedroom for his Wii. I have the good ole rabbit ears hooked up in the theater room for those rare times that we do want to watch tv. I'm not familiar with cable and satellite boxes. Others will have to give you input on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwphoto Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 We actually do not have cable. . . . Good for you! We do get HBO & occassionally watch other programing, but I could live without it. We live out in the sticks, though, & cable was our first real access to high-speed internet which I need. Thanks for your help! Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 We have cable internet, just not Cable TV. I use the internet and the computer a lot doing graphic design and web development. Now I'm dabbling into the world of photography since I recently bartered a website for a Nikon D70 and lens. It's a lot of fun but I have soooo much to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I'm not familiar with the RF jack. What are you wanting to accomplish? Are you wanting the audio out of your TV to go into your AVR? In that case, I believe your HDTV should have either an HDMI out, a Digital Coax or Fiber Optic out so you could send the audio from your TV into the AVR in order to utilize the speakers that are hooked up to your AVR. Is that what you were asking or did I totally misunderstand what you said? I think you've got it. Do you not have cable TV from a provider? Mine is Time/Warner & it comes in through a receiver box, then a RF cable goes from the box to the TV. I was just wondering if the HDMI from the AVR to HDTV was only one way (AVR to HDTV) or if it would also carry the audio from the TV back to the AVR to play through the surround system. If not, the HDTV has an optical out that I'd run to an optical in of the AVR. I suspect that would be better than running an HDMI back to the AVR just for the audion. Frank W. You should not be using the RF output from your cablebox to your TV this is the worst output from your cablebox and will not give you a high definition picture. You should use either HDMI or component cables out from the cablebox, note you also should have an HD cablebox. The best connection would be to use the RF from the cable company into your cablebox, then use either HDMI or component video with digital audio cables out from the cablebox to your AVR, then use either HDMI or component cables from your AVR to the TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I use an hdmi cable from my cable box to my tv and a toslink from the cable box to my avr . This way I don't have to fire up my amp and avr to watch tv . Don't need surround sound for CNN and my tv's speakers are adequate for regular tv watching . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 I use an hdmi cable from my cable box to my tv and a toslink from the cable box to my avr . This way I don't have to fire up my amp and avr to watch tv . Don't need surround sound for CNN and my tv's speakers are adequate for regular tv watching . I don't use the HDMI but I had to run a L+R from the sat box to the TV so I didn't have to use the AVR for the sound all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwphoto Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 I use an hdmi cable from my cable box to my tv and a toslink from the cable box to my avr . This way I don't have to fire up my amp and avr to watch tv . Don't need surround sound for CNN and my tv's speakers are adequate for regular tv watching . I don't use the HDMI but I had to run a L+R from the sat box to the TV so I didn't have to use the AVR for the sound all the time. Ah, I think I'm getting closer. My cable box doesn't have HDMI but it does have RCA connectors for audio. I think I'm going to have to see if I can get a cable box with HDMI! Thanks! Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 I think I'm going to have to see if I can get a cable box with HDMI! I would think even component cables would be a better picture from the cable box if they don't have HDMI, I doubt they will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwphoto Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 I think I'm going to have to see if I can get a cable box with HDMI! I would think even component cables would be a better picture from the cable box if they don't have HDMI, I doubt they will. Well, right now it doesn't look like I have much of an option. The cable box has RF (component?), s-video & RCA (L&R audio) only. I'll contact them to find out if there is a better box I can swap out to. We'll see. Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 I am not sure what RF is, Component is 3 wires color coded with letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 I am not sure what RF is, Component is 3 wires color coded with letters. RF is the coaxial cable (F-type). As I said before this is the worst cable to use, while it is fine from the antenna (cable company) to the tuner or cable box you do not want to use RF after the tuner or cablebox. fwphoto, yes you should contact your cable company and upgrade your cablebox. If you want high definition, you should get a cablebox with either HDMI or component cable. Component cable has 3 video connectors Red, Green and Blue then you use audio cables as well either digital optical, digital coaxial or analog red and white audio cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwphoto Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 fwphoto, yes you should contact your cable company and upgrade your cablebox. If you want high definition, you should get a cablebox with either HDMI or component cable. Component cable has 3 video connectors Red, Green and Blue then you use audio cables as well either digital optical, digital coaxial or analog red and white audio cables. Yep, I'll be contacting them soon. Time/Warner seems to have a lot of HD programming so they must have a box that works better than mine. I'm still using the first one I got from them before HD was even available! I'd rather have HDMI from box to HDTV, but if component turns out to be the only choice, . . . Thanks! Frank W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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