Configuration of new HT setup (1 Viewer)

[Karen*Infinity]

Hi~
First I want to thank all those who gave me advice directly, and also everyone in here in general, since reading these threads was a great education.
I finally bought the Onkyo 650 HTiB... It was a really good deal price-wise, and though I know I may eventually want to move up, I figure I can then put it in a bedroom.
I also bought a Toshiba 4800 DVD player.
My eqipment also includes a 9 yr old 27" TV console--with an S-video outlet; and a Panasnic VCR, presently connected to cable access.
Warning: I am NOT knowledgeable about hardware, so please excuse if my question is so dumb an answer can't even be constructed.
I'm having a major problem hooking all the components together. I followed the "quick setup" as given by the Onkyo---which had the S-video wire running from the TV to the new Onkyo A/V. After all the other hookups, the radio tuner worked fine, all speakers were functioning, I could play CD's on the DVD player, and could hear all speakers functioning............. BUT no DVD video on my TV screen.
So I looked at the Monster cable "quick hookup" instead of the Onkyo and saw they had the S-video connection from the DVD to the TV. So I switched. Still no video.
I decided that, keeping the VCR hookups separate from the HT setup was a mistake (never mind why I wanted it separate), because maybe only the S-video from TV to either A/V or DVD player wasn't enough. I went to the Onkyo manual, and sure enough, it notes that there are several different ways to achieve hookup, and that the most "common" arrangement may not be suitable for all systems.
Here are some of my questions :
1. Given an S-video cable, should it run from the TV to the DVD player, or from the TV to the A/V? What other connections between the TV and A/V and/or DVD player are needed? (I have no unused wire/cables--would need more of whatever.) Could the TV just be too old to work with the system even if it does have an S-video outlet. I was going to hold off on a new one till spring....
2. Must I run the VCR through the A/V too, freeing up the outlets on the TV other than the S-Video to be used to connect from :
a. The TV to the A/V or
b. the TV to the DVD player?
3. One scenario in the manual has an S-video going from the TV to the DVD and another S-video cable going from the DVD to the A/V. Do I need to get another S-video cable and do that?

 

[Bill_Weinreich]

Hi Karen,

First make sure the TV is set to the proper channel for viewing S-video (i.e. video1, aux, etc.) There should be a seperate channel for each input.

The way I would hook it up is as follows:

Cable -(may have to use RF cable if AV outputs are not available)- VCR - A/V - TV via A/V inputs (RCA leads)

DVD video - TV via S-video
DVD audio - A/V via digital coax

You will in essence have to switch the TV to two different channels. One for the cable/vcr and the other for the DVD.

Running them all through the receiver may pose a problem. On most receivers, what comes in (video speaking) must come out. Which means that you cant run composite video signal in and get an s-video signal out (although some new models will up convert it)


Bill

 

[Neil Joseph]

What you are describing here is video switching (done by the Onkyo). You have an option of using video switching or using a direct video hookup between the TV and DVD. Either will work fine with the first option giving you onscreen commands (play, stop etc being displayed on your TV when the DVD remote buttons are used). Personally, I go with the direct hookup, even before I was into front projection and was using 20ft s-video and component cables.

What you need to determine first and foremost is how to switch between the different video viewing modes on your TV.

If you decide to use the Onkyo as a video switching device then hook all the video inputs (DVD, VCR, sat etc) into the receiver. You will have s-video and composite video no doubt. Then you need to hook the video output of the receiver to the TV's video input (s-video and composite).

Now when you want to watch the DVD player, you will have to switch the TV to that vieo input. Usually you can figure that out by looking at the back of the TV at the connections. It may say "video 1" or "video 2" etc. For VCR viewing, you will have to switch to that video mode, whatever it is for your brand of TV.

 

[Karen*Infinity]

Thanks a bunch, Bill and Neil!
Well, the manual was wrong. I needed the S-video cable hooked from the A/V to the TV and the "yellow cap" video input cable.
Then I needed to get more cable wires to hook my VCR to the A/V. All units working. Now I have to learn how to use the features....
and find a way to juggle 4 remotes.... (I guess there are ways to combine remote usage, but I'll learn about that some day in the future..)
Meanwhile.... some very basic questions :
1. My room is not set up for optimal viewing---that'll come in my next house next year (?).... Because of space limitations, I have my console TV on an angle in a corner. Can I put the subwoofer behind the TV console?
2. The surround speakers.... Manual recommends they be placed 3 feet above the listener--facing each other? I was going to angle them to point to the center of the room, but the manual recommends they be placed 3 feet above the listener--facing each other? In the 2 corners of the room opposite the ceter and mains, like this :
.......LS > ---------------< RS
..................C
............LF T-V RF (but at an angle--sub beind TV?}
::edited with dots and dashes inerjected to try to place items in virtual relationship::