I need help with installation of my home theater system! (1 Viewer)

[v0lten]

Hi guys, thanks for reading in advance. Im stuck.


Im a pretty tech savvy person and Ive always been the guy who people go to to hook up their electronics and home theaters. Now, when Im trying to do my own in my new house, Im running into trouble.


Heres the equipment;


TV - LG 55" LED LCD - Model # 55LH90 www.lge.com/us/tv-audio-video/televisions/LG-lcd-tv-55LH90.jsp

Cable HD DVR - Motorolla - Model # DCH6416 www.motorola.com/Consumers/XW-EN/Consumer-Products-and-Services/Home-Digital-Video/DCH6416_XW-EN

Receiver - Yamaha - Model # HTR-6130 slcomfort.com.ua/images/lot/hi-fi/resiver/yamaha/RX-V363.jpg

Blu-Ray - LG - Model # BD370 www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/58638/review/bd370.html


First off, I have yet to try hooking up the blu ray player yet. So, this is how I hooked everything up so far. I connected the DVR to the TV via HDMI cable. I connected the Yamaha receiver to the DVR via red and white audio plugs in the DVR IN slot on the reciever and the plugs in the Audio Out on the DVR. (ive also tried reversing these).


Now I turn down the TV volume and switch the reciever to DVR. I can turn the volume all the way up and there is nothing coming out of the reciever. I know the speakers are working because the only other source I can get to work is Tuner, and it blasts through the speakers at the volume it should be.


Is there a better way I should be hooking up my components, Ive always done it like this (usually with lesser equipment), but its always worked.

Also I dont know if it has something to do with maybe different sound settings in the actual receiver itself. One bad thing about it is it was an open box item and I just found out there is no remote control for it. I do have a Harmony remote and it has most of the options I think the original had, but not all of them.


Any help is greatly appreciated!

edit: I added a new link for the receiver, it shows the front and back of it.

 

[Frank A]

Eric, do you have speakers other than the tv speakers hooked up? If you do, then you need to (I think) run all of your components audio through your receiver, then out to your speakers. Accoridng to your dvr, it does put out DD surround sound, but using just the two red and white lines will not give you surround sound. So, is their another hookup for surround (either a coaxial or an optical out)? I'm sorry but I can not get the photos part of your link to load up. If there is a coaxial output, try hooking it up to the receiver. The specs show a "digital audio interface--S/PDIF". I am not sure what that is, but could that be your surround sound hook up?

FYI, I do not have/am not familiar with cable or DVR's (I have a satellite hookup) so my suggestions may be way off base.

 

[v0lten]

Frank, I added a new link for the receiver that shows a picture of the back of the receiver. All of the speakers are hooked up to the receiver in the correct location. ie. front left, front right, rear left, etc. I do see a section for Digital Input on the back of the receiver. It has two ports (ive never seen the type of plug that needs to go into it before), one is for CD, and one is for DTV/CBL. Then there is another orange port for DVD.
Theres also Component Video slots, Multi Ch Input slots, Audio slots, Video slots, and then the regular Antenna, and Speakers...

I hope this helps.

 

[v0lten]

Just did a little editing on the photo so you guys can see things better...

 

[Frank A]

Eric, looking at the back of your receiver, it looks like it has maybe two incoming and one outgoing (?) hdmi hookups. Isn't that what those three connections are at the top of the unit on the left hand side? If so, then, can't you run an hdmi cable from your dvr to your avr (input) then out to the tv? Also, run an hdmi cable from your blu ray to the other "incoming" hdmi hook up on the receiver and you should be good to go, I would think. You don't need any of the other connections, i.e, red/white lines and the hdmi cable from your dvr to the tv (it will now be going through your receiver?).

edit: just saw your update. This way, both the audio and the video will be going through the hdmi cables.

 

[v0lten]

I did try running it the way you are saying. I brought an HDMI cable from the DVR to the DTV/CBL spot on the receiver, and then an HDMI from the OUT on the receiver to the TV, it still didnt play sound. I just looked around at the optical audio cables, I found the ones that would fit. Is the HDMI hookups a better quality connection than the optical audio?

Im going to try re-hooking everything up tomorrow morning from scratch. I dont know what else to do

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I do see a section for Digital Input on the back of the receiver. It has two ports (ive never seen the type of plug that needs to go into it before), one is for CD, and one is for DTV/CBL. Then there is another orange port for DVD.

The digital inputs are generally assignable to a chosen video input, regardless of how they are labeled. The plug type you don't recognize is probably for an optical ("Toslink") cable. What you're seeing is not the actual input, but a cover that keeps out dust to protect the optical elements. Your receiver only does "pass-through" audio over HDMI. That is, it will send both video and audio to your TV, but it will not output digital audio received via HDMI through the speakers. In order to get digital audio from your components, you must use one of the digital audio connections. What combination of optical and coax you use will depend on your components. Some support both, some only one or the other. Since right now you have only two components to connect - the DVR and the Blu-Ray player - you should have no problem with the options you have. If you later decide to add a game system or other device to the system you may need to rearrange your digital connections - or you may need to buy one that supports whichever digital input you have left over.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Al.Anderson]

1) The reason your first attempt didn't work is because you have to assign an input to each selection. For instance, DVD can take its audio from the optical, coax, or stereo (R/W) inputs. You have to tell the receiver to use the R/W (it probabaly defaulted to optical).

2) That's not the best conmection choice. You should run either optical or coax to the receiver, not the R/W (stereo), or you won't get surround sound.

3) Even better would be to run the HDMI directly to the receiver, and then another HDMI from the receiver to the TV. (This only works if your receiver is not "pass-through". Pass-though receivers do no process audio from the HDMI cable and require the optical or coax.)

I think all of this was in the previous posts, but it looked ripe for a summary.

(Edited my fat-fingers.)

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

This only works if your receiver is not "pass-through"...

Sadly, it is.

Joe

 

[v0lten]

Ok, so I liked your summary... You're saying my receiver is trying to send sound through the optical cable but I have nothing there.... Ill definitely have to buy one and try it if my attempt at hooking everything back up this morning fails

 

[v0lten]

Ok, so I just got done trying to hook everything back up again. I used all HDMI. It didnt work, again. I hooked the DVR to the receiver in the DTV/CBL slot with an HDMI. Then the TV to the receiver in the OUT slot on the receiver. As soon as I changed the source on the receiver to DTV/CBL the image popped up, but no sound. When turned all the way up there was a slight humm coming from the speakers, thats it. Again, when I turned the source to TUNER the radio music came blasting through the speakers (and scared the shit out of me again). For some reason the HDMI isnt transmitting the audio. I dont know what settings to change, if there are any, on the receiver to make it play through HDMI. I dont have the original remote, so I cant see all of the features of it.

Is there somewhere I can go to buy a new remote for the receiver?

 

[Jason Charlton]

Eric,

One other point of clarification. It helps a great deal in figuring out how to hook up components if you think of your receiver as the "hub" of your home theater, your TV as a "monitor", and then think in terms of the "signal flow".

Audio and video signals originate in their respective sources (DVD/Blu-Ray player, Cable/Satellite DVR, PS3 game system, etc.) and flow into the receiver. The receiver processes the audio and video, then outputs sound to the speakers and the desired video signal to your TV.

The receiver isn't sending anything out of the optical cable, rather the optical cable carries the audio from your Blu-Ray or DVR into the receiver.

Good luck!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Eric: Re-read Joe's Post (#7).

HDMI won't allow this receiver to output audio to your speakers. You are going to need to hook-up an optical or coaxial cable from your source to your receiver. Then you should be good to go...and maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised by loud audio blasting from your DVR (and eventually your Blu-ray player)!

Oh...and a simple Google search of your receiver's make & model number (coupled with "remote") should yield some places where you can buy a replacement remote. You might also consider investing in a Harmony universal remote as you hook up more sources into your system. They really simplify things beautifully.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Eric,

In Joe's post earlier, he mentioned that your receiver is "HDMI Pass-Through". That means it won't process the audio carried on an HDMI cable.

You need to use the HDMI for video only, then run a separate digital audio cable for each source. Digital audio cables come in two flavors - coaxial (using standard RCA-style connections) and optical (using the funny-looking connections you mentioned earlier). Either one works fine - they both carry the same digital signal. Coaxial tend to be a bit cheaper, too.

Once you run those digital audio connections, you'll need to make sure that your receiver knows to match each audio input with the respective HDMI video input. To do this, you'll probably need to access your receiver's setup menu and select each HDMI source, then select the matching digital audio input (i.e. if you have the DVR video going to HDMI 1 and the DVR audio going to Digital Input/DTV, then make sure they're paired together in the menu). You will do the same for the Blu-Ray - matching HDMI 2 to DVD Input, perhaps.

Hope this helps.

 

[v0lten]

Oh, I see.. That clears up a lot. I thought when Joe said "pass-through" that maybe it was just a lower quality audio. Im going to buy two of the optical cables now. Should I need more than 2? One to go from DVR to the RCVR, and one from the DVD to the RCVR. Is this correct?

Thanks again guys for your help, Im learning a lot.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The two optical cables should do the job...as long as like Jason said in his last post, you can match up the various audio inputs with the various HDMI inputs that you are using for video.

The diagram you posted above shows the two optical inputs labeled, "DTV/CBL" and "CD"

It seems like you should be able to match-up the DTV/CBL optical with the HDMI DTV/CBL...but I wonder about the CD Optical (only because there would be no corresponding video input for a CD player). The DVD digital input looks like a coaxial input. While there might be a way to combine your video and audio signals in way combination, you might find a single optical and a single coaxial will bring less confusion (or, might be your only option). Hard to say without the manual for the receiver.

And--as was noted earlier--you won't notice a difference between the optical connection and the coaxial connection--and the coaxial cables are generally a LOT cheaper! The coaxial cables just look like a beefed-up RCA cable. In fact, a standard RCA cable would work for testing purposes but aren't always recommended for the long haul--only because they aren't shielded as well and can be prone to picking up electronic interference.

 

[v0lten]

Hey again guys,

Well I have an update and another predicament. After using the new optical audio cables, the sound worked great and I couldnt be happier.

Now I have my DVR, my Blue ray, my receiver, and my tv all working perfectly.

Im looking to through another item into the mix. An Xbox 360. Now an older Xbox or older system would be easy, you just plug the red white and yellow cables into the aux ports on the front of the receiver. However, I have a newer model Xbox 360 and it uses just an HDMI cable.

There are no more slots for me to add my xbox to the mix. Now I know I could hook up my xbox seperately and not use the receiver, but who wants to do that. I want to be able to play games while using the surround sound, so how can this be done? Can it?

Thanks again for reading and I appreciate all of your help!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I'll take a stab, Eric...but I am neither an expert in HDMI or X-Boxes.

I believe you can purchase an HDMI switching box to allow more than one HDMI source into an HDMI input on your receiver. Outside of that, I would believe your only option (IF the XBox is HDMI-only) would be to swap HDMI cable in the back of your receiver whenever you want to play games.

HERE'S a page of such devices at Parts Express.

Good luck.

 

[v0lten]

Oh cool, Ive never even known they made those types of switches. My only concern though is that my receiver only handles video through. How will the audio work?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Eric:

As was established above, your receiver doesn't handle audio via HDMI.

The XBox has ONLY an HDMI output,

I don't see any way for you to route audio from the XBox through your receiver. I'm really surprised they make devices with ONLY HDMI outputs...

But the big caveat to my answer is I'm no HDMI or XBox expert (like I noted above).

Good luck.