New HT receiver/planning (1 Viewer)

[Andrew O'Brien]

Well, "Santa" will be bringing a new HT receiver next week, it is already in his sack (hiding in my car trunk). Since I am upgrading from a 10 year old surround sound system to one that supports Dolby Digital, DTS, coax cables , etc etc, I wonder about setting it up.

Should I assume that the cables do not come with it? I'll be anxious to try it out so I assume I should buy the cables in advance.

Setting up the speakers is not problem I've hooked up many a stereo system, but are there any suprises that I should prepare for ? I have read the FAQ's here so I have some ideas of what I am in for, but just wonder if I can do anything in advance.

Any particular setup discs I can purchase? Any TV shows on my dish system that will be good TV Dolby Digital tests?

Oh, in the FAQ's and elsewhere in this forum, people talk about setting up the rear speakers. Many suggest that we try variuos placement settings until the rears "sound right". Dumb question: How will I know when it "sounds right"

Andy

 

[Ed Moxley]

The digital audio and/or video cables probably will not come with it. What kind of outputs does your dvd player have? Digital coax or optical? Some have both, and some only have one or the other. You mentioned Dish.............does your satellite receiver have digital outputs? If it's a standard installed dish, it doesn't. If it's not a Dolby Digital satellite receiver, you'll only get pro logic from it.
You can get the Digital Video Essentials (DVE) HT setup disc from Amazon.com I think. You can get Sound & Vision HT setup disc at Best Buy, but you can find it a lot cheaper online. Those two are supposed to be the best ones. There's one called Avia too. But it's more expensive and harder to use, I hear.
Do you have a subwoofer? You know about setting your speakers to large or small? Good luck and have fun!

 

[Andrew O'Brien]

My Dish 510 DVR has 1 optical digital output and 1 PCM digital audio output (whatever that is). It also has a couple of RCA composite outputs.

The DVD player has 1 optical digital output and composite, component and S-Video outputs.

The TV has S-Video and component outputs.

The receiver Santa is bringing has
Component Video Inputs 1
Digital Coaxial Inputs 1
Digital Optical Inputs 3

So, if my head is on right this morning, I can use 1 optical input for my DVD player, and 1 optical input for my DVR. I could also figure out what the Play Station 2 has for outputs and see what could be done with that.

I guess I should go back to the FAQs and figure out what the difference between coax and optical inputs is.

Yes, I know about "small verus large" for speaker set-up and do have a sub-woofer.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

The only difference I ever found in optical against Coaxial is that the optical is better for a long run while the coax I find to be better for short/medium runs.

I also found the coax a little bit cheaper to buy which is always nice, as I find no difference in audio quality.

Some people might say coax is better because there isn't any conversion process needed but I never hear it.

 

[Ed Moxley]

digital coax is cheaper........... you won'thear a difference in sound.
Optical is less susceptible to interference, because you are using a beam of light instead of wire. I use optical on my DirecTv receiver, and digital coax on my dvd player.
What you said should be fine.............

 

[Andrew O'Brien]

Thanks. Yep, the local Circuit City wants $20 for a 4ft optical cable, I'll look around a bit more.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

Actually you can use a normal L/R analog audio cable for digital coax. connections without a problem. I did that for my cousins girlfriend to save some money. Works perfect.

 

[Andrew O'Brien]

Huh? I assumed that Digital Coax cable was the usual coax, a center conductor and an outer shield of copper wire, how does "normal" audio cables do the job? The connectors would be different, right?

 

[Ed Moxley]

He's right..........it'll work, but is more susceptible to interference. If you have nothing interferring, then no problem.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

You got lucky.

Video and Coaxial-digital cables need to be made with something called "75 ohm coax". Audio cables however can be made with any of the common types: 50, 75, 110, 300.

If you use the wrong cable - it will appear to work. But people who have done this by accident noticed that the sound would drop out, just for a second, every so often.

But .. sometimes the manufacturer uses the same coax for their audio and video cables.

Andrew:

I am trying to create this thread on How to hook up your HT receiver. It should help answer questions when it is finished.