Pictures worth a thousand words (1 Viewer)

[JayRu]

Does anyone have a link to any site that has diagrams of installing Home Theater System. I'm so confused I can hardly see the colors on the wires anymore. I just purchased and new Toshiba 46" and a Tosiba surround sound system with built in DVD and VCR and AM/FM. I have a comcast digital cable box as well. I hook it up one way and lose some of my cable box features such as PIP. Hook up a different way and no bass. I have manuals for all of it but to me is not to user friendly. I just need to know how to hook up these two sources the right way. Anyone have any personal knowledge or a site to go to that has pictures?..........this is my first post. Hope I have followed protocol and look forward to coming back.

 

[Al.Anderson]

I'm not expert enough to answer your big question of how to hook it up or where to get general picture instructions. But one thing that might be going wrong and throwing you off is your cable box. Many of those only pass through one signal/channel at a time, so you would not have access to PIP unless you also attached another source (antennae) to your monitor AND the monitor supported receiving signals from two sources at once.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Jay,

If you post more info here, someone will be able to help you sort out your options.

You should post some model info on your equipment, how you have it wired now, and what you change that results in loss of features. I would imagine with the group of guys that hangs here- we can help you sort it out.

As for a diagram- there is usually on in the receiver manual. Although, many people find it worthless because EVERY SITUATION IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT- which is why you will have a hard time finding a diagram anywhere that will help you.

So, it's better to post as much info as clearly as possible and let some folks here help you out.

-V

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Jay,

First, welcome to the Forum!

Of the top of my head I’d say your two objectives – PIP and surround sound for TV programming – are probably in conflict.

Any PIP function requires two tuners. Typically the television provides one (all TV’s have an internal tuner), and a cable box or VCR provides the other. In order for PIP to work, the cable box’s line outputs (red/white/yellow RCA jacks) must be connected to the TV’s line input jacks.

The problem is that getting surround sound for television programs requires the same RCA output connections from the cable box to go to the HT receiver (the Toshiba surround sound system in your case). Obviously those RCA outputs can’t go both places, unless the cable box has two sets.

There is a solution, albeit a rather clumsy one. You can use a pair of RCA “y” splitters to send the red/white jacks from your cable box to both the TV and the audio system. This will get you an audio signal to both destinations. (Don’t try to split the yellow (video) jack – it goes to the TV only.)

This will get you both PIP and TV audio to the sound system, and you can see the picture on the TV on Ch. 3 or 4. To watch DVD’s you would switch to the TV’s line inputs.

A more “elegant” solution may be possible, but as Vince noted we’ll have to have more details about your equipment, especially the connections provisions for each piece. If you can provide a web link to each of your pieces, that might be helpful too.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Tim K]

I'm guessing you have a Motorola DCT-5100 or 6200 cable box? Both have pretty much the same outputs so it shouldn't matter.

Do you want to use your receiver for ALL audio or do you want to get audio out of your TV some of the time?

 

[JayRu]

Wayne,
Thanks. My cable box does have two sets of RCA's. Its working now. I'm not totally pleased with the sound but i'm doing some tweaks and moving speakers around and will get it right..........Thanks for everyones help.

 

[Grace]

congrats

 

[Tim K]

Another option which may be an improvement for your system, would be to hook up a digital audio cable (coax or toslink/optical) from your cable box to your receiver. This will give you digital audio on stations that broadcast it (many of the digital channels 100+ do, especially premiums channels like HBO which do movies in DD 5.1). If you hook this up in addition to the RCA cables you'll be set.

On the Motorola boxes the digital coax output is labelled SPDIF and is orange. I don't know if the box has an optical connection or not.

 

[Kevin Stewart]

Go to the consumer electronics association website (www.ce.org). On the left side of the home page, click on AUDIO. On the next page is a link to a connections guide that you can download. It's an interactive guide where you tell it what equipment you have (and what connections are available on each) and at the end it tells you the best way to hook everything up. I haven't used it, but my father used it to hook up his stuff after I heard about the site on the radio, and it worked fine for him. It might be a little limited as to what connection options it has, but it's worth a shot.



Stew