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Cable questions

#1
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6/26/08 at 10:04am
  • Joined: June 2008
  • Post Count: 6
I am thinking of buying the two speaker Bose home theather system. should i be concerned that it doesn't have HDMI? I will have to connect my Playstation 3 (to use as a BluRay DVD) with an optical cable to the Bose and HDMI to the TV?
it also means my Tivo will connect to the TV with HDMI but to the Bose with coaxial. Should i care that it is not all HDMI?

my other thought is to use the sony home theater receiver that is all HDMI but then i will have to hard wire the back speakers.
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#2
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6/26/08 at 3:27pm
  • Joined: July 2002
  • Post Count: 731

Re: Cable questions

Using HDMI to the receiver gives you two things (1) The convenience of easier switching, and (2) superior sound when playing BluRay.

Both of those are nice, but neither is drop-dead important.

What is impartant is, stay away from Bose. It's over-priced and average quality at best. (That's my opinion - and probably the one case where I can say also the opinion of the rest of the forum.)

I'm not crazy about Sony either; but it's better than Bose. You can do some forum searches and get a lot more info on Bose.
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#3
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6/26/08 at 10:34pm
  • Joined: June 2008
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Re: Cable questions

thanks for your thoughts.
So what i want is a blu-ray compatable suround sound system that i can hook up my Play Station 3 through for HD DVD's and my Tivo Series 3 HD.
i don't want to break the bank but obviously if i was considering the Bose i was reluctantly considing $899. the sony system is $400 and more in my price range. Ideas? i am also sensitive to the number of wires and like the HDMI concept for that reason.
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#4
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6/27/08 at 4:29am
  • Joined: July 2002
  • Post Count: 731

Re: Cable questions

I'll confess that I'm not the best at finding "deals"; but here's an example of a decent value in your range:

Onkyo HT-S5100S 7.1-Channel Home Theater System - Black in Home Theater Systems at JR.com

The HDMI is a passthrough. This means that you'll get the benefit of easier channel switching; but it doesn't process sound from the HDMI so you won't get the super sound from BluRay. If the this is important too you you'll have to move up a notch or two in the receiver. (I don't have it and am not feeling deprived. I'm plenty happy with DTS/DD sound.)

The passthrough aspect also means you'll need to run a coax or optical cable for sound. It's another cable, but not a big deal. You run video from all your sources to the receiver (HDMI) and then run an HDMI to the TV. You run optical/coax from all your sources to the receiver. You keep the TV on "HDMI-1" and then do all your switching through the receiver.
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