I recently bought a Blu-ray player, primarily for streaming LAN audio, USB drive audio features, Pandora/Netflix. It opened a can of worms with my current receiver and older TV (Trinitron) because of lack of interfaces (S-Video, optical audio). I ended up buying a new Yamaha 5.1 receiver w/ HDMI support and a SONY flat panel TV. From the different diagrams that came with these various devices, there are different ways to hook things up and I've gotten different guidance from a cable guy, BestBuy salesman, etc.
Prior to all of this, my CD, DVD, TV, tape player were all hooked into my older Yamaha 5.1 receiver. The speaker was shut off on the TV and it basically served as a monitor(except for station tuning). I didn't have a cable box previously, so the cable went into the TV directly and audio went out to the receiver. I used my receiver w/ universal remote to control everything.
So now I have a Blu-Ray, HD cable DVR, 5.1 receiver and HDTV. My Sony TV documentation shows everything going into it with HDMI and an optical out to the receiver. The Yamaha documentation shows everything going into the receiver and an HDMI going out to the TV. When I was first having fits over cables, a guy at Bestbuy told me HDMI would also be the best medium for audio. Someone else told me that optical is the best and that I'll get the best picture if everything goes into the TV directly. Is any of this true or just 6 of one, half dozen of the other? And if the best thing is to go into the TV first, did I just piss away a few hundred on a receiver? (My old one had the optical in).
Thanks, TC
Prior to all of this, my CD, DVD, TV, tape player were all hooked into my older Yamaha 5.1 receiver. The speaker was shut off on the TV and it basically served as a monitor(except for station tuning). I didn't have a cable box previously, so the cable went into the TV directly and audio went out to the receiver. I used my receiver w/ universal remote to control everything.
So now I have a Blu-Ray, HD cable DVR, 5.1 receiver and HDTV. My Sony TV documentation shows everything going into it with HDMI and an optical out to the receiver. The Yamaha documentation shows everything going into the receiver and an HDMI going out to the TV. When I was first having fits over cables, a guy at Bestbuy told me HDMI would also be the best medium for audio. Someone else told me that optical is the best and that I'll get the best picture if everything goes into the TV directly. Is any of this true or just 6 of one, half dozen of the other? And if the best thing is to go into the TV first, did I just piss away a few hundred on a receiver? (My old one had the optical in).
Thanks, TC
