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Re: How many cables?
How many and which cables you need depends a lot on your system, but I'll take a shot here. Assuming you have the basics...a television, Home Theater receiver, and 5.1 speakers system you'd need:
1. One cable to connect the receiver to the television, to pass the video signal to the TV...think of the television as an "extra" speaker that puts out picture rather than sound. This can be HDMI, Component, Composite, or Coaxial, in order of signal quality, high to low, respectively...you'd need HDMI or Component to get high definition television. If you're using the tuner on the TV rather than a cable box or satellite dish, you'll also need to run a cable to whichever antenna you're using.
2. Five lengths of speaker wire to connect the receiver to each of the speakers (left, right, center, left and right rear). Speakers can use a variety of connectors, but most are capable of a bare wire connection, rather than a specific "plug." A 6.1 or 7.1 system will add one or two speaker wires to the formula.
3. One cable to connect the receiver to the subwoofer, usually composite.
For every component you add, you'd need additional cables.
4. A DVD player will use one HDMI, Component, or Composite cable to connect to the receiver audio and video.
4a. If it's a DVD recorder, you'll also need a HDMI, Component, Composite, or Coaxial cable from your tuner, cable, or satellite box into the DVD recorder.
5. A cable box or satellite dish will usually use HDMI or Component (if it's a high definition box), or composite or coaxial if it's not from the box to the receiver.
6. A VCR (growing obsolete, but I can't seem to part with mine, haha) can use any of the above, although component, composite, and coaxial are most common.
7. A game system usually comes with its own cables, which are either component, composite, or HDMI (the PS3 is HDMI, right?) If, for some reason, you've got a yearning to hook up your old Atari to your 50" Plasma, I think it'd use the Coaxial input...
8. A Camcorder or Digital Camera will usually hook up to a Composite input, although some will do USB, VGA (a computer monitor cable), or Firewire.
Am I forgetting anything?
Dave
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