New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

How To Set Up This HT

post #1 of 9
3/8/09 at 8:17pm
Thread Starter 
Hi,
To keep this as brief as possible I wont say the way I am going to do it, hopefully it will be just as you good people suggest.

We have a-
52" HDTV
Sony 820 Receiver
Polk Speakers 5.1
Sony PS3
AT&T Uverse box

What would be the best way to hook this all up, while still having the ability to have sound just come out of the TV when you have times you don't wish to turn the entire surround system on.

I should also state that AT&T has said that they have had a number of people have troubles when connecting via HDMI (sound issues) So we may have to incorporate component in here somehow too.

Thanks

Reply
post #2 of 9
3/8/09 at 9:24pm

Re: How To Set Up This HT

IMO it is simpler to just turn on the surround sound every time. I haven't used TV speakers for 15 years. Just get a decent universal remote, it can automatically turn on/off the receiver along with the TV appropriately. To get sound through the TV you need a whole bunch of extra wires, and I don't really ever see a reason to prefer the TV speakers if you have surround hooked up.

Just do:
PS3 -> HDMI -> 820 -> HDMI -> TV

Uverse -> component -> TV
Uverse -> coax/optical digital -> 820
Reply
post #3 of 9
3/8/09 at 9:50pm
Thread Starter 

Re: How To Set Up This HT

Well, we would like it say late at night to not have to have the whole system on, or even those times we just don't feel we need it.
So if you say "had" to or had someone who really wanted this, how would you set it up?
Reply
post #4 of 9
3/8/09 at 10:46pm

Re: How To Set Up This HT

Well you can run an additional stereo audio pair from the Uverse straight to the TV to accomplish that. The PS3 though you'd probably have to run another component video + audio straight to the set.

But I still don't get it. If it's late at night, just use surround but don't turn up the volume so much. A 60dB sound is still 60dB whether it is coming from the TV speaker or a regular speaker. Maybe use the "midnight mode" on the receiver if you need to get louder dialog without boosting the loudest sounds too much. There are times you feel you don't "need" surround sound, but it doesn't hurt anything to have it on IMO. It's a hassle to use the TV speakers, having to turn them on/off and program your remotes with volume for both TV & receiver.
Reply
post #5 of 9
3/9/09 at 12:03am
Thread Starter 

Re: How To Set Up This HT

Ok thanks, basically sounds like what I was planning. Only thing different I was thinking was to run an optical from the Uverse to the HDTV for the sound.

Thank you.
Reply
post #6 of 9
3/9/09 at 12:15am

Re: How To Set Up This HT

HDTVs don't have optical input. They only have optical output for their built-in tuners. They only accept digital sound via HDMI. And if you are routing HDMI through receiver as you should for the surround sound from Blu-ray, the receiver has to be on anyway for the signal to pass to the TV.
Reply
post #7 of 9
3/9/09 at 12:40pm
Thread Starter 

Re: How To Set Up This HT

Ahh, ok didn't know that. I figured it would have an optical in. Good to know.
I do understand about the PS3 (Blu-Ray) Actually, we are only concerned about having TV only sound for TV programming. When it comes to a movie we would go through entire system.
Reply
post #8 of 9
3/10/09 at 4:01pm
Thread Starter 

Re: How To Set Up This HT

Here is another question.

Speaker hookup.
Should they all be hooked up to speaker input A. or should I hook up the fronts to input A and the rears to input B and then select A+B to run everything. That way say we could at least shut off the rears if we wanted.

I have in all my years never taken advantage of this feature on receivers. Would this be one way to utilize them, or is it more for say you have speakers in another room?
What would be best.

Thanks for the help.
Reply
post #9 of 9
3/10/09 at 5:37pm

Re: How To Set Up This HT

The rears have to be hooked up to the surround outputs to get the surround sound. Speaker output B just mirrors the front A output for when you want to drive speakers in another room.

If you want to shut off rears (why??) you can just turn off the surround mode on the receiver, set to 2 ch stereo output. There is usually some "surround" cycle button on the remote, at least one of the modes is likely to revert to just stereo output. Or some button to select just stereo.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home