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denon 3808- video input direct to tv or through receiver? hdmi or optical for audio? (1 Viewer)

vpulipati

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vasu
I just got a denon 3808ci, purely based on the reviews on this forum and now I need some help in figuring out the best way to connect all the components. I read a post by someone who said direct connection to TV worked better for his Wii and I'm wondering if thats true with any component.

The components I have are PS3, Wii, Xbox (1st gen) and comcast cable box. Planning to get a Tivo in near future. For audio, everything will go through the receiver, obviously. For video, what is the best way to connect each of these to the TV? My TV is Sony 52" (W4100) and it has enough video inputs to take them all direct (4 HDMI + a bunch of component/s-video). Is there a real advantage in connecting them through the receiver other than just one cable going to the TV? My TV is very a recent model and I believe it does some upconversion as well.. although not sure which one does a better job, the denon or the TV.

Some one also mentioned that for audio coaxial or optical sounds better than hdmi. Can anyone share their experiences if they played around with different combinations?

I could probably experiment them all and figure out myself, but I'm hoping to avoid buying unnecessary cables and save some money. Any input is much appreciated. Thanks.
 

TonyTone

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I'll try...

Re: connecting video components directly to TV--well for starters you won't be able to view the Denon GUI overlay on your TV if you don't have the 3808 connected to it...meaning you'd have to rely on the display on the receiver itself in order to see whatever it is you need to adjust/change. Also--if you connect the PS3's HDMI video out directly to your TV, you will lose the ability to listen to any high-def audio soundtracks (e.g., Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA) played back via the PS3 since such audio can only be delivered to the 3808 via HDMI. Now if you don't ever plan to watch any Blu-ray movies, then what I just said is a moot point...but I reckon you didn't buy a PS3 just to play video games and/or watch SD DVD movies on it. ;) In any case, I would just connect the components to the 3808...if anything, just so that you can view the Denon GUI on-screen.

Even if it turns out that your Sony does a better job at upconverting and/or scaling video better than the 3808, you can still pass the video through the 3808 and let the Sony do all the video processing, as you can disable the 3808's scaler on a per-input basis.

As far as whether optical/coax sounds better than HDMI--for high-def audio like the examples I gave earlier...no; other than that, the difference in sound quality between the two is pretty much subjective.
 

vpulipati

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vasu
Thanks for the response. When I said connecting directly to TV, I meant HDMI to TV and then toslink or coaxial to receiver for audio. May be that doesn't make sense, but your idea sounds better anyway.. I didn't know that you could disable denon's video processing on per input basis. No running long, ugly cables to my wall mounted TV then.
That should be possible with Wii as well, right? Wii doesn't support digital connections (pretty lame!), but I could connect it to the receiver by component audio/video cable and then have denon pass it through to TV for processing. Not sure why others are suggesting to connect Wii directly to TV. WII owners, any light you can shed?

Is it possible to disable TV's video processing on per-input basis as well?
 

TonyTone

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Okay, but you'd still lose the ability to hear Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA soundtracks if you connect the audio output of the PS3 to the receiver via optical or coax digital audio.

Re: Wii--I think it's just a subjective PQ issue as to why some folks would prefer to connect their Wiis directly to the TV. Also--depending on which article/opinion you choose to believe...it should be pointed out the 3808's internal deinterlacing capability (especially if it's scaling to 1080p) leaves a bit to be desired, despite the fact that it uses a Faroudja processor chip...hence why more than a few 3808 folks who have 1080p displays have chosen to disable the 3808's internal deinterlacing altogether.

Dunno the answer to your last question...but I would guess the answer to it would be no (assuming that by "video processing" you mean scaling/deinterlacing).
 

Jeff Gatie

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There is absolutely no reason not to run HDMI through the receiver and then to the TV. There is no signal loss whatsoever with HDMI. All the old "connect directly to the TV for the best picture" was for analog connections. With HDMI, the signal is digital, with significant error detection/correction, so there is no difference in quality between the two connections. As long as the TV gets a signal, then you are getting the entire signal. There is also no truth to the statement that coax/optical sounds better than HDMI. It's the same signal for DD/DTS and it's a better signal for TrueHD/DTS-HD.

So use HDMI -> Receiver -> HDMI -> TV whereever you can. Less cables, better audio and no signal loss.
 

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