Noob with lots of questions (1 Viewer)

[Curly]

the Blu-ray works but I can't get my non-tv speakers to work.

So does your Blu-ray send audio to your sound system? You say it works but then it doesn't. I'm not following.

It works but the sound comes from the TV, not the good speakers.

Well, they do work with the tuner.

The speakers work with the TV tuner or the receiver's radio tuner? You need to be more specific.

The reciever tuner (basically a radio I guess), uses the good speakers.

There's no reason you should be using ARC for Blu-Ray.  I'm guessing you have your Blu-Ray connected directly to the TV via HDMI.  The Geek Squad is telling you to run optical from TV to receiver, but that's a REALLY bad idea, because you'll definitely lose lossless Blu-ray audio, and will likely lose all digital surround audio, too. You should connect the Blu-Ray directly to your receiver via HDMI, then run a second HDMI cable from receiver to TV.  The TV in a home theater setup should really function as a monitor.  You run a single video feed to it, and switch both audio and video at the receiver.  That's what the receiver was designed to do, and if you've sprung for a nice receiver and killer speakers, you have no reason to go back and use the 10W cardboard POS speakers in the TV.

oops, I have hdmi running form TV to blu-ray, not from reciever to blu-ray. But I do have one running from TV to Reciever. And Jason, what exactly do you mean when you say "switch audio and viseo at the reciever"?

 

[Martino]

have hdmi running form TV to blu-ray. And one running from TV to Reciever.

But I do have one running from TV to Reciever.

-- From my earlier post - you don't have it hooked up correctly....and not sure how you have a cable from the TV to the Receiver, but nothing connected to the receiver. For your components: You will need 2 HDMI cables to hook up your blu-ray player - 1 from the player to the receiver, 1 from the receiver to the TV. 6 ft HDMI cables - $3.37 Each X 2 = http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024008&p_id=3992&seq=1&format=2 One cable will go from the output of your blu-ray player to one of the HDMI inputs on your receiver. This will carry both the audio and video signal. You will then hook up the HDMI output on your receiver to an HDMI input on your TV. Your receiver will process the audio portion of the signal, and send the video portion to the TV. You will turn the speakers on your TV to OFF, and use the sound bar and sub for all of the audio. After you set this up on the receiver (say on Input 1) - then you set your receiver to Input 1 - the audio and video signal will now go from your blu-ray to your receiver. On the second cable - hooked up from the receivers HDMI output - you will go to 1 HDMI input on your TV - say HDMI 1... There should not be a direct connection between the blu-ray player and the TV... As for the Geek Squad advise - how are you getting your normal TV viewing? If you are going with an over the air antenna - then it makes since to hook up an optical cable between the TV and receiver - as the processing is being done on the TV and the only way to get that audio signal is to connect the TV output to the Receiver. If you are using a cable box, or some other company (Dish, DirectTV) - then you would connect those boxes to the receiver with an HDMI cable - and that would use the same Receiver output to TV input HDMI cable that you already have connected for your blu-ray player. Either way - you should not be using the optical cable from the TV to the receiver for blu-ray viewing....only for over the air TV viewing.

 

[Curly]

have hdmi running form TV to blu-ray. And one running from TV to Reciever.

-- From my earlier post - you don't have it hooked up c//orrectly....

Thanks again ya'll. When I get home tonight I'm gonna fix that and see if that's all it was. Curly

 

[Jason Charlton]

It's very common for folks who are new to full-featured A/V receivers to not quite get this concept, but the receiver should be the "hub" of your system, not the TV.


As Martin said, all of your sources should connect both video and audio direct to the receiver first. Then the video signal is passed out of the receiver to the TV. You only ever turn the TV on and Off.


The only exception, as Martin noted, is if you pick up TV stations over the air using an antenna - in this case, your TV signal runs through the TV first, and the audio has to be passed out of the TV and into the receiver.

 

[Martino]

Not that this will help much - but you may just want to print out a few of these suggestions and go back to the geek squad and straighten them out. I'm not sure if they are giving out bad advise because they don't know any better - or if they are just trying to sell you one more optical cable...or maybe trying to get an at home consultation when the customer cannot set up their new system. Also - for another setup - be sure to go into your TV menus and turn the TV speakers to OFF. If they are left ON - you may have a strange "echo" sound as the TV speakers will be adding noise for your listening experience. I had an older receiver that did not have HDMI - so I was going directly to the TV from my blu-ray player and taking the audio over an optical cable from the blu-ray player to the receiver. I usually leave the TV volume at 0 and this was not a problem. One day I got a call from my wife saying that the sound was all messed up and she thought that she broke something. When I got home, it turns out she had grabbed the TV remote instead of the universal one, and turned the TV volume control up instead of the receiver volume - and that was causing this strange echo effect. I must admit that when I first got home and heard this terrible echo sound coming from my system, I was afraid that something had broken in the receiver and I would have to replace it. I then figured out that leaving the TV volume setting at 0 was not enough - so I turned off the speakers. After you get it hooked up correctly - please come back and let us know how your new system is working out for you....

 

[Curly]

Well, I should have printed your original post Martino, but I thought I had it all figured out in my head. But I connected blu-ray to TV instead of Blu-ray to reciever. It actually does allow you to watch dvd's, but hopefully when I swap it to receiver it will give me sound from the external speakers. It's crazy some of the help you can, Panasonic flat out told me that this TV would not connect to that reciever. Pioneer just told me something was wrong and I had to call Panasonic. At least I've been able to watch the tv through all of this, good sound to follow soon I hope.

 

[Martino]

Well - you did prove that at least 1 of your HDMI cables is working correctly You were able to see the improved picture quality that your new setup will provide. I think you will also be impressed with the improved sound once you get that working as well... Just in case - I did a double check on your TV and Receiver...

Panasonic - P65GT30

Found the online manual -- says it has 4 HDMI inputs -- when using with the receiver you will only be using 1 of these...

Pioneer Elite 50

When I searched for that - was getting a 50" TV... I found the closest model number -- Pioneer Elite VSX-50 and looked at it's manual. It shows.....3D Ready Elite A/V receiver - with HDMI Input / Output -- 4 In / 1 Out I don't see anything that would keep these two components from being compatable - in fact, they are both setup for 3D as well.. So - blu-ray to HDMI in on receiver - HDMI out on receiver to HDMI in on TV....should be good to go....

Well, the TV is a Panasonic (P65GT30). I wasn't sure so I went back and looked at the specs and it said it has an included adapted, hopefully that will do it. •use the included Wi-Fi® USB adapter to link to a wireless network

-- Like I said in an earlier post - I am not a wireless network guru at all....but looking at this post - it appears that the TV is the hub for your wireless connection. If that is the case (and not the receiver) - than you will need a connection from the TV to the receiver to get the sound to your speakers when going this route... As I am not the expert in this area - perhaps someone else can answer this question. I think that the optical cable suggested by the geeks will need to go from the TV to the Receiver so it can process the sound from the wireless connection.

 

[Curly]

Well, the TV is a Panasonic (P65GT30). I wasn't sure so I went back and looked at the specs and it said it has an included adapted, hopefully that will do it. •use the included Wi-Fi® USB adapter to link to a wireless network

-- Like I said in an earlier post - I am not a wireless network guru at all....but looking at this post - it appears that the TV is the hub for your wireless connection. If that is the case (and not the receiver) - than you will need a connection from the TV to the receiver to get the sound to your speakers when going this route... As I am not the expert in this area - perhaps someone else can answer this question. I think that the optical cable suggested by the geeks will need to go from the TV to the Receiver so it can process the sound from the wireless connection. [/quote] [COLOR=FF00AA]Martino, I do have an hdmi going from my arc connection (looks like an hdmi on TV) to the "out" hdmi on reciever. And yes the reciever is VSX-50 [/COLOR]

 

[Martino]

I do have an hdmi going from my arc connection (looks like an hdmi on TV) to the "out" hdmi on reciever. And yes the reciever is VSX-50

I'm not familiar with arc - but the single HDMI out on the receiver (4 HDMI inputs/1 HDMI output) should be connected to the HDMI input on the TV (like HDMI 1)....if there is an HDMI out on the TV for the wireless connection to connect to an external processor - I believe it should be hooked up to one of the HDMI inputs on the receiver...

 

[Curly]

I'm not familiar with arc - but the single HDMI out on the receiver (4 HDMI inputs/1 HDMI output) should be connected to the HDMI input on the TV (like HDMI 1)....if there is an HDMI out on the TV for the wireless connection to connect to an external processor - I believe it should be hooked up to one of the HDMI inputs on the receiver...

[COLOR=FF00AA]Yep, I just downloaded the manual and looked at the back of the TV, the HDMI1 says (ARC) below it. So yes, HDMI1 (TV) goes to HDMI-out (reciever). And there is a special place to plug in the wireless reciever thing in the back of the TV. I guess I got that right because I was able to get connected to my network right away. [/COLOR]

 

[Martino]

There are so many acronyms today - but I was thinking about ARC....something like audio return channel would make since. I remeber that HDMI does a hand shake between components, so information is allowed to travel both ways...so I would guess that your TV could get the wireless content, and pass the audio portion back to the receiver... I hope your connection problems are now solved and you are enjoying your system....

 

[Curly]

I hope your connection problems are now solved and you are enjoying your system....

Well, sorta After connecting the blu-ray to the reciever instead of the tv, all seemed well. We started watching a dvd with really nice sound...then the receiver turned itself off. Then it started doing that every few minutes or more. I turned the sound way down and it still did it. I had to put the blu-ray back to the TV so that we could watch the movie. But now that we experienced real sound we want it back From what I can find, a loose speaker wire, or stray strand touching something, is the most likely suspect. I'll check that when I get home tonight.

 

[Martino]

Some thoughts on how to trouble shoot this issue.... If HDMI1 has the ARC channel listed - is it possible that there is something going on between the wireless connection and the receiver? I would try hooking up the HDMI out from the receiver to a different input on the TV - say HDMI2 -- and then select HDMI2 on the TV when attempting to watch a video. If that fixes the issue...then you would need to look further into the wireless return channel.... Also - where is the receiver located? Does it have enough ventilation to disperse heat? Does the receiver feel hot to the touch? Hopefully you will get this issue solved without having to spend any more money.....and after getting a taste of what the sound could be - hopefully we can get this working for you... As far as the loose wire issue - you will run into issues if the positive and negative speaker wires are touching each other (creates a ground loop) - but I would not expect you to get any sound at all if that was the case (just the amp shutting off) - it is always good to check all of the connections...whenever you are working on the wiring, be sure to turn all all of the equipment involved first....

 

[Curly]

Also - where is the receiver located? Does it have enough ventilation to disperse heat? Does the receiver feel hot to the touch?

The receiver has yet to make it in the new TV stand cabinet. It's just been sitting on the floor while I get it all working. So the air is definately not restricted around it. It has been warm to the touch on top though.

If HDMI1 has the ARC channel listed - is it possible that there is something going on between the wireless connection and the receiver? I would try hooking up the HDMI out from the receiver to a different input on the TV - say HDMI2 -- and then select HDMI2 on the TV when attempting to watch a video. If that fixes the issue...then you would need to look further into the wireless return channel....

I'll try this first. Thanks

 

[Martino]

It's just been sitting on the floor while I get it all working.

If it is sitting on carpet, you might want to elevate the receiver to let air circulate from the bottom...

 

[Curly]

Well, I don't think it was heat, it would do it even when cool. I went through the speaker and woofer setup instructions (not too much there) and went through the 100 pages of the receiver manual really well. I feel like I have things setup correctly. But so far I have to keep the sound at -25bd or it powers down the receiver during load sequences in the movie. I can hear it...but still, I wanna hear what it sounds like cranked up once in awhile. And ideas? Thanks, Curly

 

[Jason Charlton]

What speakers are you using? Any chance they are low impedance speakers (i.e. less than 6 ohms)?


I know it might be tedious, but physically disconnecting and reconnecting the speaker wire connections on the back of the receiver might be worth a try if nothing else seems to work. Be sure to tightly twist the bare wire and be careful if you thread the wire through the posts that it doesn't protrude too far out the other side - that can be the cause of a short which can lead to shutdown.


If that doesn't yield any results, you could try disconnecting sources one at a time to see if that helps. Again, at this point, it pretty much boils down to troubleshooting 101.


Good luck.

 

[Curly]

What speakers are you using?  Any chance they are low impedance speakers (i.e. less than 6 ohms)? I know it might be tedious, but physically disconnecting and reconnecting the speaker wire connections on the back of the receiver might be worth a try if nothing else seems to work.  Be sure to tightly twist the bare wire and be careful if you thread the wire through the posts that it doesn't protrude too far out the other side - that can be the cause of a short which can lead to shutdown. If that doesn't yield any results, you could try disconnecting sources one at a time to see if that helps.  Again, at this point, it pretty much boils down to troubleshooting 101. Good luck.

Definitive Technology ProSub 1000 Black- BBNDMA [COLOR=FF00AA]Nominal Impedence 8 ohms [/COLOR]- Definitive Technology MYTHOS SSA-50 BLACK - BBVEJB I went ahead and redid all of the speakers (receiver side and speaker side) and I doubt they could be any better. These are all using banana plugs. Could this be a setting in the reciever menu?

 

[Curly]

OK, I just got a reply back from the Pioneer receiver people. They say to unplug all speakers and then crank it up. Then hook the speakers up one at a time (Jason mentioned that too). That makes sense. I know this is a stupid question, but when the speakers are all unhooked there will be no sound, right? How will cranking it up without speakers tell you anything? Thanks, Curly

 

[Martino]

How will cranking it up without speakers tell you anything?

If there is something internal wrong with your receiver, it may have nothing to do with your speakers or connections - I think they are trying to elimnate that possiblity. So - turning it up without a load on the receiver should not do anything as you say and there will not be any sound - but that is if everything is working correctly. In your case - it is not working, so they are trying to debug. Another double check of the setup - all speakers should be set to the "small" setting and the sub output should be turned on.