Onkyo HT-S5100 7.1 HELP with setup Please (1 Viewer)

[nyg052003]

Ok guys I bought this home theater setup back in May of 2008 and believe it or not I just took it out of the box and hooked it up a few wks ago. It was relugated to the man cave instead of the house and I want to hook this thing up as best as possible to maximize it's features. Just reading up on some things, it appears that I cannot run an HDMI cable from my laptop to the reciever and it output audio with just that cable. I was thinking it would but apparently not. I have the Onkyo HT-S5100 7.1 system and I'm going to have a ps3 or 4 out there and a dish network box. I will probably use my laptop to play music for now and it has an hdmi out on it. I need to get an adapter to use my samsung galaxy 3 to play through the stereo. It came with an ipod docking station but only my son's IPOD will play through it.Looking at my Toshiba c855d s5320 it doesn't appear to have an optical in or out so playing audio throught it might not be the best sound anyway. And won't that be the same case for my galaxy 3? I have the ps3 in the house hooked up to my 2001 Sony 5.1 theater system and the optical audio is awesome. I wish all of my components that I will have in here had optical outs. I will just have the dish box and the ps3 or 4 if i get a ps4 since my son pretty much debo'ed my ps3 lol. Help me with the best options as far as getting the best out of my components with what I have and what cables I need to get, ect.

 

[schan1269]

Easiest thing to do...Buy a newer AVR that can take audio off the HDMI. A bunch of AVR have front USB and/or Bluetooth ability.

 

[nyg052003]

Easiest thing to do...Buy a newer AVR that can take audio off the HDMI. A bunch of AVR have front USB and/or Bluetooth ability.

I wish it was that easy man for me to just ditch this new reciever fresh out the box lol. I'm mad that I didnt know what all questions to ask at that time in buying one and now 5 yrs later i wish I would have gotten one like u just described depending on the price. I guess 5 yrs ago though I probably wouldn't have gotten one too expensive anyway so the one that I got was fine and within budget. I want to probably just use what I have and just use my ps3 or 4 to play music. I mean I'm old school so using rca jacks is what I was used to so it won't be so bad to use them with a dvd player to play music if i have to. I guess also I'm getting used to the new era of no cd's but playing music thru your phone and media player so in that case either my phone, laptop, or ps3. So if i keep the reciever I have now, I guess I would just use the hdmi port and run the ps3 straight to the tv then run the optical from the ps3 to the stereo. My dish box also has a digital optical out as well but darn, the reciever has one optical and one digi coax I believe so would I be able to adapt a coax to an optical since both the ps3 and dish reciever has digi opticals?

Also i have to consider if i was playing a game on the ps3 and wanted to listen to other music, I would definitely have to play music on one of the other things I mentioned earlier as to not be listening to music and the game simultaneously on the same source.

 

[nyg052003]

if i could do an even trade or something or maybe spend just a little more and get one along the lines of what you are talking about I would do that. The Sony reciever is still playing well also and have that system in my son's room

 

[schan1269]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Onkyo-HT-RC330-5-1-CHANNEL-HOME-THEATER-RECEIVER-/121186641908?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item1c374967f4
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ONKYO-RECEIVER-TX-SR605-/221291560673?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item3386013ee1
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Onkyo-TX-SR674-7-1-Channel-A-V-Receiver-/200971056429?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item2ecacef52d

 

[nyg052003]

just reading up on some things, it appears the only advantage of hdmi pass thru via the receiver would be if the tv didn't have any or many hdmi in's right? Since my Samsung has enough I guess there would be no need to even run my ps3 and dish receiver thru the avr right?

i'm pondering the wi fi and blue tooth capable avr's though and if I can sell mine easily I would just get another system or avr with those features

Easiest thing to do...Buy a newer AVR that can take audio off the HDMI. A bunch of AVR have front USB and/or Bluetooth ability.

 

[schan1269]

Running your TV as the "AV hub" means you lose 5.1 audio. Everything would end up 2.0 PCM requiring you to use DPL.

No Dolby True HD nor DTS HD(which you don't have now anyway...but you could).

The three options I gave you are well under $150. You can cobble it together on 2-3 connections for everything...

OR retire that AVR and buy 3, maybe 4 HDMI.

 

[nyg052003]

Running your TV as the "AV hub" means you lose 5.1 audio. Everything would end up 2.0 PCM requiring you to use DPL.

No Dolby True HD nor DTS HD(which you don't have now anyway...but you could).

The three options I gave you are well under $150. You can cobble it together on 2-3 connections for everything...ay

OR retire that AVR and buy 3, maybe 4 HDMI.

sorry didn't even see the links for those avrs.
would there be a huge difference from 5.1 to 2.0?

dpl??

buy 3 maybe 4 hdmi? What did you mean buy that? Sorry im sort of a noob in a some of what you are referring to

 

[schan1269]

would there be a huge difference from 5.1 to 2.0?
Yes
dpl??
Dolby ProLogic
buy 3 maybe 4 hdmi? What did you mean buy that?
Dish Box
PS3/4
Laptop
3 sources, 3 HDMI. Then you need 1 from the AVR to the TV. (previously I hadn't gone back and counted how many you needed)

 

[nyg052003]

would there be a huge difference from 5.1 to 2.0?
Yes
dpl??
Dolby ProLogic
buy 3 maybe 4 hdmi? What did you mean buy that?
Dish Box
PS3/4
Laptop
3 sources, 3 HDMI. Then you need 1 from the AVR to the TV. (previously I hadn't gone back and counted how many you needed)

oh ok. my system is a 7.1 also. So would I lose the 5.1 still?

if I ran them as hdmi pass thru I guess you are saying it would be better that way than with thru the tv right? And how much better?

 

[nyg052003]

Also, I wouldn't be running the optical cable from the component to the tv then to the stereo. It would be ran from the device straight to the receiver. The hdmi would of went to the tv

 

[schan1269]

Yes, you lose the 7.1...cause you only get PCM 2.0.

5.1 DD is better than 2.0 PCM

Again, with a newer AVR...you have 4 HDMI. Period. Simple. Easier.

 

[nyg052003]

Yes, you lose the 7.1...cause you only get PCM 2.0.

5.1 DD is better than 2.0 PCM

Again, with a newer AVR...you have 4 HDMI. Period. Simple. Easier.

4 hdmi, non pass thru's ?

 

[schan1269]

Non pass thru?

What?

 

[nyg052003]

Non pass thru?

What?

earlier u said with a new avr it would be 4 hdmi's. I'm asking if those hdmi's are pass through's just like the one on my current onkyo avr but the only difference with the new one is that it will have audio available to be ran along with the hdmi's which would in turn.................................?

 

[schan1269]

The entire point I've been trying to make...but apparently not very clearly.1. Your present AVR does not take audio off the HDMI, which is why you are running separate audio connections.2. Every single AVR made in the last 5 years...as in all of them...meaning each one...takes audio off the HDMI. Which means you no longer need to run a 2nd connection, which means no more toslink, digital coax or analog RCA.Hence...4 HDMI are all you need on a modern AVR, cause again...to make it perfectly clear and hopefully understood this time....(here goes)...EVERY SINGLE NEW AVR TAKES AUDIO OFF THE HDMI.

 

[nyg052003]

The entire point I've been trying to make...but apparently not very clearly.1. Your present AVR does not take audio off the HDMI, which is why you are running separate audio connections.2. Every single AVR made in the last 5 years...as in all of them...meaning each one...takes audio off the HDMI. Which means you no longer need to run a 2nd connection, which means no more toslink, digital coax or analog RCA.Hence...4 HDMI are all you need on a modern AVR, cause again...to make it perfectly clear and hopefully understood this time....(here goes)...EVERY SINGLE NEW AVR TAKES AUDIO OFF THE HDMI.

lol gotcha. I will explore my options and see what I want to do.

I have had my ps3 hooked up to my old Sony home system, a 2001 model and I guess I didnt have the 5.1 either since i had a separate audio cable but it sounded pretty good. I will hook it up the new system like that just to experiment and see if it's fine enough for me and go from there. I appreciate all the help. I guess it would help if I could go to a place where they would have the different setups and let me listen to all the possibilities and options so I would better understand.

 

[nyg052003]

The entire point I've been trying to make...but apparently not very clearly.1. Your present AVR does not take audio off the HDMI, which is why you are running separate audio connections.2. Every single AVR made in the last 5 years...as in all of them...meaning each one...takes audio off the HDMI. Which means you no longer need to run a 2nd connection, which means no more toslink, digital coax or analog RCA.Hence...4 HDMI are all you need on a modern AVR, cause again...to make it perfectly clear and hopefully understood this time....(here goes)...EVERY SINGLE NEW AVR TAKES AUDIO OFF THE HDMI.

also, this guy i work with was saying i can just get an hdmi splitter. Is that really so?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011307&p_id=6192&seq=1&format=2


actually that would be wrong and i would need a switcher instead

 

[schan1269]

You could get a switcher with a toslink out, but you have to make sure it will send out 5.1.Once you connect a switch, and the end of the switch is a TV, the audio is dumbed down to 2.0 pcm. That puts back to "waste of money, just do it wrong by using the TV as the hub."

 

[nyg052003]

You could get a switcher with a toslink out, but you have to make sure it will send out 5.1.Once you connect a switch, and the end of the switch is a TV, the audio is dumbed down to 2.0 pcm.That puts back to "waste of money, just do it wrong by using the TV as the hub."

actually talked to a tech at monoprice and what he was saying was with that switch it would go devices