A few questions! (1 Viewer)

I'm new here and not too electronically inclined...so forgive me in advance if I sound like an idiot. I'll try to make it short and sweet.


I have a 42" 720p plasma...Vizio to be exact. I also have a blu-ray player, satellite TV, and just recently purchased a Sony Bravia 5.1 HTS (upconverting dvd, not bluray-but it was a great price).


So...I got all the speakers set up and everything functioning as it should...I thought. However, the surround receiver has only 1 HDMI port. This I used to connect to the TV. I then had to use an RCA cable to connect to the cable box since that's all I had.


With the 1 HDMI port being used for the TV, how do I connect the blu-ray to the surround sound, while also connecting it to the TV? I don't mind upconverted DVDs, but would prefer watching my BR with surround. Is there a different cable I need? Or some kind of HDMI adapter with multiple ports?


That's the big question.


However something else has recently started bothering me again. For as long as I've had the TV, I've noticed this weird horizontal line going through the center of the TV. The only way I can describe it...is that it looks like the bottom half of the screen is clearer..but the pixels are more erratic. The only time I would notice this is while upconverting DVDs. And it's only noticeable with dark scenes. Never have the issue watching satellite or blu-rays. So I thought maybe it was the cheap Magnovox BR player.


Well...when I got the Sony HTS a few days ago and stuck a dvd in, it was there again! What could possibly be the issue here? I can't imagine it's the TV since satellite and cable are perfect.


Any input on these issues would be greatly appreciated!


eta: P.S. Any particular reason why my TV speakers are only working while watching cable? I can't get TV sound also when I'm watching a DVD.

 

[Ed Moxley]

The HDMI on your Sony system is an output only. You have no HDMI inputs. You'll need to run HDMI cables from the sat box and from blu ray player, straight to tv for the video. Your Sony has one optical input, and one digital coax input. Use one for the sat box, and the other for the blu ray player, for audio. Not the best way for audio from blu ray, but you have no choice, with the Sony system you have.


You could return the Sony system, and get an Onkyo HT-S5300 or higher model, and have HDMI inputs to use. Definitely the best for blu ray, but no big deal for sat tv. Since your tv is just 720p, you can use component cables for that, and get as good a picture as is possible on it.


If you want to listen to tv's speakers, you'll need to run red & white RCA analog audio cables from sat box to tv. But with a surround system, why listen to tv speakers? They should be turned off, in the tv's setup menus, or tv volume turned all the way down, when listening to surround.


As far as the line in the tv's screen, it sounds like a trip to the repair shop to me. But, I don't know much about tvs, so I can't swear to it.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the advice. I figured I'd be needing some more cables.


As for the line in the Tv...I can't figure out what it could be. Like I said, the only time I have this issue is while upconverting DVDs. BR and satellite are fine.


But thanks again...any advice on where to pick up some cheap cables?

 

Thanks for the advice. I figured I'd be needing some more cables.


As for the line in the Tv...I can't figure out what it could be. Like I said, the only time I have this issue is while upconverting DVDs. BR and satellite are fine.


But thanks again...any advice on where to pick up some cheap cables?

 

[Robert_J]

Monoprice for cables and accessories.