Connecting stuff to a receiver? (probably a real dumb question) (1 Viewer)

[Ottis Fletcher]

I ordered a new surround system and it has 2 component inputs and 4 S-Video inputs 1 component out and 2 S-Video out. I plan on hooking a DVD player and Xbox to the receiver through component and PS2, Game Cube, and Digital cable through S-Video. Would the one component out handle everything, even the stuff on S-Video? Would I need to a S-Video cord to run from the receiver to my TV and switch videos on my TV to get a picture from them? Right now I have everything hooked up to different inputs on my TV (except the DVD player I didnt get it yet). Im going out tomorrow to get the cables I need, and just want to make sure I have everything for when it gets here. By the way its a Pioneer model# htp-720dv if you need to know.
http://electronics.cnet.com/electron...tml?tag=subnav

 

[Neil Joseph]

Hook up everything to your receiver using the appropriate cables (Component, s-video, composite etc) then hook a composite, s-video, and component run from the receiver to the TV, switching the TV to the correct input depending on what video source (device) you are using.

 

[Ottis Fletcher]

Thanks. Thats exactly what I needed to know.

 

[John Garcia]

Some receivers, especially less expensive ones, will NOT let you use different types of video connections (composite with s-vid, s-vid with component, etc...) so you may not be able to do what Neil said. If it works, great. If it doesn't, run as many of the same type to the receiver, and the others directly to the TV. If your TV has enough inputs, run as many as you can directly to it, particularly the DVD player. There is no significant advantage to running video through your receiver, not to mention this needlessly doubles the number of cables you need.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I think you mean that they don't convert between the different types, so that you can use a variety of connections into the receiver, and only one, say component video cable, out to the tv. What neil suggests should work always, because there are all 3 connections going out from the receiver. One still has to switch the TV for the different inputs, but that should work fine.

 

[Ottis Fletcher]

The receiver is not cheap (money wise) I dont know if its cheap quality, it better not be. I only have one component on my TV, is the picture much better looking connecting directly to the TV? If so I will unhook the DVD player and plug in the Xbox when I play that and vice versa. I have plenty of S-Videos.

 

[Chris Strnad]

I wouldn't use price as a guide to what a receiver can and can't do. Even quality gear may not allow for something like this sort of video switching (my Denon avr5700 states explicitly that it doesn't.)

My suggestion is would be to keep things connected as you have them--video patched directly to the TV and only audio to the receiver.
The only way you could benefit from connecting everything through the receiver is if the TV has both a s-vid and component grouped as a single input *AND* can determine which one is sending a signal when both are connected. Many TVs have a block of connections listed as something like VIDEO1, but each one has some sort of precedence, meaning you couldn't connect a composite source and an s-vid source, then switch between the two. The TV would detect a connection on s-vid and give it precedence over composite, not displaying it *at all* regardless of whether there was anything being displayed through the s-vid. As such, I'd venture a guess that component would take precedence over s-vid...

 

[Ottis Fletcher]

My TV has one component and theres no S-Video in the same input as the component and 3 S-Video ins. Im just going to leave my devices plugged into the TV for now. Sometime after I get everything hooked up, I will test it through the receiver and see how it works and if I can notice a decline in video quality.

 

[John Garcia]

The receiver is not cheap

Everything is relative.

 

[Brad_H]

John,
If you hook up an s-video input is the corresponding composite input disabled or are ALL the composite inputs for the entire receiver disabled? Just wondering.

Brad

 

[Neil Joseph]

Brad, it has nothing to do with the receiver. The receiver is just a dumb video switching device. It seems like your TV is the roadblock in this scenario. The s-video will take precedence over the composite if both are connected (My 32" older JVC does the same thing). But hooking via the receiver or directly to the TV will not fix that problem.

 

[John Garcia]

If you hook up an s-video input is the corresponding composite input disabled or are ALL the composite inputs for the entire receiver disabled? Just wondering.

When using the receiver as a switch, I use the monitor out. If I use S-vid, the composite monitor out is disabled. I didn't test all of the outputs, but according to the manual, they are all disabled. I did try it out, after reading this in the manual, with just one input/output, and it was as they said. The only video connection I have between the receiver is S-vid, for OSD only. I have no video looped to my receiver.

 

[Hal_J]

otis - you might get more clarity in the responses if you tell us exactly which model tv and reciever you are talking about. quite often other people have identical set-ups and can help, and other times they will have extra information to solve problems you havent yet encountered...

just my 2 cents.