Connection Componets to AVR or TV - Pros/Cons/Suggestions? (1 Viewer)

[Jason Goodmanson]

Long time member from back in the DIVX, Weekly Round-Up Days where Target, Circuit City, Best Buy and Amazon were featured - oh and we fought to keep widescreen DVDs and dealt with little red dots at our movies (remember theaters?)

Anyways . . . question. I'm going to post it in the newbie section but I'm not really a newbie.

Trying to figure out for my particular set-up - would it be better to hook my components up directly to my receiver or my TV?

My current - today - setup - everything is routed through my receiver - a Denon AVR-S920W that was purchased back in the fall of 2016. It has served me well and isn't something that I'm looking to replace anytime soon (unless I have to, and even it wouldn't be until much later in the year). My current TV - an LG 60PA6500 plasma (I don't recall when it was purchased, but it was brand new) - has served me well but is being replaced which is why I'm posting this.

My current video sources are:

• An old Sony Blu-ray player (that is being replaced along with the tv)
• AppleTV 4k
• Xbox One X
• And rarities upon rarities - I have two Pioneer LaserDisc players floating around that I haven't connected in about six years

Right now, everything is connected to the receiver and passed to the TV using one HDMI cable. The AppleTv will throw an Atmos signal (at least according to the display when using Disney+ that has Atmos) and I'm not really sure what the Blu-ray is doing - Atmos never lights up.

My new setup will be this:

• Denon AVR-S920W (current)
  • 7.2 Atmos speaker setup using all Pioneer Andrew Jones speakers
• Vizio P75QN-H1
• Sony UBP-X700 Blu-ray player
• AppleTV 4k
• Xbox One X
• And maybe one of those LD players

The whole world of 4k and HDR and Dolby Vision is what confuses me. Because of all of these new video formats, I have zero idea if I can continue to hook up everything through the receive and then to the TV - will it pass those video formats? But as an alternative, with the TV pass the right audio if I sent the audio from the TV to the receiver? I'm also worried about the new calibrations I have to do - Vision, HDR 10, HDR10+, HLG, SDR . . .

So any help or suggestions appreciated. Thank you everyone!!

Jason

 

[Dave Upton]

Hi Jason,

The Denon AVR-S920W does support Atmos, so you're in pretty good share. First things first, I recommend a firmware update for your Denon, since this often fixes some annoying bugs.

Press “SETUP” and select “GENERAL” and then select “FIRMWARE” followed by “UPDATE” and finally, select “CHECK FOR UPDATE”

At that point, you should be all set. The receiver will pass HDR/Atmos on its own provided a source is set to bitstream. You'll likely need to turn off a feature called BD Mix in the audio settings on the Sony to get it to properly bitstream atmos.

The AppleTV 4K and XBox One X will auto-detect an HDR compatible chain, but if it doesn't you may need to replace the HDMI cables with proper HDR compatible ones. BlueJeansCable is always my recommendation for cabling.

 

[Jason Goodmanson]

Thanks Dave!

The Denon is hooked up to to my home network and all of the firmware has been updated whenever it told me to update. And Atmos (plus DTS-X) was updated quite awhile back. I know Atmos "works" because on Disney+ the display will show Atmos.

I just wasn't sure if the receiver would pass through all the HDR/Vision stuff.

My new TV will be here on Wednesday, the new Blu-ray tomorrow along with some new HDMI cables (some highly rated brand from Amazon but I'll definitely remember Blue Jeans (I actually remember then from waaaaaaay back when here on HTF but haven't thought about them for years) because I at least knew about needing a higher bitrate cable for all of the 4k stuff.

I think this will be last TV purchase until we move into our own place and get a dedicated space with probably a short throw projector. Just wanting things to look and sound their best (whereas my wife wouldn't notice Atmos speakers firing correctly . . . not a knock on her, it's just not her thing.)

Thanks again. I'll just keep everything mostly the way it is today except new cables and double-checking settings.