Help a dummie (1 Viewer)

[technodummie]

Hi all,

Brand newbie here -- let me apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge. I'd appreciate any assistance in as non-technical jargon as you can muster.

I have a Philips 47PFL3603D/F7 HDTV hooked up to a Motorola Comcast HD DVR cable box with an HDMI cable. I got a new HTIB system, a Panasonic SCPT960, also hooked up via an HDMI cable. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to get the TV to play through the surround sound system. Again, any help would be appreciated.

On another note, the DVDs played through the system don't have a great picture no matter what setting I use. Is there something I need to do to make the picture better?

Thanks!

 

[LewB]

Hi !
When you say the HTIB is connected Via HDMI, to what is it connected, the TV ? If so, that's your problem.
You need to feed cable box output to the HTIB. Either via HDMI or component video and digital audio (optical or coax). I am not familiar with your HTIB so I don't know what the best way to make the connection would be.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Since you have an HD cable box, you will want to get Dolby Digital from your HD stations. To do this, you must have the following connections:

Cable Box -> HDMI -> TV
Cable Box -> Optical cable -> HTiB

Unforunately, your HTiB does not have an HDMI in for your cable box. So you have to split the duties; HDMI straight to the TV for video and digital optical to the HTiB for audio. So get an optical cable (don't spend more than $10-20, it's not worth any more) and make the connection from the box to the HTiB.

Now, tune your HTiB to the Digital Audio input (see pg. 30 in your manual) and your TV to the HDMI input from the cable box, turn your volume off (or all the way down) on the TV, and enjoy. Note that you will only get DD from HD (and maybe some digital cable) programs, regular analog will be in Dolby Pro-Logic or simple stereo.

 

[technodummie]

Thank you for the information. Jeff, I don't think my TV has an optical cable slot. It does have a digital cable slot, but the panasonic home theater system does not have a digital cable slot (port? I'm not sure of the correct term). Is there something I can do to work around this?

 

[technodummie]

Sorry Jeff,

I just reread your reply. I did try an optical cable from the cable box to the HTIB yesterday, but still no sound from the TV. Do I need to do soemthing else?

 

[Robert_J]

You may need to turn on the optical output of your cable box via the menu system. Optical may only work with digital channels. There are dozens of reasons why it won't work but without the make/model of your cable box we are just guessing.

-Robert

 

[technodummie]

Okay -- I have the optical cable running from the cable box to the HTIB. I followed the directions on page 30 of my manual and (I think) tuned my HTIB to the digital audio input and went to the menu on my cable box and turned on dolby digital (I think). Still no sound. My cable box is a Motorola HD dual tuner DVR DCH3416. Any chance I can get a little more help? Thanks