Hooking up home theater question (1 Viewer)

[KaseyB]

I currently have a 55" philips widescreen tv with diretv/tivo unit connected via component cable. I am looking to add a home theater system which included a dvd receiver combo unit with the 5 speakers and subwoofer. Do I connect the directv/tivo unit to the dvd receiver or just to the tv still, please explain how this works. Also in the future I am looking to buy a hdtv/tivo/directv unit when they come out and would like to hook up to receive then, if I buy a home theater system now will I be able to use it when I get the hdtv capabilities working? Does the dvd/receiver I buy now have to have hookup for hdtv? I am new to all this, hope I've explained myself, please help..thank you, Kasey

 

[ChrisWiggles]

If your TV has more than one component input that is capable of hi-def, then you can connect multiple sources to yout TV, and switch between them using the TV remote. If your receiver is capable of passing HDTV signals through component switching (I'm thinking if you're going with a HTIB which is what it sounds like, that it may NOT have component switching, or it will be of low quality/low bandwidth, and wont pass hi-def signals without some degradation), then you can connect your other sources (tivo) through your receiever, and use that to do video switcing.

 

[Lew Crippen]

You can leave the component connections exactly as they are—from the DirecTV receiver/Tivo unit to the TV via the component connections. This takes care of the video.

For the audio, run the optical cable from the DirectTV receiver to your DVD/receiver unit. If the DVD player does not have an optical input, you will not be able to get 5.1 sound from TV telecasts.

 

[KaseyB]

Thanks for the help...but for example, if I have the video in for the tivo/directv hooked up to audio visual channel 1 and the dvd/receiver video in and audio in hooked up to audio visual channel 2, if the audio is only hooked up to the second channel wont I not be able to get sound on av channel 1? does that make snese?

 

[Lew Crippen]

There is no need to connect any audio to your TV. The audio from you DVD player (in this combo setup) goes directly to your speakers. No need to go to the TV. Same with the audio output from the DirectTV box. It goes to the receiver input and the receiver powers the speakers.

The only reason to run audio to your TV, is if you want to use the TV speakers. If you also want to do this, your DirecTV box has multiple audio outputs, including two that are for the R/L RCA jacks. Those can be run to your TV (AV1) and the optical cable to your receiver.

I don’t know why you would want to run an audio output from your receiver to your TV, but it is certainly possible (and this in your case would be for AV2). But remember these connections are to power the TV speakers. And if you have invested in a 5.1 sound system, you will probably want to use those speakers.

There is no particular need for your receiver to handle video, but many of them do (especially the ones that cost a bit more than the entry level receivers).