Hookup advice needed (1 Viewer)

[Jim517]

How do you suggest I hook up the components below. I use a 2.1 speaker system.

1) Sony X900H TV
2) Sony X700 4k blu-ray player
3) Toshiba HD-A2 player(1080p)
4) Denon S750H receiver
5) OTA antenna

1) Run HDMI cable from each player to receiver, the 1 HDMI cable to TV

2) Run HDMI cable from each player to TV, then HDMI cable from Earc on TV to Earc on receiver

3) I want to be able to listen to antenna programming thru the receiver

Thanks for any advice.

 

[JohnRice]

Definitely #1. The receiver is the switching center of the system, not the TV.

To get audio from OTA back to the receiver, you can use the ARC feature with the correct hdmi input on the TV. You can alternatively use an optical cable from the TV to the receiver.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks John. As far as the sound from OTA antenna, would the ARC feature be the preferred way, instead of the optical cable ?

 

[JohnRice]

ARC can have some benefits when using the TV’s internal apps. With OTA it makes no difference. Sometimes ARC can be glitchy.

 

[JohnRice]

Just to clarify, eARC can pass HD audio and Atmos from the apps in the TV. Optical can't. The thing is, can any of the apps send Atmos (no streaming has HD audio) and do you use them? I got rid of cable over 15 years ago and have been using the TV OTA tuner since then for TV. At that time, there was no ARC, so I've always used an optical cable. I never felt like dealing with ARC and have simply continued using optical, since nothing is lost with OTA broadcasts.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. The Earc feature isn't even active yet in the X900H until they release the firmware upgrade. I guess I should just hook it up the way my current TV is. It's 10 years old and doesn't have ARC, so I use an optical cable from TV to receiver for audio for OTA programming.

 

[Jim517]

If I use Earc from TV to receiver for the OTA antenna and TV's internal apps, the receiver has to always be powered on to hear the audio ? Because sometimes if we're just watching the news, etc. we just use TV's speakers.

 

[JohnRice]

You should be able to use the TV speakers with either connection setup. If the optical cable works, you might just as well stick with that.

 

[Jim517]

I'm using optical with my current TV because it doesn't have ARC. My Sony X900H will be here next week, so I want to get the hookup figured out in the meantime.

My current TV is not a smart TV, so I've been streaming Netflix thru my Sony blu-ray player. With the 900H, I want to use the TV's apps.

 

[JohnRice]

Netflix has a lot of Atmos content, so if the TV’s app can pass Atmos, you’ll benefit from eARC.

 

[Jim517]

I wonder which method would be easier for my wife or the average person to use ? Switch with the receiver or the TV ?

 

[Todd Erwin]

I wonder which method would be easier for my wife or the average person to use ? Switch with the receiver or the TV ?

Universal remote.

 

[Jim517]

Universal remote has nothing to do with the hookup though.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Universal remote has nothing to do with the hookup though.

No, but it would eliminate the need to use the TV's speakers when watching TV. An inexpensive Harmony remote (check out the Harmony 665) will make it very simple for your wife to use the system. All she needs to do it press the button labeled "Watch TV", and everything switches properly for watching OTA TV. Then pressing "Watch a Movie" switches everything to your 4K disc player, etc. Pressing "System Off" shuts everything off.

 

[Jim517]

Ok. Thanks.