Hookup questions (1 Viewer)

[RichN]

Hi all, I just joined yesterday, and this is my first post, so I hope I am in the right section. I just bought a Sony 36XBR450 and I want to connect the audio to my Kenwood VR-509 receiver. I plan on running all my video through the TV, so I just need the audio from the TV to get to the receiver. I plan on connecting it to the Video1 Play In inputs because the book says to use digital audio for Video2 and Video3. My question is: Should I use the "Monitor out" audio or the "Audio output" and should it be fixed or variable from the TV? I am guessing that fixed would let me control the volumn from the receiver rather than from the TV and variable would be controlled by the TV. Am I right?
And as long as I'm here. I have a DVD player with 5.1 outputs that I am going to connect to the DVD/6ch inputs of the receiver. BUT, suppose I want to play a DVD that was not recorded with 5.1 (maybe it's DSP or DTS). Do I also need to connect an optical or coaxial cable to the CD/DVD input and use that setting for non-5.1 DVDs?
Thanks for putting up with my "connective ignorance", but I've never delt with DVDs or 5.1 hookups before.
RichN

 

[Dave Reichert]

As for the TV sound, I don't think it would make a difference between Monitor Out and the other one.

For the DVD sound, just run a single optical or coaxial cable from the DVD player to the receiver. I've found that this is usually easier than letting the DVD player do the decoding.

 

[Jason Wolters]

Rich,

I have the Kenwood VR 507 and I think it is the same.

You can do this a couple of diffferent ways. The most popular way is as follows.

Hook the video and digital audio out on the DVD player to the video IN and digital IN on the DVD 6 Channel. Take the audio and video out on the TV, VCR (etc.) and run them to the seperate inputs on the Kenwood. Run the red, *yellow and white cables from the output of each device (tv,vcr) to the inputs (match the colors) on the Kenwood. For TV run it to Video 1. For VCR run it to Video 2. For DVD run it to DVD 6 Channel. You will not need to run anything but a digital audio and a vidoe cable to the DVD 6 channel. Now, with that said if you ever want to play analog sources in your DVD player like a CD you will also need to have the red and white cables run from the output on the DVD player to the input on the DVD 6 channel. By the way, all DVDs will have digital output. They may not all give you 5 seperate channels but they will all be digital. DTS is just another encoding format like Dolby 5.1. They are all digital.

Now, from the Kenwood run the monitor out to the TV. You are done. Forget fixed and variable. You will now control everything from the receiver, including the volume. Simply switch the input on the receiver depending on what you are watching.

* This assumes component connection. You may have S-Video or composite.

 

[Ted Lee]

i agree with jason's method. it's easier to run everything to the receiver, then only run one video-cable to the tv. a couple of caveats:

1. signal degredation - you may want to see if you notice any loss in picture quality by running it through the receiver. chances are you won't...

2. do you always want to run the sound through the stereo?

in any case, personal preference takes precedence!

 

[Ergin Guney]

Rich,

First, to answer your questions directly...

Do I also need to connect an optical or coaxial cable to the CD/DVD input and use that setting for non-5.1 DVDs?

I seem to get the feeling from your questions that you were assuming you had to use the 6-channel analog outputs for 5.1 audio but the digital audio connection for anything with fewer channels than that. That is not the case. Once you connect your DVD player to your receiver through a single digital audio connection, your receiver can then decode any audio that your DVD can put out. This includes regular stereo DVD audio (or Dolby-Surround-encoded stereo audio), stereo CDs, and even mono sound.

Finally, a couple of notes about Jason's comments...

Jason's setup recommendations is based on a case where the video is routed through the receiver too. This is against what you say you want to do, routing all video directly to the TV. I can't blame you for preferring that. You get the least possible image degradation by letting the video signal go directly to the TV rather than being switch by the receiver. But the setup recommended by Jason is also a very popular one and makes switching between sources much simpler. (In your case, you will have to switch the source both on the TV and on the receiver separately each time you want to watch a different source. But with video switching by the receiver, only switching on the receiver is necessary.)

One sentence in Jason's posting is misleading, though: "...if you ever want to play analog sources in your DVD player like a CD you will also need to have the red and white cables run from the output on the DVD player to the input on the DVD 6 channel." A CD, of course, is not an analog source. Moreover, you don't need to make a 6-channel connection to obtain CD audio from your DVD player. One of the analog stereo audio outputs of the DVD player would do just fine, since CD's are stereo only. What's more important, however, is that you still don't need a separate analog connection for CD audio anyway, because all current home theater receivers on the market can decode PCM digital audio too, which is the format of the audio recorded on a CD. In other words, your single digital audio connection from your DVD player to your receiver will handle CDs just fine too, letting your receiver decode the digital audio of the CD played by your DVD player.

 

[Jason Wolters]

As a final comment on that question, I'd like you to understand that connecting the DVD player to your receiver through a 6-channel analog connection will mean that the DVD player will be doing the audio decoding (from a single digital bitstream to six discrete analog channels). You don't need to do that, because your receiver can do the same decoding itself.

Ergin,

You are misinformed. I have the Kenwood VR 507 which is the same as what he has. (at least connection wise) I am giving him product specific information. You MUST hook your DVD player up to the 6 Channel DVD input on the Kenwood. This is also outlined in the manual. The digital input is also grouped with this set of inputs on the back of the receiver. Please don't mislead this fellow. I know what I am talking about with this unit.

Now Rich,

As per the instruction manual, hookup the DVD player or anything else just like the manual (and I) said. There are other ways to hook up to the TV.

For example, my setup..... VCR left right and s-video are hooked to Video 2 input on the TV. DVD player s-video is hooked to Video 1 input on the TV and digital audio is hooked to the digital audio on the 6 channel input. My TV output is hooked to the video 1 input on the receiver. That is it!!!

Now, you can do which ever you choose. I like my method because the video does go straight to the TV. As far as audio is concerned use the volume control on the Kenwood, not on the TV. IOW, hooking it up either of the ways I have described you will be using the Kenwood's volume control.

 

[Ergin Guney]

Sorry, I didn't know about model-specific peculiarities. I was talking with the behavior of the typical receiver in mind.

 

[PeterOR]

Hi ...

My first post here too and it is kinda related. I know NOTHING about all this but decided I wanted a home theatre (Went the whole nine yards with theatre seats and curtains etc looks cool, I'm broke). I have SONY 53" HD and a SONY reviever 550 Watts including 50 W Sub and five 50w micro speakers with soooo many options and selections, I'm lost. The DVD player is a 5 disk Panasonic progressive scan (read up on that) and plays all cd formats and MP3. Wow am I lost for a guy with all these nice toys. Okay ... is it best to run everything through the Reciver? I have component cables (cost me like a fortune) were I could and s-video else where. Is this best? I trashed the cables more or less that came with the system, the sales guy said keep them like you would a spare tire. Can I lengthen my speaker wires by a simple "twist and tape" or do I or should I get some kind of conenctor like marretts in electrical wiring? Is there any lost quality in a spliced speaker wire? Also, I have a S-Vid form my DBS/SAT but the picture is still not great. Is it 'cause I am comparing it to my DVD?

Thanks ..

Peter

 

[Jason Wolters]

No problem. For what it's worth, the Kenwood manuals are a wreck. They are very hard to read. Anyway, select the DVD 6 channel with the D-Auto also selected. This is assuming you are using the coaxial connection. If you use the optical you will need to select CD/DVD.

 

[Ted Lee]

hi peter!
welcome to the forum. sounds like you got some nice toys...now to put them to use!
to answer your questions:
running through receiver: it's a personal preference. some like the convenience, others say it'll degrade the signal. i recommend you test and see for yourself.
cables: yes, you are using the best cables you can. in order of quality: component, s-video, composite.
speaker wire: do not splice. simple enough.
if you have specific questions, i'd recommend you post them in a new thread. you're more likely to get responses that are specific to your questions....thread-hopping sometimes doesn't work out well.

 

[RichN]

Thanks for all the suggestions. As with anything else, I guess it comes down to personal preference. As long as I don't blow anything up, I will try it each way (all connections to TV and all connections to receiver) and then let you know which I prefer. The Kenwood manual does say to connect the 5.1 output of a DVD to the 5.1 inputs on the receiver. I just wasn't sure if I needed another connection for anything else. I have a CD player/recorder, so I doubt that I will ever use the DVD for anything but movies (and DVD-audio, when I get rich and famous).

In regards to Peter's questions. I agree that you want to avoid "splice & tape" as much as possible.

RichN

 

[RichN]

I said I would post an update in regards to my message of last week (1/16).

I decided to run all my video components directly to the TV, then run the TV Audio Out (instead of Monitor Out) to the Video1 audio L & R inputs of the receiver. I set the TV audio level to "fixed" so I can control the volumn from the receiver, as well as select different "listening modes". I DID however, run the audio from the DVD directly to the 5.1 inputs of my receiver. Everything seems to work correctly and I only have to select one input on my receiver for all my video components, which is simpler than having to select four different ones on BOTH receiver and TV. The 5.1 sounds GREAT on DVD audio disks !!! The only problem I have now is my poor cable reception on some channels. That is a cable company problem however, as one channel looks great and the one next to it is snowy. Fortunately, the snowy ones are things like the Food Network, QVC channel etc, so no great loss.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

RichN

 

[Jason Wolters]

That is how I have mine, Rich. It works best fro me too. Have fun with your HT.