Hookup video to A/V Receiver or TV? (1 Viewer)

[RaymondK]

I just want to know people's experience with hooking up your video components through an A/V receiver rather than straight to your TV. Is there any picture loss by doing this?

Thanks,

RK

 

[Chris Demaree]

It's my understanding that there isn't any noticeable loss of quality when routing the video signal through a receiver. I didn't route the video through my receiver simply because my TV has enough inputs and I have a mix of component, s-video and composite. Since my receiver doesn't 'switch' different video signal formats and aggregate them to one, single output type; using the TV's inputs made more sense to me.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Why video inputs/outputs on a receiver?
Why?
Basically, there are three major reasons to make use of the video inputs/outputs on the back of a receiver...
1- To make use of the onscreen display function so that when the receiver's remote button is pressed, that function e.g. "mute" is shown on the display device's screen.
2- To provide more video inputs. This is particularly useful these days with so many display devices being available. For example, if you have a TV that only has 2 video inputs, what do you do if you have a DVD player, a VCR, a game console, a satellite setup, a laserdisc player etc etc. How do you hook all of these devices up to a TV that only has 2 inputs available???
3- Increased convenience of video switching along with audio mode switching. The receiver acts as a control center, handling all the routing for you.
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How to connect?
There are various types of video-switching receivers available. The most common ones are able to switch composite video. Some others are able to switch both composite and s-video, and a few are able to switch component video as well. What you need to do is connect your TV/display device to the receiver's video output using the composite video connection, the s-video connection if available on the receiver, and the component connection if available on the receiver. Then you basically connect all of your video devices to their respective locations on receiver's video inputs. So now, if you want to watch the game console (s-video for example) on the bigscreen, you simply switch the TV to the s-video setting and there it is. To watch the DVD (component for example), you switch the TV to the component setting, etc.

 

[Michael Reuben]

An added note to Neil's post: It's copied from A Primer for Home Theater Newcomers, which appears right at the top of this forum. It's always worth checking this resource. It was designed to answer questions that are frequently asked here, such as this one.
M.

 

[Marc Rochkind]

I agree with what has been said, but I think it should be emphasized that using the highest-quality connection between the source (e.g., DVD player) and the TV takes precedence over going through the receiver. Specifically, if the DVD player and the TV both have component video but the receiver does not, then one should use component video and bypass the receiver. As Neil said, you should also connect whatever video outs the receiver does have to the TV.

 

[Troy Swope]

i will throw my .02 in as well. using the receiver for all connections is nice too if the equipment is in a remote location (like a closet that isnt close to the video display device) mine is in a hallway closet, all of my componets are there too, so each video cable (either s video or component) doesn't have to be that long. I have one long run of svideo from the receiver to the tv.

 

[RaymondK]

I did read through the primer and I read Neil's post on it. I also did a search through the message board on this subject before I put up this post. If you read my post again, it asks for "people's experience" on this subject.

I guess there is such thing as a dumb question to some people here. I would like to thank the people who read my post correctly and gave a sincere answer.

RK

 

[Jack Briggs]

No "dumb" questions, Raymond. Everybody chiming in here is trying to be helpful.

Practically speaking, some signal degradation has been noticed by some people when using the receiver's (pre-pro's) video switching--especially when it comes to wideband component video.

It's always best to connect directly to the display device.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I guess there is such thing as a dumb question to some people here. I would like to thank the people who read my post correctly and gave a sincere answer.

Sorry, but there was no way to tell from your post that you'd already read the primer. Perhaps if you'd mentioned that you'd done so but wanted reports on specific practical applications, it would have helped more of us to help you in the way you wanted.

I've found that receivers and processors vary widely in the quality of their video circuitry. On some, I couldn't see any degradation; on others it was instantly noticeable. In general, I've seen more degradation from composite connections than from S-video, but that may just reflect the strengths and weaknesses of particular equipment. For component connections, I have never used anything but a direct path to the monitor.

M.

 

[Mike Matheson]

Raymond,

I recently switched preamps from a Lexicon DC-1 to a Theta Casablanca II. My video inputs look BETTER going through the Theta than either through the DC-1 or even straight to the display. Don't know why, but even friends notice the difference as soon as they walk in the room.

I.E., in terms of signal degradation by going through a preamp, your mileage may vary.

Mike

 

[RaymondK]

I was kind of in a hurry when I posted and failed to put in that I checked everything. I got plenty of info from all that. I just wanted to know how it has worked for other people here.

Thanks again everybody, I have a good idea on what I am going to do now.

RK

 

[JasonDG]

My $0.02:

Here's my setup. I'm an infant in the world of HT, but this site has helped me learn fast. I have a modest audio system. I just bought the Kenwood HTB-504 that seemed to be the only HTiB recommended in here. So far I am pleased. At the time I only had a 27" trinitron with composite inputs.

My wife and I recently brought home a 50" Mitsubishi HDTV ready beauty that we are "babysitting" for her parents while they go RVing for a year or so. I haven't even gotten to watch a DVD on it yet.

But, back to your topic (finally), now I have the ability to upgrade my video connections. Since I care mostly about DVDs, I just bought some nice (I hope) comopnent video cables to connect directly to the new TV. Then, I'm going to use s-video for my satellite and PS2 running through my receiver. Then one s-video out from the receiver to the TV. Then I also have jsut a simple RF connection from the satellite thru a VCR to the TV.

This way, I will select DVD on the TV and the receiver to watch those with the best quality possible. Then I can switch the TV to the S-vid input and then switch the receiver for sat or PS2. The RF connection is so I can watch TV and not have to use the surround sound. It just uses the TV speakers and I can keep the volume really low. Plus I don't give a crap about VHS quality. So the RF will suffice.

I probably could have said all that in about 1/3 the words, but oh well.

 

[RaymondK]

Thanks Jason, that pretty much looks like how I'm going to set mine up. I already have a Sony 51" widescreen HDTV ready, a Sony DVD and a Sony VCR. Plus I'll be getting DirectTV next week. I'm just waiting for my receiver I ordered. It's a Sony HT-DDW840. I should have it this week. It's a brand new model.

Thanks again everybody,

RK

 

[GregY]

Raymond, I had the same experience when I set up my HT around the first of the year.

I decided to go with the component video directly from the DVD to the TV. I have a Sony Wega 450XBR that has 6 video inputs. I hooked up the VCR (composite) to the video #1 inputs and the digital cable box (s-video) to the video #2.

The only reason I see using the receiver as a switching hub is because of ease of use. You want to watch and hear DVD, you switch the receiver to DVD. You want to watch and hear TV, you switch to TV. This helps people like my wife understand how to switch between sources. Otherwise they get confused and don't watch anything.

The problem with this is that receivers (most that I know of) can't switch between multiple sources (composite, S-video, or component).

I fixed this by getting a good remote control. Macro button #1 turns on everything and sets it up so that the receiver is on the correct audio source and the TV is on the correct video source. Macro #3 sets the receiver to the DVD audio source and the TV to the correct video source. Macro #2 sets the TV to regular CAB/SAT mode. That way if my wife pushes something and can't get the video and audio synced up, she can just push Macro #2 and everything is set for her to watch the Cable box.

Hope that helps.