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got2eyes

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Can someone tell me the downside to this connection?
Coaxial cable from wall outlet to Dvr
Dvr to tv via hdmi
Blu Ray to tv via hdmi
A/V reciever to tv via hdmi arc to hdmi arc on tv
 

Jason Charlton

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The downside is that it may not preserve digital 5.1 audio from those external sources when the audio stream is passed out via the TVs ARC input. It also may not output any external sources via the ARC input.

I say "may" because while the theory of ARC is that it will do exactly what you are describing that you want it to do, the reality is that every electronics manufacturer has implemented ARC slightly differently and there are no guarantees that you'll get the results you want.

It's worth a try - and you may have headaches - particularly if your various devices are all from different manufacturers, but I wouldn't keep my fingers crossed that all will be sunshine and lollipops.

The safest thing to do (meaning it's guaranteed to provide the best possible audio for all your sources) is to run HDMI from source to receiver and then HDMI from receiver to TV.
 

got2eyes

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Or can you give me a very detailed how to connect option....I am a novice here and I am not sure how to make the best setup
 

Jason Charlton

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"Source" refers to any device that "creates an image and/or sound". So your DVR is one source, your Blu-ray is another source. A gaming system would be an example of yet another source, as would an iPod, CD player, or VCR.

When you have multiple sources in a system, you need something that can switch the audio and/or video signals depending on what you want to watch/listen to. TVs really aren't designed to do that with any sophistication (and once you start including digital surround sound, things are already too sophisticated for TVs).

AVRs (audio/video receivers) are designed to serve as the "hub" to a system with multiple sources. Therefore, it's most important to have lots of inputs on the receiver, rather than the TV.

The ideal way to connect your devices is to run HDMI cables from your DVR and Bu-ray outputs to available inputs on the receiver. Then you connect one more HDMI cable from the output on the receiver to an input on the TV.

With this setup, you leave the TV set to the HDMI input, and disable the TVs speakers altogether (they're lousy anyway, which is why you got a surround system, right?). You only use the TV as a monitor - that is, you only turn it on/off. When you select the input you want on the receiver (DVR or Blu-ray) the audio and video are both switched and you get the picture on the TV and the sound from the good speakers connected to your receiver.

Can you provide the model number of the receiver you have? If there are any tricky parts to the setup, I can check the manual online and help with the configuration.
 

schan1269

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To put it a tad simpler, and so if you hear two people telling you, you'll believe it...
Your TV(and this is all TV and I explained this 6 times yesterday................................) dumbs the incoming signal down to 2.0 when it leaves the TV. The only 5.1 is off its own internal tuner, period.
Read your TV's owners manual and it will explain that to you. The same section where it shows the toslink/ARC set-up.
 

Jason Charlton

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OK, cool, thanks for the model number.

That receiver has another nice and convenient feature - standby passthrough of HDMI. What that means is that even when the receiver is turned off, you can still listen to sources with the TVs speakers and switch inputs using the receiver's remote control.

Page 72 of the manual describes how to set this up. Most of us just listen using our receiver and speakers all the time, but it's nice to know that you have this option if you decide you want to make use of it.
 

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