New at this, optimum set up? (1 Viewer)

[gembob]

I'm new at this and so I would like to run the set up I currently have by people more knowledgable than myself and see if I have it set up optimally. The cable for tv comes into the Comcast Set Top Box, a DCT700. I used the composite output (The only output aside from the coaxial cable I believe) to connect the box to my AV receiver - the Onkyo HT-S5100 HTIB package. I connected the receiver to the television via a composite video cable to the tv input - it's an older model tv, so there are only composite, component, and s-video inputs, no HDMI - from my understanding, if I have the television signal coming into the receiver with composite cables, an s-video cable from the receiver to the tv would not work? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I have an Xbox 360 as a DVD player, the model w/o HDMI. The Xbox does have component and composite outputs as well as an optical hook up. So I connected the optical cable to the receiver and since I don't yet have another set of component cables (to run from the receiver to the tv), I connected the composite cables from the Xbox (it has both sets) to the receiver and this is also fed to the tv via the composite video cable. Would I be able to use standard composite cables (red, white and yellow) to connect the component out from my receiver to the tv, or do I need special component cables?

I just got things set up this afternoon and haven't had much of a chance to play with anything. The DVD's I play through the Xbox sound good and use all the speakers, but the cable show's I've watched so far only use the center channel speaker and the front left and right. Is this because of my old tv? Is it because the shows I was watching weren't being broadcast in Dolby Digital surround or whatever? Any help on how to problem solve this is appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[gene c]

Have you tried calibrating the speaker volumes yet? If not, see page 42. This is by far the most common problem reported around here.