Question about Composite Cable Routing (1 Viewer)

[Todd K]

Ok, I am trying to set up the cables for my home theater system, and am debating which types of cable to buy.

I am trying to decide how to hook up a VCR, TV, and Receiver.

Option 1 is to have the audio from the VCR go directly to the receiver, and the video directly to the TV. If I wanted to hear amplified sound from TV programs, I would use the VCR as a tuner.

Option 2 is to route both the audio and video to the receiver, then just the video to the television. Again, the VCR would be used as the tuner here.

Option 3 is to send the both the audio and video to the TV, then use the TV's audio outputs back to the receiver. Both TV sound and VCR sound would be routed through the TV before going to the receiver. Both the TV and the VCR could act as tuners.

I would like to lean towards option 3, except I am leery of the VCR's sound being sent through the TV first. Should I even worry about quality loss? Will the potential for any sound effects capabilities from the VCR be lost if it goes through the TV first?

 

[Allan Jayne]

Quality wise in general, best choice is 1, next comes 2.
Use 1 if you have enough video jacks on the TV for all your program sources, DVD, VCR, etc.
If the TV doesn't have enough video inputs you will have to use 2. It is still not possible to do all your switchintg at the receiver because the component or S-video input needed for DVD is a different selection at the TV versus the composite input used by the VCR. Most likely any video quality loss will be unnoticeable but it depends on the quality of the cables as well as the quality of the receiver video circuits.
Use 3 if you want to sometimes not bother turning on the receiver, letting the TV play the audio. There will be some audio quality loss, it might not be noticeable, it would depend on the quality of the TV audio.
Other video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm