Satellite TV and surround sound (1 Viewer)

[JohnDC]

My systems consists of a Toshiba 36af41 television, a Home theater in a box Kenwood DVT-505, an older Sharp hi fi vcr 125 station preset, a Toshiba SD-2300 DVD player.
My thoughts are to purchase Direct TV and install their equipment. Do I have to get special decoders/recievers to properly recieve the Dolby Digital surround that I am looking for. And do I need a upgrade for my vcr. I do have a optical input on my Kenwood, however the satellite signal still has to pass through my vcr. Any suggestions?
Also, it it possible in some fashion to put a powered sub-woofer on my current home theater system, right now it has a passive sub that connects to the receiver with just ordinary speaker hook ups.
Any help would be great, have a good one!
Edited by Administrator to reduce type size.

 

[JohnDC]

Sorry about the text size!!

 

[Rob Dawn]

In order to watch Direct TV in Dolby Digital you will need to make sure you buy a satelite receiver that does Dolby Digital - the "regular" ones won't.

Make sure the one you buy has a digital optical output since that's what you have on your Kenwood receiver.

As far as the VCR goes, you won't be able to record the Dolby Digital sound. You'll have to run a set of analog audio cables from the sat rec to the VCR and you'll just get Dolby Surround. Most (if not all) satelite receivers have 2 sets of audio and video outputs so you can run one set to the Kenwood and one to the VCR - that's how I've got mine set up.

Good luck,

Rob

 

[Michael Reuben]

Sorry about the text size!!

Well, you're still doing it. I suggest leaving the default font.

M.

 

[Mark_E_Smith]

If you are getting DTV you might want to consider a Direct TiVo as they have DD in an optical out and if you are new to DTV you can get a setup for under $100 if not you can get the receiver for $99 one heck of a deal!