Set-up Questions (am I doing it right?) (1 Viewer)

[DavidLC]

After a few half hearted attempts I am now trying to put together a decent home theater system but find that I am a bit overwhelmed and need help with a few things.

System consists of the following:
Amp = Yamaha RX-V620
DVD = Panasonic RP-56 (progressive scan)
TV = Hitachi 32” Ultravision HDTV
Cable = Cox Digital cable box
Speakers:
Main = Definitive Technology SM450’s
Center = Definitive Technology C/L/R/ 2000 (bi-wired)
Surrounds = Bose Acoustimass 5 Series ll. (Will upgrade to Def. Tech. BP2X after woofer purchase)
Woofer = Looking for recommendations (wife says it must be a box – considering Def Tech Super Cube 1 – but the new SVS box @ $600 has caught my attention.

Setup:
DVD connected to amp via optical cable
Amp connected to HDTV via component out
Cable box connected to HDTV directly
Calibrated TV and Speakers using Sound & Vision “Home Theater Tune-Up”
Used a Radio Shack SLM to calibrate speaker sound levels

Problems:
A) After hooking everything up I am not able to get the receiver to produce sound in the DTS setting. (works fine when set to automatic but defaults to Dolby) Not sure this is a big deal – but if I were missing a major benefit by not having DTS then I would want to fix this.

B) How would I hook up my cable box to run through the amp and then back to the TV? I would really like to use the center channel speaker with the TV.

C) Should I be able to set the system up once and leave it alone for both movies and CD’s? (When I play movies I seem to have to reset the speaker setting and center volume to get the best sound for each movie. When I play CD’s go through a similar drill.

Thanks for reading this. Any help would be very much appreciated – as I said before, I am new to this but determined to do it right. Besides, it’s a lot of fun (just with the budget would allow me to purchase everything at once).

 

[JeremyFr]

What kind of Cable box do you have?? if you have a Digital set top box then you would need to connect the video composite output and the analog L/R audio out to the reciever preferably to a source like TV or DBS. When you do this you'll need to make sure you've got a composite (RCA) cable running from the composite monitor out on the reciever to the same Video in on the TV as your component cables are hooked to (probably video 1) this way the reciever will automatically switch between composite & component going to the TV and you just use your TV as a monitor.

 

[DavidLC]

Jeremy - Thanks for the fast reply. I'll try your suggestions. Box is a Motorola Digital box cannot find a model number) Front panel has "interactive Digital Communications" and "Dolby Digital" printed on it.

 

[DavidLC]

Jeremy -
Just looked at the picture of your system (Nice). We have the same cable box !!! Can't wait to implement your suggestions.

 

[Bill Kane]

David,

jeremy assumes yr cable box doesnt support DD5.1 in suggesting runing composite audio/video cable from the converter to the receiver.

Be aware there are TWO configurations for the Motorol DCT-2000, depending on what CoxCable is sending you: an occasional DD5.1 stream, or standard stereo only.

Sure the box says Dolby Digital on the faceplate BUT Cox may not be sending it (like my town's AT&T Broadband). The way to tell is looking on the Motorola rear panel to see if the SPDIF (coax audio output) and the S-Video ports are blocked (like mine).

If they are blocked, there are two things: (1)You must use composite (red/white audio and video yellow outputs) OR (2)Cox may actually provide an upgraded box for 5.1 (you have to ask the cable company but chances are they dont. Still things may change later in their feed; they will want to compete with DirectTV.

Take a look if you haven't for admin Bob McElfresh's post in a nearby thread in this Basics Forum for more step-by-step hookup advice.

bill

 

[JeremyFr]

The reason I assume this is most cable companys only provide the standard box unless the customer requests the upgraded DCT 2000 which in this case yes use the optical audio out and S-Video out. I have the upgraded box and I like it but not all companys/areas have it yet. Sorry bout that.

 

[DavidLC]

Jeremy and Bill – thanks for the help.
Took a picture of the back of the box but don't seem to be able to past it to the board.
The back of the cable box has the following in and output labels.
S-Vid
High speed data
Out of band data
Aux audio in (right and left)
SPDIF (????)
Aux Audio out (right and left)
Video out

Most are not clearly marked. I assume the s-vid is for s-video out. Aux. Audio in and out is easy to understand. Video out is understood.
Guess I could go with S-Video and Audio L&R out then connect to the D-TV/CBL receiver inputs?

Thanks again !!!

 

[JeremyFr]

Ok you want to use S-Video out and the SPDIF so you can get actual dolby digital sound off the box, though it will only be 5.1 on the premium channels like HBO/Showtime depending ont he movie, you'll need to call COX to find out

 

[GregLee]

If your receiver has a center pre-amp output, you can connect that to your TV's audio input, if you want. I wouldn't bother, though. I did this, and I experiment with it from time to time, but adding the TV sound has never helped. Usually it sounds worse.

 

[DavidLC]

Great - looks like I'M getting closer.
Can you tell me what SPDIF means? I assume that it is an audio hook-up? I dont see anything on the back of the receiver that would inidcate where to connect the SPDIF output cable to.
You folks have been a great help - Thanks for sticking with me on this !!!

 

[JeremyFr]

SPDIF=Sony Phillips Digital Interface which just means it meets the standards set forth by Sony and Philips for the digital audio interface. This should be hooked up to your coaxial digital input on the back of your reciever though you should also have an optical out on the far right of the back of the box you can use as well.

 

[Bill Kane]

David,

The Motorola DCT2000 SPDIF output (mine is blanked off) is located next to the top two red/white RCA jack points. My cable converter box does not have an optical output.

If you have an open SPDIF, you would use a digital coax cable to connect to the rcvr's CBL/TV digital coax input, as Jeremy notes. This cable is the same type of RCA-plug cable used for a DVD player's audio out.

One wud be RadioShack’s orange-cable Part 42-2680 or 6-ft @$14.99 (3-ft=$10.99).

bill

 

[Iver]

I ran into the same problem of missing DTS output with a Panasonic DVD player, but a different model (RV30).

The default on the RV30 is to have no DTS output, and the RP56 may be the same.

On the RV30, you get to the player setup menu by removing any disc from the tray, so you have the DVD logo on your TV screen, pressing "Action" button on remote, then choosing item #7, Digital Audio Output. This brings you to a menu where you choose the DTS option and then keep pressing enter until you get back to the DVD logo.

 

[DavidLC]

Bill / Jeremy
Thanks for the help, think we have the cable box sound dilemma solved.

Iver –
My menu set-up is a bit different. Audio menu is set per the following

PSM Down Conversion = Off
Dolby Digital = Bitstream ON
DTS Digital Surround = Bitstream ON
D Range Compression = Off
Audio During Search = ON

Still no sound when I set the receiver to DTS. Works fine on Dolby Pro-logic. Thanks for the suggestions – I’ll keep experimenting.


Again – thanks to everyone for helping out,
Dave

 

[Bill Kane]

Bill / Jeremy
Thanks for the help, think we have the cable box sound dilemma solved.

So tell us what worked...