Urgent question about Cd player and Playstation 2 (1 Viewer)

[JamesMartin]

Hey guys, I am really new to home theater and I am very excited to get it set up and running last night, I am sooooo sleepy today

Anyway, the following is what I hooked up:
-Onkyo TX-DS595
-Onkyo DX-C380 to digital optical input 2
-Sony PlayStation 2 to digital optical input 1 with the video cabel going to DVD analog input
-Cable box going to Video input 3
-Sony N51 VCR going to Video input 1 and then from Video output 1 back to VCR
-Also have Klipsch Quintet Surrounds, Center and KSW-10 if you are wondering.
Now for my question. Everything works fine except I find that I cannot listen to music from my cd player and play my playstation 2 at the same time. I haven't really messed around with it much cause I got tired at about 3:00am for so and went to bed. I have two possible solutions so let me know if these will work and which one will be the best.
-Run the CD analog wires to the DVD analog input and also the CD optical to the CD optical input. That way if I just wanna listen to the CD I can switch the input to digital but if I wanna play playstation and listen to music I can switch it to analog. Right now it is set on Auto.
-If I wanted to listen to CD and play playstation I could also switch the digital input on the DVD from Optical 1 to Optical 2 and it would pick up the CD input for the audio and the Playstation (DVD) input for the video.
Will either of these work? Let me know what you think cause I cannot wait to get home to find out.
Thanks in advance
JamesMartin

 

[John Coleman]

James,
I work for a premium audio and video cable company, Cobalt Cable, and I will take a stab at your question. From what you wrote, I don't see why either option wouldn't work. However, if I had to choose, I would pick your option #1. This is simply because I like to keep everything as simple and intuitive as possible.
On my equipment anyway, option two would require more button pressing, so to me, option 1 would be simpler. Also, the cabling makes sense to me because you are running a primary cable (ps2 optical) and a secondary cable (cd analog stereo) to your DVD input. I see this as making sense because the primary audio on your DVD input would be the ps2's optical out, and your secondary audio on your DVD input is the analog audio out from your CD player.
Another option you may have, I am not familiar with your exact equipment so I can't say for sure, is the ability to chose one input for audio and one input for video during playback. For example, on a Sony ES receiver that I have, I can independently select my audio and video sources. So, I can select DVD for video and CD for audio. This feature does exactly what you are trying to do, but I am not certain your equipment has this option (your owner's manual will tell you for sure).
Anyway, the bottom line is that I think both of your options will work, and it is up to you to decide which one makes the most sense for what you are trying to accomplish. If you have any further questions about cabling or connections, please feel free to e-mail me privately.
------------------
John Coleman
Cobalt Cable
[email protected]

 

[JamesMartin]

John, thanks alot for responding and helping me out. I will try both ways tonight and see which one is better but before I do that I will read my manual and see what it says about what you suggested. I haven't had a chance to throughly read it (it is like 47 or so pages).
I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.
JamesMartin