Video through receiver or direct to TV? (1 Viewer)

[ohmyhesgood]

I have a 60" LG plasma 3D, Comcast HD cable, Panasonic 3D blu-ray player, and I just bought a Yamaha RXV573 receiver. Is it better to use the HDMI outputs for the cable box and blu-ray player into the receiver and then back into the television, or should I plug all the video connections directly into the television and just use optical inputs on the receiver for the sound. I would think it would be better to not use the receiver as the in between and just plug directly into the television. Seems like you would lose a little bit every time you make another connection.

I hope this doesn't sound dumb but I get conflicting answers at the stores. Some tell me there's no signal loss and just use the HDMI for everything. Others say use the receiver just for sound and skip putting the video through it.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[schan1269]

If you want the sound you bought the AVR...yes, all your sources run to it first. Then one HDMI to the TV.

 

[greggor]

If you consider yourself a "purist" or a videophile then you should just connect all video sources from the source to your plasma and use your optical cables for sound through your receiver. I doubt you'll notice a difference in picture quality though going through your AVR. I know for me that it's really nice just having one cable going to my plasma and not having to change video inputs every time I change sources.

 

[Ralph Folkes]

Run everything through the receiver. Even if there is some signal loss with it you will not notice the difference.

 

[FoxyMulder]

If you use the pass through mode on the Yamaha you will notice no difference in picture quality and you get the benefit of a larger electricity bill, personally i would just connect it directly to the television and use the optical out of the TV to get the sound to the receiver.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Run your video through your receiver as you shouldn't notice any difference in video quality! Also if you run your HDMI to the HDTV first then run the audio back to the receiver you will not be taking advantage of the lossless audio that is on most Bluray discs. You will be going back to the same quality that you would be getting on DVD or cable/satellite!

 

[zoetmb]

I'm going to disagree with most of the posters.

I run my Blu-ray player through the receiver, but I run the cable box directly to the TV. My receiver supports the Audio Return Channel via the HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV (most receivers support this), so that when I want to listen to 5.1 via the receiver, I can, but late at night, I can listen to the TV speakers. Best of both worlds, IMO and it's easier to hide the cables.

If your receiver supports ARC, you do not need to run an additional cable from the TV to the receiver for optical audio.

If your receiver supports HDMI control (most do), you can set it to turn the receiver on automatically and switch it to the TV input when using the Audio Return Channel. I do this and if I don't want to listen via the receiver, I just switch it off and the audio automatically returns to the TV speakers.

 

[schan1269]

^^^You do realize when you run your STB to the TV instead, you lose 5.1. And you do...you can check. Your AVR reverts to Dolby ProLogic(in other words, 2.0).Besides, your AVR probably supports "HDMI passthrough in standby" anyway.

 

[David Weicker]

Another thing to consider, when 'splitting' the audio and video is in many cases it introduces a sound sync problem. From what I've read, some receivers take some time to process the sound coming in via optical/coax and even though some machines (display, source, receiver) can vary the audio sync, you might not be able to get them aligned properly.

David

 

[DBUSZKO]

I run mine directly into the TV and the optical sound, directly to the Technics SA-TX50 with the SH-AC500 decoder. I like how it sounds and it's detail.

 

[Sabby]

Unless you through the receiver you will lose the best sound possible from your blu ray disks