How do I setup my home theatre system?

Factual Questions
1

After posting on some AV and digital media forums, I have chosen to ask here, the friendliest forum on the net.

We have just bought a new TV, DVD recorder with hard drive, Home theatre surround sound kit(plus dvd player) and have a Sky HD (satalite digital tv receiver). we just cannot seem to connect it up so that audio from any system chosen plays through the surround sound except if we play a dvd on the theatre kit av receiver itself.

Our current setup at home is as follows.
Sony Bravia 26" KDL26S3000
Sky HD
Sony Hard Drive/ DVD recorder RDR-HXD970
Sony cinema surround kit, DAV-DZ230

How can I connect these devices with the desired outcome, that whatever I choose to watch the audio comes out the surround sound home cinema kit ?

Thanks, specs are bellow.

The usefull (I think) inputs and out puts

Sony Bravia TV:
SCART x 2
HDMI x 2
Component AV
VGA

Sky HD
SCART x 2
HDMI
Component AV

Sony harddrive / dvd recorder
SCART x2
HDMI
Coaxial (RCA/phono)
Component video (3 x RCA/phono)

Sony surround sound kit
SCART
HDMI
Coaxial (RCA/phono)

2

I don’t have time right now, but I’m pretty good at this. I’ll try to get back later.

3

Thanks, I’ll look forward to hearing from you later.

4

I just did this but with analog cable rather than a digital feed, and a Blu-Ray DVD player rather than a recorder. I also have a Sony Bravia TV.

You need your satellite output to feed to the DVD recorder, which should be an HDMI connection. (Here I am wondering why you have a DVD recorder instead of a DVR provided by Sky, but it doesn’t affect my response.)

You would then take the HDMI output from the DVD and feed it to the TV. This is the part I’m not sure about. In the old analog systems the recorder would act as a pass-through for the satellite signal if you were not watching DVD content, but I am not 100% sure that works for HDMI. If I am wrong then you would need an additional HDMI connection from your Sky box to the TV. If the Sky box has only one output then I’m not sure where you go from there. You could try it like I am describing just to see if it works.

It does not make sense to me that the sound system would have an HDMI connection, which carries video. Mine has digital audio, both a digital RCA cable and optical. So do you really mean HDMI? In any event, you would cable the audio out from the TV to the sound system.

In this way anything playing on the TV should be heard on the sound system in surround sound, as long as you are using digital audio as I just described. If you just use the red/white audio cabling to the sound system it will not transmit the surround sound data, AFAIK.

I was shocked to discover that I needed to spend over $300 in cables for this. :eek:

5

BTW if this is all new stuff the guy who sold it to you should be more than happy to explain exactly how to connect all of it.

6

Well, I didn’t notice that you’re across the pond, so to speak, but we’ll make it work anyway. It’s just now lunchtime here in Texas, I’m on my break between classes.

I’m not sure what you really mean by SCART. For this discussion, I will ignore them for right now, or perhaps I will hit upon something that means the same thing. My set-up includes a Sony HTiB (Home Theater in a Box), DirecTV (the US version of Sky) and a Toshiba HD DLP (truly a miracle of technology). I will assume that your audio receiver can handle audio and video switching as well. I am also assuming that you do not want to hear anything through the TV’s built-in speakers.

Turn the power off on everything. Go ahead and leave the Sky box plugged in, since it takes so long for it to acquire the signal and boot up.

Let’s start with the Sony receiver. On mine, and perhaps yours, the HDMI is audio pass-through only. That may be the source of your problem. Still HDMI is useful in this set up. Connect and arrange the speakers as described in the HTiB’s instruction manual. Make sure that + is connected to + on everything. The subwoofer probably has its own coax connection. It will need a power source, too. Get it plugged in.

Okay, now let’s start connecting things. Using an HDMI cable, connect the HDMI on Sky to the HDMI in on receiver. Also connect the digital audio out from the Sky to the receiver. This may be optical or coaxial. Optical is best, but it can be delicate. Don’t kink the cable and be careful that it plugs in and stays plugged in. Make sure that the HDMI and audio are plugged into the same input group (such as “Video 1” or “Input 1”, or whatever nomenclature your receiver uses. They may not be in the same area of the jack panel.).

Now, let’s get the DVD connected. Using the same method as the Sky box, use an HDMI cable to connect the DVD to the receiver. Now, connect the audio out to the receiver. Again, use digital whenever possible. In my case, my satellite uses the optical audio port and the DVD uses the coaxial audio port (because we use the sat more than the DVD). Your needs may be different, or you may have more than one optical input. Again, make sure that you’re using the same input group for everything, this time “Video 2”, “Input 2”, “DVD” or whatever.

Now, on to the TV itself. Run an HDMI from the HDMI out on the receiver to the HDMI In on the TV. I suggest using HDMI 1 and saving HDMI 2 for your XBOX 360 or whatever. With this setup, your TV stays on HDMI 1 at all times. You won’t use it to control the volume or to change channels or inputs.

Now, let’s fire it up. First, turn on the receiver. Then, turn on the TV. Finally, turn on the Sky box. Make sure that the TV is on HDMI 1. On the receiver, select Video 1 or wherever you put the Sky box. You should see the Sky programming on the TV and hear it through the surround speakers. Put a disk in the DVD and get it playing. Switch the receiver to “Video 2” or wherever the DVD is. You should see the DVD on the TV and hear it through the surround speakers.

That help? Class coming in, so I gotta run. I’ll give you time to chew on this for a while.

7

Just to follow up a bit.

With the setup that I described, nothing will work unless the HTiB receiver is turned on. Since it is acting as a switcher, it must be powered on. There are, however, ways to run this if you want to leave the HTiB as optional, rather than mandatory for all occasions.

I neglected to make an allowance for your DVD’s HDD and recording needs. I would suggest that you run component cables from the Sky box to the DVD. Connect from the component (three jacks: red, green, and blue, IIRC) out on Sky to component in on the DVD. Make sure that red runs to red, etc. Run an audio pair to the DVD as well. You’re probably out of digital outputs on the Sky box. I suggest this sort of direct connection because you may want to record to the DVD without having to have the receiver turned on. The disadvantage is that you won’t have surround sound on programs that you have recorded. A better solution is to get a Sky box with a DVR, if they offer such a thing.

8

Thanks for the replys, It is late here but I will give it a go and get back to you in the morning with my results.

Just to clear things up, The Sky box does come with a DVR which is what we will probably use most. It was just how the deal worked out that we got DVR bundled in with the DVD recorder (will be used for backing up good things recorded on Sky), and also just the way the deal worked out that the surround sound receive has a built in dvd.

Anyway thanks again for your time. wish me luck

9

Problem solved, I decided to use mostly analogue cables due to a limited supply of HDMI cables and most of the device only having one HDMI port for HDMI out.

I ran analogue cable from Sky Box to the DVD, then HDMI from the DVD to the TV. The audio to the surround sound system is handled by a digital audio coaxial cable from the tv to the surround sound.

With this configuration that DVD recorder has to be on all the time, but my guess is that if I use an analogue (SCART) to component cable from the DVD to the TV, pass through will work.

Thanks for the help.

10

I’m curious about this analogue (analog) stuff. When you say “analogue”, are you talking about running one cable? If you’re sending one cable from the Sky box to the DVD, then you’re not getting your HD content. High definition cannot be sent via one video cable. You must use HDMI or component. Perhaps we’re just having a language barrier, here.

At any rate, I am glad that you have a set up that is working for you. Now, if only something good were on TV!

11

I guess this is a bit too late, but for future reference and for others in the same situation, there’s no reason to spend that much on cables. Monster brand HDMI cables are one of the biggest ripoffs, sorry to say. You’ll get virtually the same results with a $1.50 HDMI cable (easily found on Amazon.com) as with a $75 one.

12

I’d second the cheap cables. At the end of the day it’s digital folks!

To the OP: can you state more clearly how you wired the “analogue” connections? I’m guessing that you are dropping signal quality here when you don’t need to. I’d aim to have the Sky HD box using HDMI if at all possible, or component (3 phonos for into the YPbPr sockets).

How about having the Sky HD using HDMI into the receiver. Same for the DVD. Hmm, I see you don’t state that you have seperate digital audio inputs on the receiver - I’d have used HDMI to take the video from the generators (Sky, DVD) into the TV and then linked the audio from the generators into the receiver. Have you got any digital in’s on the receiver?

tim