| Author | Posts |
|---|---|
| Author | Posts |
| January 10, 2011 at 2:26 pm #1856 | |
 Gregory |
Ok, as I await my backordered Verus Grand Center Channel set to arrive this week (yeah!!) , I have a question for the masses on setting everything up. I'm anxious to get all my new toys out of the box, but want to know the optimum way to connect/set everything up…. Here's what I'll be working with:
From a cabling perspective, what do you think the optimum connection setup would be if I want to do the following:
Should I make the following connections? Other thoughts/ideas? Thanks!!
Thanks!! Greg
|
| January 11, 2011 at 1:15 pm #1918 | |
 Nick |
For Directv, I suggest running HDMI from your Directv STB to your TV, and also running a digital optical cable from your Directv STB to your AVR. This will allow sound to go to your TV at all times when you watch TV and, when you want sound to play through your Aperions, you could simply turn down your TV's volume, turn on your AVR, and switch it to the input that has the digital optical connection. You could do a similar setup with your PS3, provided your TV has enough HDMI inputs and your receiver has enough digital optical inputs. The firmware for your PS3 has to be version 3.00 or newer to access a menu selection under the "Sound Settings" for "Audio Multi-Output". By setting "Audio Multi-Output" to "ON", multiple audio outputs (e.g., HDMI and optical) will be active at the same time. With these connections (and an HDMI from your AVR to TV as you outlined in #1 above), you should be good to go. Enjoy your new Verus! -Nick |
| January 11, 2011 at 4:07 pm #1883 | |
 Vincent |
I have in the same situation. I bought a hdmi splitter and one goes to tv and another goes to AVR. For sound quality coming for AVR, I wonder which way will sound better, via hdmi splitter or optical cable? |
| January 12, 2011 at 8:12 am #1880 | |
|
Gregory |
My TV only has two HDMI inputs, so it sounds like I would have to make a choice here. To clarify, Nick, I wouldn't be sacrificing anything from an audio perspective by using the digital optical connection (vs HDMI) when I want to use the AVR and Aperions, right? I get the best of both worlds from having options (TV sound and surround sound) and high quality audio and video. Does the quality of digital optical cable vary greatly from brand to brand? If the above is a given, are we saying that I would also need the HDMI from AVR to TV no matter what? If that's the case, then I will need to figure out what to do with the PS3 connection. If I connect it only through the AVR, then I will need that on and the surround sound audio to hear the games, blu-rays, and netflix streaming through the PS3. On the comment of HDMI splitters, I can't find conclusive data on whether that degrades the signal a noticeable amount. Copperband, do you have any thoughts on that? Thanks a bunch, guys, I really appreciate it. |
| January 12, 2011 at 8:30 am #1888 | |
 Timothy |
I assume you want the option of using the TV speakers for simplicity sake? i.e. the wife does not want to mess with turing everything on? Have you thought about a Harmony remote thats programmed to just turn everything on when you need it? You have to get an add-on gadget (bluetooth) to control the PS3, but it will do everything else (turn on the TV, turn on the AVR, set both to the proper input) with the push of one button. You can even label it "Watch TV". Its also about 100x better than the crappy stock remote that comes with the directv DVR, which I've always hated. Then you don't have to worry about all the connections working, what quality they are, etc. Don't mean to derail any of the advice here, and maybe there is another reason for wanting to be able to do what you are asking. Just a thought. |
| January 12, 2011 at 9:39 am #1916 | |
 Jason Hicks |
[quote user="Tim"]I assume you want the option of using the TV speakers for simplicity sake? i.e. the wife does not want to mess with turing everything on? Have you thought about a Harmony remote thats programmed to just turn everything on when you need it? You have to get an add-on gadget (bluetooth) to control the PS3, but it will do everything else (turn on the TV, turn on the AVR, set both to the proper input) with the push of one button. You can even label it "Watch TV". Its also about 100x better than the crappy stock remote that comes with the directv DVR, which I've always hated. Then you don't have to worry about all the connections working, what quality they are, etc. Don't mean to derail any of the advice here, and maybe there is another reason for wanting to be able to do what you are asking. Just a thought.[/quote] I agree with this, once you have a surround system in place the goal should be to never use your TV speakers again. [8-|] |
| January 12, 2011 at 11:14 am #1881 | |
|
Gregory |
Yes, that's MY goal, but I also travel several days a week. There's wife/simplistic factor at work here. [:)] Plus, "Jersey Shore" doesn't deserve the opportunity to be played on nice speakers. The Harmony remote idea does help with some of it, but I prioritized other aspects of my budget ahead of that and probably need to go with what I have for now. Thanks again. |
| January 12, 2011 at 12:36 pm #1884 | |
|
Vincent |
Hi gmg, I don't know if the hdmi splitter will degrade……anyone pls advise. I do it since a lot of tv programs do not need to sound good at all, so I don't bother to turn on the AVR. |
| January 12, 2011 at 2:15 pm #1919 | |
|
Nick |
[quote user="gmg"] My TV only has two HDMI inputs, so it sounds like I would have to make a choice here. To clarify, Nick, I wouldn't be sacrificing anything from an audio perspective by using the digital optical connection (vs HDMI) when I want to use the AVR and Aperions, right? I get the best of both worlds from having options (TV sound and surround sound) and high quality audio and video. Does the quality of digital optical cable vary greatly from brand to brand? If the above is a given, are we saying that I would also need the HDMI from AVR to TV no matter what? If that's the case, then I will need to figure out what to do with the PS3 connection. If I connect it only through the AVR, then I will need that on and the surround sound audio to hear the games, blu-rays, and netflix streaming through the PS3. On the comment of HDMI splitters, I can't find conclusive data on whether that degrades the signal a noticeable amount. Copperband, do you have any thoughts on that? Thanks a bunch, guys, I really appreciate it. [/quote] You wouldn't be sacrificing anything by running digital optical from your Directv box to your AVR instead of using HDMI. For your PS3 however, it depends on what type of PS3 you have. If it's a non-slim PS3, you will not be able to experience lossless audio on Blu-rays or video games using an optical cable. However, if you have a slim PS3, set your PS3 to output bitstream audio so your receiver can decode the lossless codecs. With a PS3 slim setup like this, there will be no difference in audio quality between optical and HDMI. And optical is optical; either it works or it doesn't. The cable is just a thin glass tube that light passes through, so it's not like quality among different cable brands can vary the strength of the digital signal. EDIT: I forgot to mention another way around your TV lacking sufficient HDMI inputs to accomplish everything I laid out in my first post above: run component video rather than HDMI from either your Directv box or the PS3 to your TV. Keep in mind that if you want to run component from your PS3, you need to buy a proprietary component cable (one end has the green, blue, and red connectors, but the other end is flat and fits the PS3). You would not sacrifice any picture quality in doing this (component carries a high def signal just as HDMI does). |
