Hello to all. Sorry for the long post in advance. I am new here but this seems like a great forum site and I need help/advice. Anyways, I just bought a 50" Samsung DLP last week, got the stand and components set up over the weekend, and am having a few issues with things. I have had a 5.1 system for a few years now and have knowledge with the sound thing, but the new HDTV and inputs I have has given me some confusion...it seems that the expertise is in this forum so here goes.
I am running a component cable from DVD (TiVo/DVD Toshiba unit - basically now worthless with HD) to TV. Optical audio to Onkyo receiver. Everything works fine there with DVD. Just got an HD DVR box last night so that I can run an HDMI cable to the TV, the regular HD boxes have component out only. Bought HDMI-DVR cable (sold out of HDMI-HDMI cables, I know I lose sound - not used anyways but plan on an exchange to get HDMI-HDMI). I am running a coaxial cable from cable box to input on receiver for digital sound. Here are where the problems start...or maybe more my lack of knowledge with HD channels vs. analog channels.
If I tune to an HD channel (ESPN HD for instance) through my DVI input on my TV I get DD 5.1 sound and HD picture. Beautiful. If I tune to any other channel that is not HD I lose both sound and picture. DVI says it is not supported and digital coax cable apparently won't pick up analog sound signals?? For this reason I have hooked up analog audio out from cable box to input on Onkyo receiver and component cables from cable box to TV on top of the HDMI/DVI cable. So everything works fine, I just have to switch to my DVI input on my TV to get true digital picture and then back to my component to watch analog or non-HD digital channels. Sound works too, I have one Video source used for both analog audio cables and coax digital cable.
Question is...did I do everything right and most effectively?
I have a friend who says he can get his analog sound through the coax cable, but I can't figure this out for the life of me. My only solution has been the old school red/white analog cable on top of the digital coax. And as far as video switching, can I just not receive an analog signal when using DVI/HDMI inputs? Is the component hookup necessary to watch non-HD channels? And if so, is the DVI/HDMI cable even worth the $120 bucks? I know I am transferring from digital -> analog -> digital with component, but is the HDMI really that much better? Any help with this would be helpful, I've searched all menus for all components and can't find anything for the audio or video problems. The TV is sweet and my setup is complete, but I'd like to get rid of the analog audio and the component from cable to TV.
Here is my rig:
-Onkyo DS-777 Receiver (5.1 DTS/DD) -> no component switching, purchased 4-5 years ago -Monitor Audio Silver Series speakers (Center, Front, Rear Dipoles, Subwoofer) -Toshiba DVD Player -Scientific Atlantic 8300 HD DVR Cable box -Samsung 50" DLP Projection TV
Fdr. Spock
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Would post pictures but I can't get them small enough...
I have an 52" Rca HDTV. I am trying to figure out the best way or I should even connect my pc to my cmcast converter. I am not sure how to go by doing this i.e...what are the correct cable? What should i look for to see if this is working.