Trying to reduce complexity of new HTIB hookup

 

Ok, don't laugh all you audiophiles, but I just purchased an Oritron DAV2503 5-disc progressive scan HTIB from Best Buy. I wanted a surround system with more wattage than the ultra-cheapies and this was in my price range. All told, it sounds pretty darn good when I threw a DVD in there.

I've got everything working, but it seems a little too complex. Here are the connections my equipment has:

TV: A/VInputs 1 & 2 (#1 has S-video), Audio out
VCR: ordinary RCA jacks for input and output (plus cable, of course)
Digital cable box: cable out (obviously) and RCA audio output
Receiver (DVD & tuner built-in): RCA A/V Inputs 1 & 2, RCA A/V Outputs 1, Component Outputs 1, S-Video Output 1, TV Out 1 (RCA jack), digital in/out, optical in

DVD is just fine. S-Video goes out to TV Input 1, sound plays with 5.1 audio.

The complexity comes into play with normal TV or VCR watching. I have to have the TV on Input 2 to see the video, but the receiver on "AV 1" to hear the audio. As it was before I hooked all this up, I had to watch the TV on Input 2, but of course there was no other fooling around with audio. Now I have to make sure one audio source is on and one video source is on, rather than just being able to turn the TV on and go at it.

I have the cable line going to the digital cable box, the cable box video (normal, old coaxial cable) going to the VCR. VCR A/V out to the receiver's A/V Input 1. There's where the selection of "AV 1" on the receiver comes in.

I then have the receiver's "TV Out" going to the Input 2 on the TV, hence the requirement of having the TV on Input 2 to watch cable or VCR.

On top of this, the TV has awful sound when going through the home theater speakers, even though the DVD and CD audio sounds great. The normal TV speakers sound better when I have the TV playing.

My thoughts on simplifying/fixing:

1) Buy a piggyback audio cable so I can send the audio from the VCR (which is what the cable box goes through) to both the receiver and the TV directly. That way, I can at least have the TV speakers on along with the satellites to improve the sound.

2) Bypass the receiver all together when it comes to the cable box/VCR chain and just send them right to the TV like I used to. Problem is that I would lose any surround possibilities with TV and VCR.

Two other quick questions: a) is there a way I could separate the chain of the cable box and VCR and still have VCR recording capabilities? b) if I was able to get a digital cable box from Comcast with digital/optical/whatever is better outputs, would this help simplify things at all?

Thank you so much for your patience with my long description.
 

Derek
Have a look in Home > Discussions > BBS > Home Video > DVD Players > DVD to VCR to TV to Stereo hook up.

I have two long posts there, one on March 27th and April 7th. The first one makes your TV simply a monitor and your receiver controls everything. With a few changes Dolby Digital and DTS work. The second one produces the best picture and the TV controls everything. Because your DVD player is built-in to your receiver you can't use the second one mostly because you may accidentally go to your DVD player and will be too loud. I suggest you use the fist one sending the Digital Cable A/V to the receiver. Also try connecting the S-Video cable to Video-1 and the composite to Video-2. You will have to switch "down" to Video-2's composite jack for things like the VCR unless you have Super-VHS.

Hope this helps.
 

Dan Katz
Thanks for the piece of advice. I had actually tracked down those long posts you mentioned before I asked my question and they did help, but I figured I'd see if anyone wanted to give my little system a go.

I just called Comcast and asked if I could get a new digital cable box because all mine has is the old coax jack plus the composite audio out. Surprisingly, they were very agreeable to this. So, this should help simplify things, since the box will have an s-video out at the very least that I can connect to the receiver (I don't have an s-video in on the receiver, but I figure I can find an s-video to composite adapter somewhere).

I then should be able to take the cable box and the VCR into the receiver separately. Then I would have DVD s-video out to Input 1 on the TV like I have now, the generic composite "TV Out" on the receiver out to the Input 2 on the TV for my VCR/cable viewing, and split the cable from the wall to both the TV and cable box to help with PIP and VCR recording.

Now to just solve that clock-radio sounding audio from the cable. Hopefully the new box will have better audio outs. I did buy a piggyback RCA cable today to at least hook up my TV speakers for the time being.
 

socaldavis
hello,
I purchased the same thing.... i got it all hooked up and the treble sounds good, but i'm not impressed with the bass AT ALL!!! my computer speakers have more bass...my stock car sterio has more bass.... the sub level is maxed like all the other speakers, but the bass is horrible. anyone know why? is it the cheap system i bought? is there something i can do??
 

Derek
"maxed like all the other speakers"

Try turning down the other speakers. That may bring them more in line with the sub. It's relative. Turning all of your speakers up is exactly the same as turning the master volume up. Louder does not equal better as you are finding out.

Hope this helps.
 

Anonymous
The Subwoofer is not powered so don't expect to be "impressed" by it. Buy a powered SW and you see the difference. Of course, you may end up pay more than you want to bargain for!!!
 

Anonymous
I just purchased the Oritron DAV2503 as an "open item" and it did not have the operation manual with it but I assumed that I could figure it out. I only needed it for background music in my Studio and liked the 5-disc CD. Had trouble getting the disc to rotate but finally got it to work. Would still like to find an operation manual. Do you know where I could get one? I called the customer service on the Oritron website and they told me it would take five to six weeks for them to mail me one. I would like to get one sooner than that if you can help. Thanks.
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