any home theater gurus out there?
I finally got a home theater system for my hd tv. Of course, it seems as though I cannot listen to cable tv thru the system, even via a HDMI cable that I connected. After turning back and forth between page 24, 60, 33, 53, and 62 in my manual, it may be that my Toshiba tv may not be compatible with my Sony system via HDMI. Does that sound right? So much for simplicity. Will the digital optical cord do the trick or will I run into the same compatibility problem as I did with the HDMI cable? Hey, I have to do something if I can't train.... Thanks!
Dan
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Dan, have you tried hooking it up with just component cables (red, white and yellow cords)? They should have come with the audio gear. That should help diagnose if there is an audio issue. And the digital optical cord for the audio may fix it.
I find it hard that any audio gear is not compatible with any TV. Most of the issues I see are simple input, TV setting tweaks.
When all else fails, call Geek Squad.
JOhn
I'm going out now to get the digital cable, if that doesn't work I'll go to the red and white. Just wanted the Dolby!!!!! Thanks man.
Is your receiver HD compatible? If it is, it should be able to hook up to the cable box via an HDMI cable. If not, you can use the HDMI cable to go from the cable box to the TV for the video, then use the RCA cables from the cable box to the receiver for the sound (red and white only). The optical cable is an option too as long as the receiver has an optical input.
Chris, you would think the hdmi cable would take care of it but sony home theater systems aren't compatible with toshiba tv's!! So I got the digital optical cable and that took care of it!!! Thanks everyone and happy holidays.
Dan
Glad you got it working.
Merry Christmas.
Movie Night at Dan's house!
Dan, I am now in your boat. I got an AppleTV this morning and it only has HDMI. And I am such an audio geek I have even extra HDMI cables in my garage. But my 7 year old Denon receiver only has component. Spent that last 2 hours researching HDMI to component cables. Guess others are using them and all works fine.
Now I just need to map out moving cables around on my receiver so I can using the component connections. May have to downgrade the DVD connection.
I love this stuff!
I will be at radio Shack when they open tomorrow.
@J.T. Me too. No one locally carries the HDMI to component cables so ordered online. Should have it by Wednesday.
When I set-up my system initially I did do an A/B test between component and HDMI and could not see a difference in either 720P or 1080i. Hoping that will be the same with this. Will let ya know.
@Todd - Very nice. Merry Christmas. :-) My receiver is 7 years old so none of the bells you have on your new tech. But it is a solid piece of machinery! Can't go wrong with Denon. Enjoy.
John your Apple TV doesn't have the optical output? I just bought one a few weeks ago and mine has it.
Hey Chris:
Yep it does.
I ended up bored today so went and got a longer HDMI cable and connecting ATV to my 50" plasma. Then high-end RCA cables from the back of the TV to the receiver. All works well. I could have used the optical but didn't want to spend the extra $$ for it. This was also much easier than rejiggering the back of my receiver to to free up a component for the ATV.
Overall, ATV is cool. I like streaming music from my PC iTunes and controlling things from my iPhone or iPad via the Remote app. Icould do this before with my Squeezebox Duet but sans Remote app. The TV shows/movie rentals I already have via Netflix so no biggie. The one thing I do find is cool is getting podcast videos on my TV. Just watched a tech show Engadget on it. Time to fire up some Leo LaPorte.
The downside is no Pandora. I like streaming my own stations via Pandora. ATV gives me Internet radio, but only the music channels and genres they list.
Will know more later after I play with it for a few days.
John
Yes I am loving ATV for all this indoor riding I've been doing. I usually find something to watch on Netflix, or just stream music from my Macbook. Sometimes I even peruse Youtube while on the trainer.
One purchase I made this year (speaking of home theaters) that I am really happy with was a WD Live TV Plus. I have a Roku as well and really enjoyed it, however this thing does one thing that the Roku couldn't, which is stream stuff from a network drive or a DLNA server.
I already had a synology NAS server that I throw all sorts of stuff on, now I can use the WD thing to steam it to a tv. I could do this before using either a PS3 or Xbox, but this thing is the size of a few deck of cards (and cheap!). It also does all the blockbuster/netflix/youtube streaming.
So I usually will download (cough cough illegal cough cough) using bittorrent to the synology (it has a bt client in it) and then can watch it now on any tv. We put the WD down in the basement and stream stuff like the sufferfest videos in the pain cave.
-Dave
so now that I have everything hooked up here, should I consider hooking up my pc to my blu ray player for firmware updates and to view pc vids on the flat screen? You guys have been speaking a language in the forum that I don't understand! I am so far behind in technology, just bought my first digital camera a month ago, had a hard time parting with my Nikon SLR for the moment since I can't get film around here anymore. Odd that I have a PM though...
@John: sorry for being absent for a bit... just reading thru stuff, I had a harmon kardon receiver that I just ditched that looks exactly like that! So much easier plugging in a couple of cables. I'm disappointed that my tv isn't compatible with my sony home theater system, but the digital fiber optic cable does the job nicely for cable tv, and the blu ray is awesome, it took me a whole movie to get used to the sound it gives as it sounds like I'm in a movie theater. Good stuff.
Dan