home theatre questions

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

So my parents recently got a new TV (Sony 46" HDTV LCD XBR2) and it's awesome. So since it has a built in tuner, there's no reason to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service (I don't need their box).

Speakers are hooked up to the receiver, so how we used to get surround soudn when watchign TV (like football games and stuff) is you switch on the VCR and so we could hear sound from both our TV and surround system. However, now with this TV (or maybe just HDTV) the audio is not 100% synced. The VCR has an old tuner so obviously we only get analog channels, and I guess the audio is slightly off? We get an interesting echo effect.

I want to know how to hook things up so I can get surround sound from my speakers...

Another thing is the guy from BB told us to get some component cables so we can directly connect our DVD player into our TV and get better image quality... but once again, what about sound? That's why everything goes through the receiver ATM.

 

[Rob9874]

Audio out from the TV to the receiver.
Audio out from the DVD player to the receiver.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

duhhh =(.. but my receiver doesn't have a TV mode? I don't know.. I mean I understand how it works if I plug it into AUX for example, but do receivers have a dedicated input to receive TV audio?

Ok, I will examine when I return home this Friday to fix up my TV. Must fix this all before college football begins on Saturday =)

 

[Rob9874]

No, an input is an input. You can plug it into AUX, CD, whatever (just not Phono, which has a pre-amp). Bypass the VCR. Unneccesary.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Finally.. what cables to get? Monster is a rip right? Is it worth it? I don't know...

 

[zinkpig]

totally depends on what kind of inputs your amp has and outputs on your tv . Id go digital with a co-ax cable ( < $3-4 at Radioshack) or a optical (~ $10 at Radioshack or much cheaper online) . since you are watching HD broadcasts , go digital. Most HD transmissions have 5.1 with them.

 

[ATLien247]

My receiver has a TV/SAT input, but you could just a easily use an AUX input (or any other audio input), so long as it's the same type as your TV output.

 

[neomits]

doing some research on your TV, it has an optical audio out.

Just plug an optical cable into the audio out from your TV into an optical input on your receiver (it should have one). Change the input on your reciever to the optical selection and viola.

This will transmit the digital 5.1 sound from the TV reception to your receiver that'll decode it and send each signal to each speaker

For your DVD yes, use component cables to run from your DVD player to your TV then either a coax or another optical cable from your DVD to your receiver. It'd help if you could say what model/brand of receiver you have so we know what kind of inputs we're dealing with.

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
So my parents recently got a new TV (Sony 46" HDTV LCD XBR2) and it's awesome. So since it has a built in tuner, there's no reason to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service (I don't need their box).

You do if you want HD content. Owning an HD tv alone doesn't magically make the picture on the screen HD.

 

[Syrch]

Originally posted by: neomits
doing some research on your TV, it has an optical audio out.

Just plug an optical cable into the audio out from your TV into an optical input on your receiver (it should have one). Change the input on your reciever to the optical selection and viola.

This will transmit the digital 5.1 sound from the TV reception to your receiver that'll decode it and send each signal to each speaker

For your DVD yes, use component cables to run from your DVD player to your TV then either a coax or another optical cable from your DVD to your receiver. It'd help if you could say what model/brand of receiver you have so we know what kind of inputs we're dealing with.

This will depend on the receiver but i agree with you on this.

By pass your VCR, go directly into your receiver as it shoul dhave plenty of inputs outputs on it.

As far as cables you can use AR (accoustic research cables) from best buy, they are much less expensive than Monster cable and get the job done. You can go online and get them cheaper from various sites but you are most likely not going to get named brand cables at that point.

 

[The Stigenator]

your parents buy a 4000+ dollar tv and they dont get the right compoents..

first off you need the comcast box. Your regular comcast signal without the box does not provide HD. Comcast HD (in sacramento) runs from 900-999 channels. Try getting that with your normal tuner. If you got a black box from comcast, then they will upgrade you to the silver tivo box which has an HDMI port on it. If you dont have the box it will cost 10/mo to get HD, otherwise its an added 5/mo to get HD.

Second if you get teh comcast box, you can run the audio out using optical or digital coax to your receiever and run the HDMI cable to your tv . HDMI carries both video and audio but you got the option to run 5.1 using your receiver by hooking up the digital / optial line to your receiver from teh comcast box.

the dvd should be run with component (red/blue/green) to the tv, the audio runs from optial / digital coax to the receiver.

dont run it thru the vcr, that's causing the audio delay.

Acoustic research cables will do.. dont go for monster.

 

[spidey07]

^^^^
do that.

You may be able to tune those channels without the box, but it's SO worth it if you have the box.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff

Originally posted by: DLeRium
So my parents recently got a new TV (Sony 46" HDTV LCD XBR2) and it's awesome. So since it has a built in tuner, there's no reason to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service (I don't need their box).

You do if you want HD content. Owning an HD tv alone doesn't magically make the picture on the screen HD.

Uhhh but it has a HD tuner inside, meaning I can already get HDTV for channels like Fox, CBS, ABC, etc right? I only need to subscribe if I want ESPN HD and some others... isn't that how it works?

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: biggestmuff

Originally posted by: DLeRium
So my parents recently got a new TV (Sony 46" HDTV LCD XBR2) and it's awesome. So since it has a built in tuner, there's no reason to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service (I don't need their box).

You do if you want HD content. Owning an HD tv alone doesn't magically make the picture on the screen HD.

Uhhh but it has a HD tuner inside, meaning I can already get HDTV for channels like Fox, CBS, ABC, etc right? I only need to subscribe if I want ESPN HD and some others... isn't that how it works?

You need a antenna, but you are correct.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: biggestmuff

Originally posted by: DLeRium
So my parents recently got a new TV (Sony 46" HDTV LCD XBR2) and it's awesome. So since it has a built in tuner, there's no reason to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service (I don't need their box).

You do if you want HD content. Owning an HD tv alone doesn't magically make the picture on the screen HD.

Uhhh but it has a HD tuner inside, meaning I can already get HDTV for channels like Fox, CBS, ABC, etc right? I only need to subscribe if I want ESPN HD and some others... isn't that how it works?

you should be able to tune them unless they are scrambled/encrypted.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: biggestmuff

Originally posted by: DLeRium
So my parents recently got a new TV (Sony 46" HDTV LCD XBR2) and it's awesome. So since it has a built in tuner, there's no reason to subscribe to Comcast's HDTV service (I don't need their box).

You do if you want HD content. Owning an HD tv alone doesn't magically make the picture on the screen HD.

Uhhh but it has a HD tuner inside, meaning I can already get HDTV for channels like Fox, CBS, ABC, etc right? I only need to subscribe if I want ESPN HD and some others... isn't that how it works?

You need a antenna, but you are correct.

nononono... ok, so when the BB guys came into setup my TV, they did the whole channel detection thing all over again. It took a long@$$ time to detect those digital channels, but I picked up like 100+ or something.

So when I flip to CBS (5) I also get 5.1 which is the digital version of it. At the top of my screen it will say 1080i or whatever... As for Fox (2) I get 2.1 which says 720p. Some channels are 480 only, but bottom line is I get quite a few HD channels like CNN, CNN Headline, multiple KQEDs... This should be HD right? I want to confirm this.

My current comcast subscription is the standard subscription (45/month) for all your regular channels (local channels + MTV, ESPN, blah blah) and so I don't have a digital box. My understanding is the HDTV package you get is just hte box. You don't get any programming change unless you upgrade to digital. Now the box is a tuner right? Since my TV has a tuner already, that's how I get CBS, Fox, ABC, etc in HD as well.

My understanding is that by upgrading to Comcast's Digital Classic plan, I can then get ESPN HD. Do I really need the box though since I do have my own tuner? I know the disadvantage is my channels are fvcked up in numbering like ABC HD is 117.1 and I basically made a spreadsheet and printed it out for my parents so they could figure out the HD channels.