Home theater system HELPPPP!!!!

cjthor · Post by **cjthor** » July 26th, 2006, 3:50 am

Okay guys....

Just went out and got a new TV and receiver. I unpacked them and MAN are there some wires! Im getting confused as to how to hook this thing up. The TV has a sh*tload of rca's on the back, so does the receiver, not to mention the Satellite box AND the DVD player...Should I just call best buy and have em come wire it? it just seems like you can hook things up several different ways...such as you can either use a cable from the satellite box to the tv or rca's going to some didgital input....im lost. Anyone good at this shiznit?

Mnemonic · Post by **Mnemonic** » July 26th, 2006, 4:57 am

Yea i just bought an onky reciever for my bose system at the house (the bose one went out and they are uber expensive to replace, specially for the one i want). What i would suggest is wiring everything into the reciever that away you only have 1 wire going into the tv. This makes everything alot easier as you will have everything wired into the reciever for sound and you can leave the tv on one input mode the entire time. That away if you decide you want to watch a dvd or satellite or xbox, etc.... you dont have to switch multiple things in order to get them to work.

Post by **Custommx3** » July 26th, 2006, 9:25 am

Exactly! Thats how I set up mine, works like a charm. No more switching video inputs on the TV, just use the reciever to select the source. Believe it or not my DirecTV is clearer through the RCA cables from my reciever than the coax directly to the TV. I even bought new cables because I though it could be the issue. Turns out, the video processor in my reciever clears up the picture.

V8KOMX3 · Post by **V8KOMX3** » July 26th, 2006, 4:20 pm

ok the first rule when hooking up electronic componets, if you don't know how to do it that means your getting old lol. But serious if you want it hooked up walk outside grab a 15 year old kid give him 20 bucks and let the kid go 2 work.

cjthor · Post by **cjthor** » July 26th, 2006, 6:28 pm

V8KOMX3 wrote:ok the first rule when hooking up electronic componets, if you don't know how to do it that means your getting old lol. But serious if you want it hooked up walk outside grab a 15 year old kid give him 20 bucks and let the kid go 2 work.

no kidding!! I actually figured it out after finding out i had a bad receiver! Man plasma tv's ROCK!!

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » July 26th, 2006, 11:32 pm

I'd start by sending a pic of what the back of your TV, reciever, DVD player and other stuff looks like. Make it a good one since we need to see what the connections read.
You CAN hook things up different ways. Some are better than others and will produce cleaner sound and picture if set-up properly. Different wires and different sounds set-ups will yield different results. Of course this all comes at a premium. 5.1 or 7.1 sound wires can cost a fortune, if you run one optical wire you must use optical on all connections or the picture will not come out on the TV. etc. etc.
Also, tell us what brand and model each picture is of.

OR, call Best Buy and get your wallett out...

cjthor · Post by **cjthor** » July 27th, 2006, 1:53 am

PATDIESEL wrote:I'd start by sending a pic of what the back of your TV, reciever, DVD player and other stuff looks like. Make it a good one since we need to see what the connections read.
You CAN hook things up different ways. Some are better than others and will produce cleaner sound and picture if set-up properly. Different wires and different sounds set-ups will yield different results. Of course this all comes at a premium. 5.1 or 7.1 sound wires can cost a fortune, if you run one optical wire you must use optical on all connections or the picture will not come out on the TV. etc. etc.
Also, tell us what brand and model each picture is of.

OR, call Best Buy and get your wallett out...

Yuuup I figured it out. I went with a 42 inch Panasonic plasma TV and a yamaha 700watt AV receiver. Spent almost 200 bucks on wiring! Ouch! But the picture quality and sound is awesome!

hgallegos915 · Post by **hgallegos915** » July 27th, 2006, 8:09 pm

Rule of thumb for video

coax cable is the one of the poorest picture availables other than analog wires.

next is rca.. its good.. but not that good

next is s video..awesome

then there is ypb pr which is for hdtv

then there is hdmi cable which is the best there is at the moment

as far for sattelite receivers. The receivers themselves dont "convert" the video to better picture quality.

My references include being an account specialist / tech for dish network which by the way have the EXACT same components inside made by rca phillips and pother well known companies

hook it up via s videofor best picture quality.

Sound.. use a toslink cable aka optical cable

Custommx3 wrote:Exactly! Thats how I set up mine, works like a charm. No more switching video inputs on the TV, just use the reciever to select the source. Believe it or not my DirecTV is clearer through the RCA cables from my reciever than the coax directly to the TV. I even bought new cables because I though it could be the issue. Turns out, the video processor in my reciever clears up the picture.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » July 31st, 2006, 1:40 pm

hgallegos915 wrote: as far for sattelite receivers. The receivers themselves dont "convert" the video to better picture quality.
hook it up via s videofor best picture quality.
Sound.. use a toslink cable aka optical cable

I believe you're on the right track Hector as far as the source singles and cabling is concerned. I don't believe any home theatre reciever does anything to correct or modify any of it's signal inputs such as CATV, SaTV, DVD, CD etc. If the home theatre reciever is of a high quality it will have numerous source inputs to cover just about everything out there. Utilizing the optical out from the reciever to the plasma tv would be the best out there or like Hector said, a toslink. Although Hector made no mention of the RCA digital coaxial connections.
I'm currently using a 42" plasma with an NAD reciever. I have the Sat TV reciever, DVD and VCR routed to the NAD. Depending on the quality, cost etc of the home theatre reciever will determine how many optical inputs in will take. It may come down to preferance as to which you consider the best choice for your viewing tastes (ie, SAT over DVD). Don't scrimp on connector cables either. Although it's not unheard of to spend up to $200 on quality cabling itself.
Although, I do like the teenager off the street idea to do the set-up .... LOL. I did research for about 6 to 8 months before I made a purchase and to this day still think that perhaps I should have gone the home PC based theatre set-up. Much more flexable and always room for modest and gradual upgrades over the years. That's still an option for me but I could have have saved $$ had I started out in that path.

There should be some instructions with the plasma that will reflect routine to high-end configurations/set-ups as far as cabling is concerned.

Speaking of cabling and PC's, I must touch base with Barry again with my car PC project. I have a transflective touchscreen on order, and I've recieved the retractable single din housing to mount it in (maybe). I have to put my order in for the build of the micro PC as to which options to include - WIFI, GPS, external camera, slot drive DVD/CD RW, 6x USB's, LAN, 2x serial, 5.1 Audigy, AM/FM/TV tuner, 80Gb to 120Gb HDD etc....

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » July 31st, 2006, 2:48 pm

My home theatre set-up;

Norcent PT4231 Plasma TV http://reviews.cnet.com/Norcent_PT4231_ ... 40785.html

NAD T752 Surround Sound Reciever
http://www.nadelectronics.com/reviews/T ... ramset.htm

LG LRH-539 HDD/DVD RW
http://ca.lge.com/en/prodmodeldetail.do ... ct+a+model#

HD SAT Reciever - BEV 3100

Speakers - Paradigm
http://www.hometheatersound.com/equipme ... three2.htm
http://www.paradigm.com/website/sitepar ... hantom.PDF
http://www.paradigm.com/Website/SitePar ... eSpecs.htm

Front Stage - Phantom

Rear Stage - ADP-170

Centre Stage - CC-270

Sub - PDR-10
http://www.paradigm.com/Website/SitePar ... _Specs.htm