Need Help re: Home Theatre Set up

[goks]

What is the best option for setting up a Home Theatre in my condo???

I have a 42" Sharp Aquos and recently bought a Sony "home theatre in a box" that has a receiver and DVD player all in one. I also have a HD Rogers box but no gaming system at the present time.

At present, my TV is wallmounted and I have 2 HDMI cables (from monoprice.com) fished through the wall to the wall unit where my components are. 1 cable goes to my Rogers box and the other will go to the Sony receiver/DVD player.

Is that the best option?

Or instead, should I have 1 HDMI go to the Sony receiver/DVD player and then connect that to me Rogers box via another cable? I only have 1 HDMI port on the Sony Receiver so it'll have to be another cable. The Future Shop guy sold me this "Fiber Optic Monster Cable" http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10104873&catid=# and said I neeeded to have it. I'm a bit skeptical. There must be a better (cheaper) alternative through monoprice.com?

All you home theatre experts - please help me out.
Thank you in advance.

[MaximDude]

I'm not an expert, but I just set up my home theatre system too that I bought around boxing day.

Maybe you could hookup your DVD/receiver to your TV through HDMI and then use component cables to hookup your Rogers box to your TV? Not sure why you need optical cable since that's for audio, unless you need to hookup your DVD player to your receiver or TV?

[TdotO]

quick answer for the optic cables...no you don't need it.
Hdmi is an all in one cable that provides audio output so you don't need another audio cable.
However, having said that, there might be some instances where you do want a seperate audio output. (i.e your receiver upscales poorly causing you to plug dvd/blueray directly to the tv in which case you will need another audio cable to plug into the receiver, if you want sound from the receiver).

[fastlayne]

OP, you are already aware of Monoprice, so you know that $70 for an optical cable was not wise. Take it back!

With regards to the HT setup.

I would assume that you want 5.1 sound when viewing Rogers, so it needs to be connected to the Sony receiver. If you need to use component output from the Rogers box (and not HDMI), then you will need an optical (or coax) digital audio cable. If the Sony receiver has a coax input for digital audio, then a simple RCA cable (yellow, red, white, whatever) will suffice. If this setup gives you 5.1 sound (as indicated by the Sony receiver), then an optical cable is not necessary.

Obviously this configuration requires power to the Sony receiver to watch TV.

In some cases the TV can be used as the "receiver" (a/v switch), with all devices connected to it, and then digital audio is taken from the TV to the Sony receiver. This method allows TV watching without turning on the Sony, but this configuration depends on the outputs of the TV and inputs on the Sony.

[mr_raider]

Suing the TV as an AV switch has it's penalty. The TV will usually downsample the input to 2.0 stereo. 5.1 optical utput is usually only for the internal QAM/ATSC tuner.

[goks]

Thanks so much for your feedback everyone... I still have a couple more questions though.

OP, you are already aware of Monoprice, so you know that $70 for an optical cable was not wise. Take it back!

Thanks, I will return it. The only reason I said yes to getting it is because I was trying to make a better "package" so I could get a better price on the receiver...which actually worked so that was great.

My challenge now though is trying to figure out which one at Monoprice I should get. Does this look like a good option? Any thoughts/opinions?

6ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2680&seq=1&format=2


Obviously this configuration requires power to the Sony receiver to watch TV. In some cases the TV can be used as the "receiver" (a/v switch), with all devices connected to it, and then digital audio is taken from the TV to the Sony receiver. This method allows TV watching without turning on the Sony, but this configuration depends on the outputs of the TV and inputs on the Sony.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but is this preferred or do I want to use my receiver as a receiver? Ideally, I want to be able to use 1 remote to do everything... Not sure if that is possible but that's what I'm trying.

[goks]

quick answer for the optic cables...no you don't need it.
Hdmi is an all in one cable that provides audio output so you don't need another audio cable.
However, having said that, there might be some instances where you do want a seperate audio output. (i.e your receiver upscales poorly causing you to plug dvd/blueray directly to the tv in which case you will need another audio cable to plug into the receiver, if you want sound from the receiver).

The other thing I'm wondering is... My TV has 2 HDMI outputs so should I just connect one to my Rogers box and the other to my Receiver/DVD player?

If I do that, will I be able to watch Rogers in 5.1? Or for that to happen, does my Rogers box HAVE TO be connected to my receiver?

Thanks.

[CanadianTSi]

Welcome to the Joys of Home Theater in a Box with only 1 HDMI... There's a reason why there cheap.

[mr_raider]

If I do that, will I be able to watch Rogers in 5.1? Or for that to happen, does my Rogers box HAVE TO be connected to my receiver?

Thanks.

Yes. TVs don't passthrough 5.1 audio. As I said, the 5.1 audio is only from the internal tuner.

[goks]

Yes. TVs don't passthrough 5.1 audio. As I said, the 5.1 audio is only from the internal tuner.

Thanks. I will connect my Rogers box to my Receiver using either RCA cables or a separate fiber optic cable (if I figure out which one). This is the one (from monoprice) that I'm considering - does it make sense?

6ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2680&seq=1&format=2

[goks]

Welcome to the Joys of Home Theater in a Box with only 1 HDMI... There's a reason why there cheap.

Good point. But I couldn't justify a bigger cost right now. My living room is a small space in the condo and I don't have very many components... Don't think I'll be getting a gaming system anytime soon. Once I upgrade to a bigger place, I'll consider getting something better and nicer.

[apvm]

I have a Sony 42" and Sony HTIB.....I have the HTIB connected to Sony via HDMI and my Blue Ray connected to HTIB via Coaxial (I use an old video cable) and it works fine...no need for optical or more expensive digital Coaxial cable...mind you coaxial standard is 75ohm and most video cable is 75ohm.

The Sony HTIB will decode either DTS or Dobly with the DVD using the built in DVD drive and will decode DTS or dobly with whatever connected to either the optical or coaxial but not both.

[fastlayne]

Thanks. I will connect my Rogers box to my Receiver using either RCA cables or a separate fiber optic cable (if I figure out which one). This is the one (from monoprice) that I'm considering - does it make sense?

6ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2680&seq=1&format=2

OP, quote the exact Sony model. The cable will depend on how the Rogers box can be connected to the Sony - either component/digital audio or HDMI.

[joshmxpx]

Hook both to TV through HDMI for video only. Use Toslink to connect Rogers box to Reciever for 5.1 sound. Use reciever as switch for audio, use tv as switch for video.

That will give you the best quality for video and audio.

Toslink can be had for around $2 from monoprice.

Hope that helps

[goks]

Hook both to TV through HDMI for video only. Use Toslink to connect Rogers box to Reciever for 5.1 sound. Use reciever as switch for audio, use tv as switch for video. That will give you the best quality for video and audio. Toslink can be had for around $2 from monoprice.
Hope that helps

Hi and thanks for the feedback. Which Toslink are you referring to? I see a couple...

1. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229&cs_id=1022901&p_id=2765&seq=1&format=2

2. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229&cs_id=1022901&p_id=2764&seq=1&format=2

Is the only difference between those the length?

[goks]

OP, quote the exact Sony model. The cable will depend on how the Rogers box can be connected to the Sony - either component/digital audio or HDMI.

Thanks. I don't have the Model Number of my Sony HTIB but I'll check tonight. The HTIB only has 1 HDMI port so I guess it depends on if I want to connect the HTIB directly to my TV (via HDMI).

Since my Sharp Aquos has 2 HDMI ports, I'm thinking I'll connect 1 to the Rogers Box and the other to the Sony HTIB.

And then use a Toslink Fiber Optic cable from Monoprice to connect Rogers and my Sony HTIB so that I can watch TV in 5.1 as well. Does that make sense? Or maybe, I've further confused myself...