Advice from Best Buy on how to hook it up

[relaxingjoe]

I know that the B.B. guys try and upsell EVERYTHING so I'm being cautious with his advice. I only have component hookups on my Sylvania 6842PF M Plasma. I'm going to ignore my Video Signal Connection and my S-Video connection since I spent good $ for a great picture.

What do you think - can I cut any corners?

He said:

Plasma -->DVD with Component Cables RGB
Plasma -->HD Cable Box with Component Cables
Plasma -->HD Cable Box with Optical Cables
Plasma -->AVR with Optical Cables
HD Cable Box -->AVR with Optical Cables
AVR --> DVD with Optical Cables

Can I get away with just Component Cables RGB with my Plasma--->DVD connection? And the rest do old-school RCA red/white/yellow cables?

Thanks in advance!!!

-Rob

[mtrycrafts]

Originally Posted by relaxingjoe

I know that the B.B. guys try and upsell EVERYTHING so I'm being cautious with his advice. I only have component hookups on my Sylvania 6842PF M Plasma. I'm going to ignore my Video Signal Connection and my S-Video connection since I spent good $ for a great picture.

What do you think - can I cut any corners?

He said:

Plasma -->DVD with Component Cables RGB
Plasma -->HD Cable Box with Component Cables
Plasma -->HD Cable Box with Optical Cables
Plasma -->AVR with Optical Cables
HD Cable Box -->AVR with Optical Cables
AVR --> DVD with Optical Cables

Can I get away with just Component Cables RGB with my Plasma--->DVD connection? And the rest do old-school RCA red/white/yellow cables?

Thanks in advance!!!

-Rob

No mention of Svideo at all? That is pretty good as well.
You also should have that plasma properly calibrated to achieve the best possible it has to offer. Out of the box usually set to impress, not accurate reproduction of the video.

You can also do HDMI from the DVD player to the plasma. Cable might be less expensive and should give a better video. Maybe the cable box has HDMI?

[relaxingjoe]

Thank you mtrycrafts,

No mention of S-vid - the guy said "component is the best."

Calibrate the plasma? Does that mean adjust the brightness/contrast etc.. ?

My plasma does does not have an HDMI input on it. (also, im still concerned about one of my component hookups being truly enhanced - this is what I read on some post but it does not mention this in the manual....hmmm internet rumors or what?)

[Sheep]

For the DVD player, he was talking about Audio. Component doesn't do audio so he suggested an optical cable. Component is good, but so is S Video. If I had a choice, I'd take the Component all around, but thats a lot of Component inputs. Might have to send some to the receiver.

SheepStar

[mtrycrafts]

[quote=relaxingjoe]
No mention of S-vid - the guy said "component is the best."

Technically is would be. Practically speaking Svideo is pretty close and some cases not able to differentiate them. Svideo is one cable, component is 3

Calibrate the plasma? Does that mean adjust the brightness/contrast etc.. ?

Yes, with a calibration DVD. There are 4 different ones on the market. Amazon has/should have used ones.

(also, im still concerned about one of my component hookups being truly enhanced - this is what I read on some post but it does not mention this in the manual....hmmm internet rumors or what?)

Not sure what you mean here. But I suppose that component is technically the best? Try calibrating the set and see but you need to calibrate the input video source, component or other.

[relaxingjoe]

Thanks MTRCRAFTS,

I hooked up my Plasma to a dvd player using component cables and it played but the problem is that the entire screen had a red tint.

I then hooked it up to another dvd player and it worked fine - any suggestion on what went wrong with the first dvd player?

Also, any thoughts on my delima between these two recievers on this post?
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums...ad.php?t=17672

[dnaps]

if you're looking to save a few $ and your av receiver has enough inputs....why not run your dvd and cable box through your receiver? does your plasma even have optical inputs?

[chicagomd]

My presonal preference is to directly connect as many componets as possible. Send all the audio directly to the AVR, send all video directly to the plasma. If the plasma does not have enough inputs for all of your componets, I would say at least directly connect the DVD and the cable box to the plasma.

Video signals:
Plasma <-->DVD with Component Cables RGB
Plasma <-->HD Cable Box with Component Cables

Audio signals:
HD Cable Box< -->AVR with Optical Cables (You might need an RCA connection here as well for non-digital signals.
DVD <--> AVR with Optical Cables
Plasma <--> AVR with RCA (and/or optical) connection (optional)

You should not need any audio connections between your plasma and the AVR, since with just a box and DVD player you are not sending any audio signals to the TV. I would recommend making this connection in case you hook-up a video camera to the TV for movie playback or something like that in the future.

Just my thoughts, good luck.

[relaxingjoe]

Thanks - my Sylvania 42'' plasma only has 2 component hookups - that's the best it has.

[chicagomd]

I would still run your DVD and cable box directly into the Plasma, as those are going to be the two highest quality video signals you have.

If you add any more componets to the system your best bet will be to run all other audio/video signals directly into the AVR and then have an s-video connection from the AVR to the display.