Connecting devices...

[giyad]

Hi I'm new to A/V so please bear with me... I am moving to a new apartment, and wanted to mount my TV to a brick wall over the fire place (only because its the only logical place for the TV). There doesn't seem to be anywhere else to put it. It is a brick wall so it makes it difficult to run the wires without them showing, unless we put them through the cement. I am thinking of taking this option, but that would mean we have to minimize the cables. So my question....

How exactly does HDMI work? Could I take an HDMI cable from my TV to a receiver, and then plug everything else into the the receiver (cable, dvd, PS3, etc...)? Or do those devices need the video to go straight into the TV?

Basically, I want to put an HDMI cable in the cement of the brick wall, and plug one end into my TV, and the other into the receiver. Then if I want to install cable, a dvd player, a ps3, xbox, whatever, all I would need to do is plug it straight into the receiver??? Am I crazy?

If what im saying isn't crazy...
Does anyone recommend a receiver? not too expensive please!

 

[chuck10553]

that is actually exactly how most recievers work... i have a yamah rx-v663 (which may not mean much to you as you say you are new to this kind of stuff) but basically i have an hdmi going to my tv and my ps3 ps2 wii and audio cable to plug in my ipod all are just in my reciever and since hdmi runs audio and video you really only need the one cable! if you dont have a reciever yet just make sure it has video pass through although im pretty sure most if not all recievers have this feature but yea... welcome to the forum and hopefully this helped!

 

[giyad]

that is actually exactly how most recievers work... i have a yamah rx-v663 (which may not mean much to you as you say you are new to this kind of stuff) but basically i have an hdmi going to my tv and my ps3 ps2 wii and audio cable to plug in my ipod all are just in my reciever and since hdmi runs audio and video you really only need the one cable! if you dont have a reciever yet just make sure it has video pass through although im pretty sure most if not all recievers have this feature but yea... welcome to the forum and hopefully this helped!

Thanks for the warm welcome! and thanks for the quick reply as well! Do you recommend a receiver though? I want to hook up cable, a dvd player, and a media center extender, and possibly a PS3 (depending on the extenders capabilities)...

 

[chuck10553]

if you want surround sound then obviously yes otherwise a media center extender should be able to do the same thing as i see it... like i said just be sure that it has video pass through which it should and if its a media center extender then probably audio also to send to your tv speakers... hdmi would make this easiest especially if the reciever or MCE has upconversion (i recommend the yamaha rx-v663 if you are getting a reciever ) it is 7.2 and has video pass through, upconversion, and a arse load of other features! i love mine! hope this helps