49 Year Old Newbie ready to stick an Ice Pick in my eye.

[mazman1]

I have absolutely loved big sound in my Music and Sports for over 40 years now. After writing my last ridiculously large tuition check for my ridiculously deserving youngest son, I thought it was time to finally write one for myself. I am not an electrical engineer, but I am basically competent, but trying to make this work correctly is absolutely driving me insane. I have read until my eyes hurt and I am admitting defeat and throwing myself on the mercy of a wiser bunch then myself. here is what I have:

Onkyo SR 706, PS 3, Fios Motorola HD 7100 1, Samsung 60” Smart TV, Onkyo DSA3 IPOD Dock, SONY (old) DVD/VHS, 7 Speakers.
FIOS via HDMI powered splitter 1 to ONKYO 1 to Samsung TV
PS 3 via HDMI to Onkyo, via Component Cables to Samsung TV
Sony via Component Cables & RCAs to Onkyo
IPOD Dock to ONKYO
ONKYO HDMI Output to Samsung HDMI ARC input.
Samsung Optcal output to Onkyo Optical input.

I Want to be able to play FIOS box directly to TV without receiver on sometimes (wife), and still be able to play it through the Onkyo for surround sound at other times (me ALWAYS).
I Want to do the same for PS 3.
I Want to be able to use my Smart TV for Pandora, Netflix, you tube etc... but play sound through Onkyo for surround sound.
I thought HDMI ARC would allow for this, but it did not, so I had to use Optical cable as well.

Problems:
Onkyo turns off randomly after 15 or 20 minutes of playing. I will disconnect and reconnect all speaker wiring, I believe that to be most likely culprit.
Onkyo defaults to IPOD dock every time I power up, have to switch to TV or PS3.
I can’t get Dolby Sound. THx, All Channel stereo, but no option for Dolby.
FIOS plays through TV but not Onkyo, unless I take the splitter out, then it plays through Onkyo, but not TV directly.
Samsung picture quality mediocre compared to what it looks like at best buy, any suggestion on the best DVD to adjust my tv settings that I could actually be functional enough to use?

I have gone into Onkyo setup menus and properly assigned HDMI's but it doesn't seem to allow 2 way communication between my Samsung and it, thus my need to connect via optical as well, and my dabbling with the splitter.

My apologies for the verbosity, any guidance at all would be appreciated more than you know.
Maz

 

[BMXTRIX]

The cable box may continue to prove to be something of an issue and really should be your only 'dual' source. There are new A/V receivers which will pass-through a source when the receiver is powered off. While I am happy to make the argument that this is completely ludicrous, people insist upon using the lousy speakers for some viewing.

I would ditch the complicated. Connect all your sources via HDMI to the A/V receiver, including the cable box.

Run component from the cable box to the TV with analog audio.

Ditch the splitters, and the rest.

To my knowledge the PS3 can't output via component video and HDMI at the same time, and you will take a hit on quality if you do so.

Audio will be downgraded if it runs through the TV as most TVs can't handle the better audio formats.

Get a good universal remote so it is as easy to listen and use the good gear as it is to use the TV. This is what my family does, and since the age of 3 my kids have been able to use the system and my wife has never had an issue. She once DID ask: "When do we use the TV speakers and when do we use the big speakers?" - answer: "We always use the good speakers."

If a system is truly easy to use, then people will use it all the time.

 

[jliedeka]

For setting up your TV, two popular options are Disney WOW and Spears & Munsil. I have both but have only used the latter. They are BluRays. If you have any THX DVDs or BDs, you can do a quick and dirty setup with those using the optimizer feature.

Your other issues seems specific to your receiver and splitter. I can't help with those.

Jim

 

[mazman1]

That's how I started minus the Components for the Fios. I will try that tonight, and see if it allows my PS3 full functionality. I assume I will still need the optical cable to get the Smart TV features to play through my Onkyo? Any ideas how I make the Onkyo stop defaulting back to "Dock", and do you agree my cut out after 15 or 20 minutes is likely speaker related, or do you think its a heat issue that now strikes me as a possibility? Thanks for your quick response. And Jim, I will try your suggestion for my picture quality, thanks.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Make sure CEC control (HDMI control) on all of your components is turned OFF. It's a poorly implemented 'feature' of HDMI which really messes with how things run. Turning all HDMI CEC ensures that your Onkyo won't turn on/off unexpectedly and should help with reliability.

Yes, you will want the optical cable out of the TV to the receiver if you want to use the receiver for playback of the 'smart' features of the TV. Or you can get an external streaming device such as Roku or AppleTV which are really built from the ground up for that type of use. Up to you.

As for your receiver shutting off, please provide a make/model for the speakers to go with the receiver. Speaker cable shouldn't cause the issue, and it working at all indicates that speakers aren't shorted together. But, have you tried pulling off five of the speakers and running the setup in 'stereo' for a while to see if that fixes the issue?

Onkyo offers a lot of 'bang for the buck' in their products, but from what I've seen over the years, their build quality leaves a fair bit to be desired.

 

[mazman1]

I appreciate that input, I will make sure CEC control is turned off and see if that helps. I will rewire as you suggested previously, turn off CEC and remove the splitter from the equation and test everything out tonight. I am also trying to figure out which calibration disc to get, leaning towards Jim's suggestion of Spears and Munsil above. I know my picture just isn't right, my wife thinks I am crazy, but bigger isn't better, clearer and sharper is better and I know I don't have that yet. Do you know if any of the calibration discs that work on TV picture also help fine tune audio set up (speaker sound and output choices)? I'd really like to learn a little more about the 6 or 8 different sound output choices my onkyo offers me, well used to offer me when the wiring was right

 

[jliedeka]

I would also suggest you learn about the settings in the TV. Out of the box, there tends to be a lot of extra processing enabled like motion smoothing, etc. which actually make the picture worse.

If you can't get ARC working, an optical out from the TV is the way to go. My receiver pre-dates ARC so I use an optical for it. There's nothing wrong with using the smart TV features if they do what you want. My TV duplicates a lot of what my Oppo does but the TV's Netflix app supports 5.1 and it's uPnP app is a little nicer.

I agree with BMXTRIX about the speaker wires. I don't think they are likely to be the problem. The only thing I can think of, if HDMI CEC isn't the problem, is that your speakers are trying to draw too much current causing the receiver to go into protection mode. That, or there's a defect in the receiver itself. Not knowing what speakers you have, I can't really guess which explanation is most likely.

Jim

 

[hizzaah]

Onkyo's tend to run hot. Aside from a faulty cable, that would be my guess for your issue. It needs proper ventilation or I use a cheap USB fan I got off Amazon with mine.

 

[bikemig]

Put those college kids with degrees you helped pay for to work. They owe you, .

 

[mazman1]

One is an Architect, the other a PT. Can't afford the first one's designs, the second one doesn't take my insurance http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif
Not letting either of them touch my stereo!

 

[mazman1]

After several hours of struggle, this is what I have found. BMXTRIX was correct, when I ditched the splitter and wired as he suggested I was able to get the Tv to play either through stereo or directly to TV at will, however I lost the function of my PS3 with the PS3 hooked up only via HDMI to the Onkyo, I could get sound but no picture. Something else from above does seem to have stopped my defaulting to the dock (thanks!). So I currently have PS3 component cabled to Tv and HDMI to Onkyo, FIOS HDMi to Onkyo, and SAMSUNG TV receiving HDMI output from Onkyo and sending Digital Optical back to Onkyo so I can watch You Tube with Stereo sound. However, I watched about 15 minutes of Stevie Ray at Montreaux on Smart TV (You Tube) through Onkyo sound and my Onkyo abruptly shut itself off. It was not an overheat issue as stereo played when I switched back to FIOS for the rest of the night without incident. My Speakers are as follows: Infinity Primus PC350 (Center), Infinity Primus P362 (front right and left), Altec Lansing 510S (Surround left and right) and a pair of Bose cubes (back right and left). I also have a Velodyne Impact 10 sub woofer. I also noticed when I tried to run Spears to calibrate the TV that my PS3 picture is mediocre at best. The directions that pop up when you hit the up menu on each step are barely legible, and the tests themselves don't seem to show all they are supposed to show. I am supposed to have 3 shades of bars on left and right side, for the first 2 tests, and I only get 1 side visible no matter how high or low I turn the brightness or contrast. i know, I know, I am a mess. Any ideas?

 

[mtrycrafts]

One is an Architect, the other a PT. Can't afford the first one's designs, the second one doesn't take my insurance http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif
Not letting either of them touch my stereo!

Can't afford the design or the execution of the design? If it was my kid, it better be free design.