why do i need video in my receiver?

[smokeman]

this is an honest question. i'm looking at building a home theater, but there's one thing i just can't seem to understand - why do i need to plug the video output of my sources into an a/v receiver? it seems to me i can just plug the satellite directly into the tv (using hdmi), as well as plugging a new blu-ray player directly into the tv (again, i'll use hdmi). i'm not a gamer. so if i can do that, do i even need the video part of the receiver? if not, i'll just get a pre-amp instead of a receiver, since i have active speakers. thanks

 

[gus6464]

this is an honest question. i'm looking at building a home theater, but there's one thing i just can't seem to understand - why do i need to plug the video output of my sources into an a/v receiver? it seems to me i can just plug the satellite directly into the tv (using hdmi), as well as plugging a new blu-ray player directly into the tv (again, i'll use hdmi). i'm not a gamer. so if i can do that, do i even need the video part of the receiver? if not, i'll just get a pre-amp instead of a receiver, since i have active speakers. thanks

The reason is that if you have a blu-ray or hd-dvd player you need to plug them in to your receiver through hdmi to get the high def sound formats like TrueHD and DTS-HD. HDMI passes both video and sound so the receiver takes the sound part and outputs it while it passes the video part to your TV. Of course if you don't have either of those and just a regular dvd, xbox 360, wii then you don't need to go through your receiver for video since you can just use an optical cable to receiver instead.

 

[evilkat]

Some receivers can even upconvert signals from component to HDMI, etc. If u don't need that or have a receiver that cannot do that, obviously it doesn't apply.

 

[aberkowitz]

The other reason, besides the great ones already mentioned, is for the sake of simplicity. By running everything through the receiver you can reduce the number of cables and clutter going on behind your system. In your case this would be two HDMI cables to your Receiver and one running back out to your tv versus 2 HDMIs to the tv and 2 opticals running to the receiver. Right now that's only a 1 cable difference, but what happens if you add a third, fourth, and fifth components? You also reduce the need to switch between two inputs on your tv when changing sources- you want to change from a movie to tv, you just change the source on the receiver and you're there. Again, this becomes easier to see when you start adding more inputs.

In your current case, its probably not necessary. As you expand I think you'll see how it's more useful.

 

[Seth=L]

I wouldn't be concerned about signal degradation if that is something you where worried about. The audio over HDMI would be my reason, I would never use a receiver to process video unless I had a budget TV and no HD player. The Blu-ray player should do a fine job scaling SD DVDs and of course the Blu-rays will look and sound stellar if HDMI is piped through a receiver that can process multichannel LPCM or the HD audio formats (which depends on what Blu-ray player you have).

 

[smokeman]

thanks, everyone. i wasn't aware that hdmi carries both the audio and the video signals together. but i still end up with the same thought - why not just get an hdmi-capable pre-amp? i'll use one hdmi cable to send the blu-ray signal straight to the tv (that doesn't bother me) and another to send the audio signal to the pre-amp. i'm just trying to keep from buying more stuff in the receiver than i need. that's why i'm thinking about a pre-amp; why buy a receiver with built-in amps when they are already in my active speakers? i can spend that money on a pre-amp that has put all it's money into sonic reproduction. and why buy a receiver with a video section built in if i'm happy sending the blu-ray output straight to the tv? again, i would rather that money be used to improve the audio capabilities of the system

 

[smokeman]

if it helps, a lightning strike hit the house and fried everything i had. so i just bought a new pioneer 720p plasma tv and a panasonic blu-ray player. i'm doing a lot of research on receivers, but i'm more interested in music than i am movies. so i don't want something that has a lot of its money tied up in amps and video and such. i want something that will take that same amount of money and use it to improve the musical qualities of that piece of equipment.

 

[smokeman]

oops. i just unpacked the blu-ray player and noticed that it only has one hdmi output, so i guess that settles that. my bad. but it has rca audio out jacks as well. i've gotta think the hdmi would be a better output for music, right?

 

[NapaDRB]

As I understand it the only way to get the HD audio is either through HDMI or 5.1 analog outputs so it depends on the RCA jacks on your player. If your player only has the stereo red and white rca's this will not work, on the other hand if it has the 5.1 analog rca's this will output the HD audio.

I recently purchased a Toshiba A35 HD DVD player with the 5.1 analog outputs to connect to my Rotel RSX 1057 receiver through it's 5.1 inputs.

 

[AVRat]

Pre-amps: Integra 9.8 or Onkyo Pro 885