A Beginner is confused about connections...

[donbart]

Being a novice regarding Home Theater systems, I am confused about the connection diagrams I find in the manuals and on the Internet. An example: Between a DVR, furnished by my cable service, and an AV Receiver, they show using almost all of the connections; a set of 'component' cables; a coax for digital input; a set for S-video and RCA L/R audio; etc. This looks like some duplication to me. Is one to run a cable between every possible connection, just to be safe? Or, if I have S-video and RCA L/R audio connections on each of my units, just stick with those through the whole system? Would appreciate any tips and good advice. Thank you. Don

 

[itschris]

Welcome to the group.

You don't need to make redundent connections. Always try to hook your stuff up with highest quality connection hierarchy: HDMI, DVI, Component, S-video, then composite. Some will argue that HDMI is too troublesome, but with a bit of care, you should be fine.

 

[engtaz]

Connectivity order should be first (if you have these):
1. HDMI - carries video and audio signals
2. Component RCA cable red,green,blue - only video signals
3. S-video cable - only video signals
4. Composite Video - Yellow - only video signals

Audio connectivity:
1. HDMI
2. Digital cable - optical or coaxial cables - only audio signals
3. Composite RCA cables red & white - only audio signals

Good luck,
engtaz

 

[Audioholics]

Great advice. Yes, we recommend either component video or HDMI for cableTV. Both are just as good. With component you'll also need a single digital coax or optical cable for digital audio.

If your AV receiver doesn't have HDMI with the ability to handle audio then use component video plus the coax digital audio.

 

[Epetrone]

Tv connection

Make sure you stay with the highest input your tv is rated for. If your Tv only accepts s-video then every component needs to be hooked up that way. you can not mix and match unless your reciever upgrades the signal to something higher that your tv can handle. I still use an s-video connection for my old tivo that goes to the reciever which upconverts it and sends it out to the tv via hdmi.

 

[donbart]

A Beginner is confused abt connections...

Thanks to each and everyone, I'm starting to get some confidence. Am I still a "Joe six pack"? ( Found that in an HT Glossary, ha.) Don

 

[patnshan]

One caveat I found is that my cable box has trouble with HDMI switching between 720p and 1080i sources. I actually preferentially use component + optical with cable in both systems because of this. It may just be a scientific atlanta box thing, I don't know.

Pat

 

[aberkowitz]

Thanks to each and everyone, I'm starting to get some confidence. Am I still a "Joe six pack"? ( Found that in an HT Glossary, ha.) Don

Only if you're hooking up you're brand new Bose 5.1 system

Honestly though, there's a learning process that goes along with all of this (and compared with the folks on this board, I always feel like a neophyte myself) and there's nothing wrong with being part of the "average consumer" while you're learning because 95% of CE products are marketed towards the J6P user. What I found to be key in advancing past that stage is to take the time to understand why and how things work (e.g. Why is HDMI the best connection), because this information will help you see through a lot of the marketing BS that CE companies put out there. We learn by making mistakes, and in the case of CE they tend to be expensive mistakes (yes, I still own some monster cables), but keep hanging around and asking questions and things start to become clearer.

 

[itschris]

One caveat I found is that my cable box has trouble with HDMI switching between 720p and 1080i sources. I actually preferentially use component + optical with cable in both systems because of this. It may just be a scientific atlanta box thing, I don't know.

Pat

I think it is. I just got the new 8300 box. My wife like to listen to the digital music channels. If she's got the tv on a listening and I turn the reciever on to play the music throught the receiver, it starts to hiccup and drop out. If i turn the TV (and cable box) off, wiat a second and turn it back on, everything's fine. It doesn't do that with component.

 

[hallowscorp@yah]

S-Video vs. Component

I recently purchased my 1st LCD TV ( Toshiba 37AV500 ) which I immediately hooked up to my Panasonic S35 progressive scan DVD player via the S-video cable I had. I was pleased with the picture, but had read that a slightly better picture could be had by using component video cables - so I went out and got some.

Imagine my surprise when I found the results of a component video hook-up sorely lacking in comparison to the S-video connection.

The Issues : When using the S-video connection, the 9:16 movie ratio automatically filled my 9:16 screen with sharp detail & natural looking color.

By contrast, the image provided by component hook-up appeared initially letterboxed in 4:3 with side-bars. I had to scroll through my TV's picture sizes to get it to fill my screen. Once I got the image full size, color was over-saturated and there was a distracting amount of dot crawl.

The problem could be varying component connection standards between brands - I'm not really sure.

The bottom line is: component video connection is not necessarily going to provide you with a better experience than S-video might; results may depend largely on whether or not your TV and DVD player "speak the same dialect".