**Any Help Appreciated**

[cleglue1]

Hi, Im new to this site and want to say thanks in advance for any help given.

I just purchased the panasonic SC-PT960 home theater system...which I'am suprised on how great it sounds.

Anyways I was looking for the best way to get quality sound of course...I hooked it all up yesterday and this is what I did.

Hooked Hdmi cable from panasonic reciever to back of my lg 42" 720p lcd...and just hooked an red and white rca for an aux cable from the panasonic reciever to my motorola dvr tuner cable box.

Now to my big question...for optimal sound...Do I also need to run a digital optical cable from the panasonic reciever to the motorola cable box?

am I getting the optimal sound by just having the hdmi from the panasonic reciever to the tv? I was just wondering cause I dont have anything hooked to the cable box except the red and white aux rca's.

I know im getting the best sound when watching dvds or listening to cd's cause of the hdmi goin to the tv but I want to have the best sound when watching regular cable tv also...thats why I was wondering if I needed to run a digital optical from the panasonic reciever to the cable box...I also already have an hdmi cable running from my cable box to the Tv...cable box has only 1 hdmi output.

Thanks

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

Here's some info for you:

• The HDMI connection between your Panasonic and your TV isn't doing anything for your sound. The Panasonic is reproducing the sound, so the connection to the TV isn't affecting that. Also, the HDMI connection is one-way - so it is sending the video (and audio) from the Panasonic to the TV, but not the other way around.
• Your Panasonic has an optical digital audio input, and I'd highly suggest that you use that to connect to your cable box instead of the analog connection (the two RCA connectors that you used). The analog connection will allow you to listen to stereo and matrixed surround (such as Dolby Pro-Logic), but it won't let you listen to Dolby Digital - and your cable might have that on a lot of shows anymore.

If your cable box doesn't have an optical digital audio output but does have a coax digital audio output, then you can get an adapter for that if you want.

EDIT: You added that you have the cable box connected to the TV with an HDMI cable. I forgot to ask about that. Here's another option to the second bullet of mine from above - if your TV has an optical audio output, you could connect it to the Panasonic (instead of connecting the cable box to the Panasonic). If you let us know the model number of your TV, we could check if that would affect the sound.

 

[cleglue1]

LG 42LG30 is the model number for my tv...

basically what you told me was what I had in mind...my cable box does have the same digital optical input as my panasonic reciever has...so i will be making a trip to get one today.

Thanks for your help..I will be using this site for future reference more often!

so I will be replacing the 2 rca's with the digital optical? should I still leave my hdmi cable running from the panasonic reciever to the tv?

 

[Adam]

so I will be replacing the 2 rca's with the digital optical?

Yes, sounds good.

should I still leave my hdmi cable running from the panasonic reciever to the tv?

Definitely! That's how you are transferring video from your DVDs to the TV.

 

[cleglue1]

Thanks adam..heading to the store now!

 

[cleglue1]

**update**

just came from the store and hooked my fiber optical audio cable up and wow its like 200% better than those rca's haha.

I really recommend the panasonic system in the box I purchased for those who are on a budget like myself. it has all the big sound like advanced systems just not as good bass response.

 

[Adam]

Awesome! Thanks for the update.

 

[lsiberian]

Um couldn't you have run HDMI from the cable box to the receiver?

Oh well. Sounds the same. You'll get dolby digital either way. If you watch sports you will be amazed.

 

[Adam]

Um couldn't you have run HDMI from the cable box to the receiver?

No. .

 

[Adam]

No.

I just reread that, and that might have come across kinda jerky. Sorry about that - not my intention.

The receiver is part of a home theater in a box system, and the connectivity is somewhat limited. There is an HDMI output, but there are no HDMI inputs.