Best way to connect audio receiver?

[Pubear]

There are two ways possible to connect the audio from my satellite receiver to my audio receiver. I can either connect the two directly or connect the satellite receiver to my TV (CRT) and my TV to my audio receiver.

Pros and cons of each? Is it even going to make a difference?

P.S. I'm using RCA's. I'd use coax but the satellite receiver doesn't support coax and I'm too cheap to get something as dainty as optical.

 

[Seth=L]

....too cheap to get something as dainty as optical.

What? Optical cables aren't that expensive anymore, but I'm not sure what you meant by dainty so I may be refering to the wrong thing here.

For convenience alone I'd probably connect the satallite to theTV, however it does increase the possibility of interference or noise by adding a component to the signal chain. It's the more sound bet to connect it directly to the receiver. I guess I only would connect to the TV if I thought I was going to need that input on the receiver open for something else.

 

[highfigh]

There are two ways possible to connect the audio from my satellite receiver to my audio receiver. I can either connect the two directly or connect the satellite receiver to my TV (CRT) and my TV to my audio receiver.

Pros and cons of each? Is it even going to make a difference?

P.S. I'm using RCA's. I'd use coax but the satellite receiver doesn't support coax and I'm too cheap to get something as dainty as optical.

Connecting the TV audio to a receiver isn't usually the best way, especially if the TV is older. I would definitely connect Sat Receiver>>>Receiver>>>TV.

Use coax, as in channel 3 input? That's the worst possible way to connect equipment. here's the range of video quality, best is at the top:

HDMI/DVI- these are digital, so no conversion is needed from the source to the TV input.
Component Video/VGA- both are analog, with VGA needing hte user to set the resolution
S-Video
Composite Video
RF (anything that needs to use the tuner to access the signal)

Optical cables tend to be thin, so if that's what you mean by 'dainty', don't worry about it. What you don't want to do with optical cables is kink or coil them tightly.

As far as being cheap- do you want good audio/video quality, or not? You don't need to use cables that are extremely expensive or loaded with marketing BS but you do need something decent. If you shop around, you should be able to find all kinds of cables without breaking the bank.

 

[Pubear]

Connecting the TV audio to a receiver isn't usually the best way, especially if the TV is older. I would definitely connect Sat Receiver>>>Receiver>>>TV.

Use coax, as in channel 3 input? That's the worst possible way to connect equipment. here's the range of video quality, best is at the top:

HDMI/DVI- these are digital, so no conversion is needed from the source to the TV input.
Component Video/VGA- both are analog, with VGA needing hte user to set the resolution
S-Video
Composite Video
RF (anything that needs to use the tuner to access the signal)

Optical cables tend to be thin, so if that's what you mean by 'dainty', don't worry about it. What you don't want to do with optical cables is kink or coil them tightly.

As far as being cheap- do you want good audio/video quality, or not? You don't need to use cables that are extremely expensive or loaded with marketing BS but you do need something decent. If you shop around, you should be able to find all kinds of cables without breaking the bank.

Ok. You've answered my question and hit on something I was already assuming.

I figured connecting the satellite receiver directly to the audio receiver would be the lesser of two evils for the time being for the same reasons you stated, but I wanted to be sure.

When I said coax I didn't mean old school cable, screw in to the back of the tv coax. I meant digital coaxial cable. As far as optical I have 2 cats who seem to love to get behind my entertainment center and I have been told that optical cables break fairly easily. I'll have to look around at some prices though as I haven't done so in a while. If I can find a decent one for around $20, I might do it but any more than that is too much for a cable I'm sure one of the cats will break within a month.

 

[Pubear]

I seem to have found the answer to my problem. I clicked on the Blue Jeans banner at the top of the discussion forums home and voila, the BJC Optical Digital Audio Cable (built with Mitsubishi ESKA fiber.) Inexpensive, more durable than glass optical AND if I'm not mistaken the article said tests showed it to be lossless up to 50'

 

[lsiberian]

Ok. You've answered my question and hit on something I was already assuming.

I figured connecting the satellite receiver directly to the audio receiver would be the lesser of two evils for the time being for the same reasons you stated, but I wanted to be sure.

When I said coax I didn't mean old school cable, screw in to the back of the tv coax. I meant digital coaxial cable. As far as optical I have 2 cats who seem to love to get behind my entertainment center and I have been told that optical cables break fairly easily. I'll have to look around at some prices though as I haven't done so in a while. If I can find a decent one for around $20, I might do it but any more than that is too much for a cable I'm sure one of the cats will break within a month.

the click is the part that messes up for me on optical cables. Monoprice.com is pretty good though. Though I've started buying through amazon since I order other things there.