Can you Confirm my Connections?

[jrnioa]

Thanks in advance...

Newbie here....will this work or is there other better options?

Panasonic SCPTX7 Home Theatre System with DVD
LG 42" LCD TV 1080P LBD model
Comcast DVR latest Motorola model ending with 16

Goal is to have the best picture possible with both the DVD and Cable HD with all sound at all times going through the Panasonic speakers not the LG TV.


1. Connect DVR to LG TV via an HDMI cable into HDMI1
2. Connect the Panasonic to the TV via an HDMI cable into HDMI2
3. Connect the DVR Digital Sound Toslink out to the Panasonic Digital in toslink

If the above will work do I have to tell any of the devices anything specific to route the sound acoordingly?

Thank you!

 

[Davemcc]

It appears that these connections are your only option. I'm pretty sure that the Motorola DCT-6416, if that's what you have, outputs audio via HDMI and toslink concurrently, so you should have no difficuly with this setup.

Just so you know, in this setup you should have sound to the TV from the DVR via HDMI in the case that you don't want to use the Panny all the time.

 

[jrnioa]

Dave, thanks, yes it is that model DVR.

So do I need to tell the DVR to re-direct sound to the Panasonic? Do I need to tell the TV anything about not using its own speakers also or all this is automatic?

also...is this the best way to connect things or would you suggest something else?

 

[Davemcc]

I took a quick look at that Panasonic unit. It seems that you are very limited in your connections and this is the only way. By using the HDMI connection from the 6416 to the TV, you will get sound to the TV by default. It is embedded in the HDMI signal. I suppose you could just set the TV on mute if you like.


I don't recall there being any choice in the setup menu of the 6416 to choose the audio output signal. I'm pretty sure that all the output choices are active all the time so the toslink should work fine. Here's a source for Motorola help: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Connections

edit - Welcome to the forum. I should have said that the first time.

 

[jrnioa]

Thanks!

So would it be better to just connect the toslink from the DVR to the panasonic and then Componant cables for the video from the DVR to the Panasonic and then just one HDMI link from the panasonic to the TV? No direct HDMI from DVR to TV?

Will I still get HD TV and all cable services if I did it this way?

Appreciate your thoughts!

Thanks Dave!

 

[Davemcc]

I don't see that the Panasonic has component video input, so that would not be possible.

You are best to connect as you originally posted. It should work fine.

 

[jrnioa]

But I'll have to have the TV on MUTE all the time to have the sound come out of the Panasonic? I think the LG has a speaker OFF option...maybe that would do it? Sorry, real new to this!

 

[Davemcc]

Turning the TV speakers off is a good option. I just wanted to point out that you can have it both ways if you want. I haven't found that a little flexibility is a bad thing.

 

[Audioholics]

With TVs, typically you can turn the speakers off via the System menu. Mute works, provided it doesn't go into closed-caption mode automatically of put up a mute icon on the screen.