Confused & Tired... Setting up Blu-ray, hd tv, hd cable, wii, mac mini to receiver...

[almostfamous84]

Ok... I will mail you cash/check for 20+ bucks if you can help me get up and running...

I just bought a Yamaha HTR-6130 5.1-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver and Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray Disc Player. I currently have Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC HDTV Time Warner Cable Box, Wii, and Mac Mini. My TV is a Samsung HL-R4266W 42 in Rear projection TV.

My goal is to have someone help me decide where to plug in what to each device while still using the max resolution and best quality sound possible with my 5.1 speakers.


Here is what is available:

Yamaha HTR-6130 5.1-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver
Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS Digital Surround (New), HDMI, 6 Ch Ext Input, Silent Cinema and Virtual Cinema DSP, Compressed Music Enhancer, Scene.
Component Video:
DVD: Pr Bb Y
DTV/CBL: Pr Bb Y
DVR: Pr Bb Y
Monitor Out: Pr Bb Y
Multi Ch Input:
Front: L R
Surround: L R
Center
Subwoofer
Digital Input:
Optical CD
Optical DTV/CBL
Coaxial DVD
HDMI:
Out
DVD
DTV/CBL
Video:
DVD
DTV/CLB
DVR: In Out
Monitor Out
Audio:
DVD: L R
DTV/CBL: L R
DVR In: L R
DVR Out: L R
CD: L R
MD/CD-R: In (Play): L R
MD/CD-R: Out (Rec): L R


Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray Disc Player
Full HD 1080p, DVD Upscaling, 7.1 channel analog output, Dolby® TrueHD internal decoding, Ethernet port, BD-Live2, Bonus View, 24p True Cinema, BRAVIA® Sync for Theatre5, Precision Cinema, BD/DVD/CD and AVCHD playback, xvYCC color, Precision Drive system, xross media bar™, USB Port
Component Video Out: Y Pb Pr
Line Out: S Video
Line Out: Audio L R
Multi Channel Output: Front L R, Surround L R, Sur Back L R, Center, Sub Woofer
Digital Out: Optical, Coaxial
Line Out: Video
HDMI: Out


Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC HDTV Time Warner Cable Box
Cable In
Cable Out
Pr Pb Y/V
Digital Audio Out
Out 2 (Secondary Video and Audio Out)
Audio Out (L R)
Optical Audio Out
S-Video Out
HDMI


Samsung HL-R4266W 42 in Rear projection TV
2 x Component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - Rear
2 x S-Video input ( 4 pin mini-DIN ) - Rear
1 x Composite video/audio output ( RCA phono x 3 ) - Rear
2 x Composite video/audio input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - Rear
3 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) - Rear
1 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) - Rear
2 x RF input ( F connector ) - Rear
1 x S-Video input ( 4 pin mini-DIN ) - Side
1 x Composite video/audio input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - Side
1 x SPDIF output ( TOSLINK ) - Rear


Nintendo Wii: Component Out (L R V)


Mac Mini: DVI out, Audio Out (stereo)


Thank you oh so very much in advanced as I greatly appreciate any help what so ever!

Thanks again,
Confused Blake

 

[sploo]

Very quickly (I may well have missed something - like the exact number of inputs/outputs on your gear)...

* Blu-ray player to Receiver using HDMI (video and audio)
* Cable Box to Receiver using HDMI (video and audio)
* Receiver to TV using HDMI (video and audio)
* Wii to Receiver using Component (video) and analog left & right (audio)

This assumes that your receiver decodes all the latest HD audio formats (like TrueHD) from HDMI and will output video and audio to the TV via HDMI having received analog video & audio signals (i.e. from the Wii).

If the video doesn't work, you could add a component cable from the receiver to the TV for analog video sources (plus analog left and right for the audio).

If the receiver doesn't decode all HD audio formats, then you can connect the Multi Channel Output sockets from the Blu-ray player to the Multi Ch Input on the receiver. I have to do this, as my old receiver doesn't have HDMI (this is also the reason I don't know if a HDMI receiver will give HDMI video output from an analog video input).

No, I haven't forgotten your Mac. Audio connection obviously from the analog output on the Mac to an input on the receiver. For video, you'll want a DVI to HDMI lead (or DVI-HDMI block, with a HDMI-HDMI lead - these are cheap on eBay). You could then connect the HDMI Mac output (no sound will be present on this cable) to the receiver.

If your receiver only has 2 HDMI inputs, then you could replace the HDMI connection from the cable box with a component video connection (and using the Digital or Optical Audio Out for an audio connection). My reasoning for this is that the cable box will only be 720p (or 1080i) which I believe will go via component, and it's unlikely to output any of the HD audio formats that require HDMI (though those are assumptions only).

Hope that helps.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, Blake! No need to send us money. Spend it on a good movie for your new system or something.

Some basics first.

Audio
HDMI can carry the new lossless audio codecs (like Dolby TrueHD), while optical and coax digital connections can't because they don't have enough bandwidth. All three connections can carry Dolby Digital and DTS.

Video
Your TV can display 720p, while accepting up to 1080i. HDMI can certainly transmit those resolutions, as can component video and DVI.​

Now for some specifics on your equipment. Your receiver can't process audio over HDMI, so you'll need to make additional audio connections. Also, your receiver can't do any video conversion (e.g. from component video to HDMI). Here's my first cut at how I'd connect everything:

Blu-ray player-to-Receiver

• Player's HDMI output to one of the receiver's HDMI inputs
• Player's multi-channel audio outputs (minus the surround back outputs) to the receiver's multi-channel 6.1 audio inputs

Cable box-to-Receiver

• Box's component video output to one of the receiver's component video inputs
• Box's optical audio output to one of the receiver's optical audio inputs

Wii-to-Receiver

• Wii's component video output to one of the receiver's component video inputs
• Wii's left/right audio outputs to one of the receiver's left/right audio inputs

Mini-to-Receiver

• Mini's DVI output to a DVI-to-HDMI adapter to one of the receiver's HDMI inputs
• Mini's left/right audio outputs to one of the receiver's left/right audio inputs

TV-to-Receiver

• Receiver's HDMI output to TV's HDMI input
• Receiver's component video output to TV's component video input
• TV's optical audio output (SPDIF) to one of the receiver's optical audio inputs

With those connections, you'll need to switch inputs on the receiver and (if you are going from HDMI to component video) inputs on the TV. You can assign audio/video inputs to different sources, but just make sure that you hook up the audio and video inputs to jacks that relate to each other (e.g. the audio for the blu-ray is assigned to the same source as the video for the blu-ray).

A different receiver could do the video conversion for you from component to HDMI, as well as processing audio over HDMI, so you might want to consider getting a slightly more expensive model.

Sorry if I missed something. Let us know if this helps. Thanks.

Adam

EDIT: I see that sploo got a response to you while I was researching/typing.

 

[soundaddict]

Same receiver, diff question

Hi guys,

one question...on my receiver (which is the same), during the configuration, it tests each speaker and subwoofer, displaying each icon on the display according the sound testing each speaker, to show which speaker is being tested. But now, when watching TV, or movies, it only shows L and R icons on the receiver display...but I can hear sound on each speaker...any ideas?

thanks!

 

[Adam]

Welcome!

According to the owner's manual, those speaker indicators show the input channels that are being received. So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the receiver is only getting the L/R channels. However, you can put it into surround sound modes that will turn those two channels into 5.1 (maybe 7.1, I'd have to read the manual further) so that you would hear sound from all of the speakers. However, that's not true 5.1 - it's simulated.

How do you have the TV and movie source (DVD?, blu-ray?) connected to your receiver?

Adam

 

[soundaddict]

Thanks for the reply!
The TV is Comcast DTV, which is connected to the receiver through HDMI, same as blu-ray. and the receiver is connected to tv through HDMI too.
btw, I was looking into the manual, but couldnt find a way to turn it into 5.1...do you know how?

thanks!

 

[soundaddict]

ah, the audio is provided through white/red rca cables. from both DTV and blu-ray since the receiver seems unable to get the sound from HDMI.

 

[Adam]

ah, the audio is provided through white/red rca cables. from both DTV and blu-ray since the receiver seems unable to get the sound from HDMI.

For the DTV, I would recommend using a digital audio connection (either optical or digital coax) instead of the stereo analog connections. That will allow you to listen to Dolby Digital and DTS.

As for the blu-ray player, if it has multi-channel analog outputs, I would recommend using those. If it doesn't, then I recommend using a digital audio connection there, too.

 

[almostfamous84]

Center Speaker doesnt work in Multi Ch mode...

So i moved and now hooking up my system my center speaker doesnt work when watching a dvd. I ran basic setup and there is no sound coming from the center speaker in multi channel mode. Interesting enough, i can only hear the background noise and music... no talking. If i turn off the internal mute on my tv i can now hear talking however i think there is an echo sometimes. Any ideas?

 

[BudgetHT]

Hey guys. First time posting here.
I saw this thread and thought I would put my .02 in.
I have the HTR 6230 receiver which is similar to your 6130. As has been stated the 6130(6230) will not transmit audio via HDMI.
Here's my set up:
1. Cable box(Motorola DVR), HDMI to "HDMI DTV/CBL in" on receiver.

2. Blu-ray(Magnavox NB530MGX) HDMI to "HDMI DVD in" on receiver. Audio via "DVD coaxial" on receiver to "coaxial" on Blu-ray

3. TV(Panasonic Plasma TC-P50S1) HDMI 1 to "HDMI out" on receiver. Audio via "DTV/CBL optical" on receiver to "optical" on TV.

4. Game console(Wii) From Wii to video AUX on front of receiver(yellow, red, white) Yellow cable from "monitor out" on receiver to video in on TV.

Everything, but the Wii runs off the HDMI 1 source on the TV and I just switch activities using a Harmony 670 remote.

I don't know if this is the best way to set this combo up, but it seems to work fine so far.