I was hoping some of you guru's would be able to help me out. I am tryng to understand the best way to set up my home theater, but keep getting information that makes me think I can't do it to my standards without replacing my current hardware.
I currently own a crappy tv, a Yamaha RXV-657 receiver, Athena Point-5 Speakers, and a PS3.
I am planning to upgrade TV soon, speakers next (both for another thread).
My biggest question now lies with HDMI vs. Optical Inputs. I was told on purchasing the receiver that the only advantage (audio wise) to having HDMI over optical was 1 cable for both audio/video. I was talking to a friend who was telling me that when he hooked up his PS3 to his Yamaha (not sure what model, but it has HDMI inputs/output which mine does not), he could only have true 5.1 audio through the receiver if it was compressed. When it was uncompressed, it would come in as 2 channel and the receiver would decode and it sounded awefull. When he inputed through his HDMI in uncompressed format, everything worked and it sounded incredible. So much better in fact that he decided to sacrafice his 1080p for 1080i to route through his receiver in HDMI.
Could anyone help shed some light on the different compressions, sound quality differences, and medium for transfer (ie. HDMI, Optical, Digital Coax)? I did search, but got bombarded with info....... I am all confused. Please note that I understand the differences for video, it is the audio capabilities that I am unsure of.
Thanks in advance.