Ok so lost... I absolutely need help and advice!!

[youyou]

WARNING VERY LONG POST!!! SO PLEASE BARE WITH ME!!!
Hi Guys,
So where to start...
I have posted a few threads here already and would like to thank everyone for their great responses and valued advice...
Now let me begin...
About 2 weeks ago I decided to change my tv. I had a samsung 50'' dlp 5085. The one on the stand which was purchased last year from future shop.
I had a samsung sc-ht1000 htib as well.
I absolutely hated the tv and the image that it produced. This tv got great reviews but for some reason mine was just horrible. So I went back to future shop and after some extensive complaining they decided to take back my tv at only a 500$ loss then what i purchased it for 1 year ago. So now i was free from this horrible tv and off to get a new one. I decided to buy the Panasonic TH-50PX60U plasma. After coming back to my house i decided i wanted to get rid of my samsung hitb as well...I don't know what happened to me but i just decided to change everything.So i sold my htib and went back to future shop for a new home theater. I ended up buying the Bose Acoustimass 16.Now the salesman tells me you will need a receiver so I was like ok sure... Now i have never owned receivers of any kind or separate speaker systems. I always had htib's and so this was all new to me.To me receivers were always those confusing big boxes that had a million connections in the back that meant absolutely nothing to me.
So the salesmen suggested the Harman Kardon avr140. Out of all the receivers they had that one was by far the best looking and it had a bonus ipod dock connector which was perfect for me because i must have 7000 tunes on my ipod...
So i went back home with my new Bose Acoustimass 16 speaker system, my new Harman Kardon avr140 receiver and the Panasonic plasma on delivery for the following weekend...
Now what to do? How to set it all up? I decided to get in contact with a guy i knew that does proffesional instalations and told him everything i bought and that i needed him to install everything for me. My previous set up had wires running all over the place and it was just a huge mess.
So he came over and we decided that we were going to pass all the wires through the wall and install the Panasonic Plasma on the wall.
So as I was waiting for my tv to arrive i started checking on the internet on electronics stores and found the Harman Kardon avr240 for much much cheaper then i payed for my avr140. Decided to order it online right away and returned the Harman Kardan avr140 at future shop.
So now comes the time for the installer to come install everything.
Here is my setup and what I have.
I have the Panasonic Plasma going on the wall, The Bose Acoustimass 16 6.1 speaker on the walls of my room, The Harman Kardon avr240,An xbox360,Philips Direct TV tivo, Coolsat 6000 FTA and a toshiba dr-5 hdmi dvd recorder
Now My Plasma is on the wall in the middle of the room and my components are all on a rack/stand in the corner of the room. So now to pass all the wires from the tv to the components i will have to use minimun 20ft wires.
So here goes ( and by the way i am writting so much information that I myself am lost at this point...lolol.. so bear with me). The dvd recorder is connected to the tv directly via hdmi ( my installer brought me a 20ft hdmi cable from some unheard of generic brand and that already began stressing me a little because i had a monster hdmi1000 2m cable that looked of much much better quality...but anyways i listened to him and let him install everything).Then my xbox 360 is connected to my Hk receiver via component hd cables, my coolsat was coonected to my hk receiver via s-video and my direct tv tivo was connected via s-video as well to my hk receiver. All audio was connected via optical.
Ok so then my installer connected my tv to the receiver and everything was good to go...Mmmmm not really.
So he then leaves and lets me figure all this new stuff out on my own.
Now let me tell you that i had no idea about all the technical terms or what not about all the connections and how to make everything work seemlessly together. But i went online searched some forums and slowly bugt surely started learning everything. So first off.
I started playing some xbox360 on my tv and then flicked the litlle switch on the back of the component connector to HD and changed the settings to 1080i. When i did that all i could hear was sound but no image was projected on the tv.I tried to change the picture settings on my tv to hd but it was greyed out on sd and nothing could be done. After speaking to Panasonic, Microsoft they came to the same conclusion. To check the connection between the tv and the HK receiver and see if that was component. Well it was not. It was regular rg6 composite cables... So i called my installer and kept on telling me their is no difference and that if i wanted he could come over and just make those rg6 wires into component cables.
You see the only way i could have a component image projected onto my tv via my receiver was to connect my receiver to my tv via component cables.
But at this point i didn't trust me "installer" with his ideas anymore...
On a side note i had tried connecting my coolsat 6000 via component to my receiver as well and there was no image on the tv. So now i have to get the guy to come back and start fishing all the wires in the wall again to get the component wires from my receiver to my tv. So i decided not to go with his ideas of making his cables into component... I mean it seemed all a little sketchy to me . It seems that he justs want the easy way out and to work the least bit possible. So i went ahead and ordered 25ft component cables and decided to get a new hdmi 25ft cable as well from Monoprice after hearing good things from these forums.
Ok so now i'm well on my way to getting what i'm looking for. The most out of my video and audio with my new purchases... Mmmmm not quite. I then found out that with the Harman Kardan avr240 if it is connected to the tv via component cable then all sources coming in must be component cables for me to get an image on my screen. So at this point i'm losing it... I do some research online and find out that my solution is in the Harman Kardon avr340 which will croosconvert my s-video signals and analog signals coming into the receiver into component. Ok great now i have to return the Harman Kardon avr240 and get the 340 which is more expensive... So i order the avr340 and return the avr240. Now at this point as we speak i'm waiting for the avr340 to arrive and i'm all excited that everything should be as i want and i will be able to take full advantage of my new Plasma HDTV. But as i'm wating i decide to call Harman Kardon and speak to a tech support agent for some info.
As it soo happens I will not be able to watch 720p or 1080i images via any of my components connected to my newly ordered ( and still waiting for to arrive i might add) avr340 receiver... The avr340 will only cross convert but not upconvert my signals going into it... The best image i'll get is 480p.
So I am officialy LOSING IT!!!! I'm going completely insane over here and don't know what to do???? The main purpose of me spending all this money is to get the best out of my newly created home theater and obviously my new baby... The Panasonic 50'' plasma. But I won't be able to get 720p signals or 1080i signals... So it's drving me crazy and I don't knw what to do anymore.
How the hell am i going to get the best image quality to my plasma running through a receiver. I did some more extensive searching online and to be quite honest it looks like i have to change to another receiver again!!! I'm losing it here guys...
I can't afford to spend 1000$ on a receiver. My budget is around 500$ to 600$ maximum. but are you telling me that for me to get component or hdmi upconversion from a receiver i will have to spend thousands of dollars???!!
I think i should have just stuck to getting a regular htib and connecting all my components to my tv directly. But now after spending 1000$ on installation and fishing all the wires so that they can get from the tv to the receiver that is not an option...
I was looking at a couple of receivers online and a few came to mind.
The Yamaha RX-V2600 which is way over my budget but i guess seems that it will do the job. The Pioneer vsx-1015tx which is in my budget but seems to do the job via component cables...
So here it is I am at home waiting for the avr340 to come in which apparently now will not do the job i need it to do. Waiting for my cables from monoprice so that my not so trusworthy or knowledgable installer can come back and fish some wires through my walls again and charge me even more money.
And i am completely speechless because i don't know what to do anymore.
I have spent over 8000$ Canadian and yet i am not getting what i want. Especially the best image possible on my tv.
Now the sound from the speakers are amazing and i am completely satisfied with that.
So what do i do guys? What route should i take to get what i need without having to spend more money? Is the avr340 a good receiver? Is 480p signal good? Is there a noticable difference between 480i/480p/720p/1080i ??
Are 20ft component cables and 20ft hdmi cables from monoprice good enough?
I truly truly appreciate your patience in taking your time in reading my issues and hopefully helping me out.
Thank you again all so much and hopefully you will be able to point me in the right direction...

 

[agarwalro]

Wow, your post sounds like it should have been in the thread called "On the way to the home theater..." or whatever it is called. Tough man. I feel for you. With all the standards, connectors and wiring needs, setting up a home theater is no longer just about truning the TV on and sitting back. If you go the receiver/ seperates route, the road can be bumpy indeed. Not to mention the number of people out there waiting to profit from the inexperience of people like yourself wanting to make the switch from a HTIB or BOSE to something more satisfying.

I hate to break this to you but, there is no receiver on the market today that will provide a single wire solution. There is conflict between HDMI version on the receivers and the TV STB. Not even the top of the line in Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer or any other manufacturer you can name. The only way to implement a single wire solution (only one wire goes to the TV from the component rack) without purchasing a new receiver (which will not work) is to get a HDMI switcher.

Route the video via HDMI out from your Xbox, DVD player, STB through the switcher to the TV. Route all audio through the receiver. Set up the HDMI switcher to give video for the corresponding source and you have your dream setup.

More replies should be pouring in soon. Be warned, a lot of folks will suggest you return the Bose speakers. Their suggestions are justified. For the cost of the Acoustimass 16 - 6.1 setup, you can get much better performing 6.1 speakers. But I am sure at this point you just want to get your existing setup working... so I will refrain from making suggestions on this front.

 

[youyou]

Thank you for your quick reply and advice...
It is indeed very tough...
As for the hdmi switcher is that something that is expensive? Where can i get such a thing?
My xbox360 does not have an hdmi input though. My only component that does is the dvd player which is connected straight to the tv anyhow...
So with this hdmi switcher can i connect my component wires from my fta receiver and my xbox360 and then from the switcher to the tv via hdmi.Is that how it works? Forgive me but I am very new to all this and so i might be asking stupid questions...
As for the Bose system trust me in my earlier posts I have been blasted about it. But to be quite honest i got an amazing deal on it from future shop.
They knocked off 700$ Literally...and it was brand new sealed in the box.
And on top of that i put it on a 12month interest free payment free plan on my future shop card. So that was a big part of my desicion as well.
And to be honest they sound really great. Even though at the original msrp of this system i could have purchased much better online... But for future shop trust me it is the best system they offer.
But at this point that's the least of my problems...
So hope to hear from you and others soon with more advice...
Thank you again.

 

[mouettus]

Came up with two solutions for you:

1. Connect your video devices directly to your television (video wires) and directly to your receiver (audio wires). That way, you won't lose a bit of quality and you won't have to worry about conversions. The only bad thing with that solution is that each time you want to switch sources, you'll have to do it in two steps. First change the Tv source, then the receiver source. That's how I'm set up now and it's not much of a hassle.

2. Go online or in a local audio store and inform yourself about the cheapest receiver that upconverts. If you were interested in the rx-v2600, then have a look online at his older brother the 2500 (last year's model) that I think is able to do component upconversion as well. You can steal it online... have a look!

For my two cents, I think that HK is a steal of money for what it is. Great warm sound but nothing more for the price!!

 

[youyou]

All my wires are already in the wall and like i was saying in my initial post all my receivers are in the corner of the room while my tv is in the middle.
So I would need to buy 20ft cables and start opening up the walls....
Unfortunately just not an option for me at this point.
But thank you for the advice...

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

You need to get your hands on a receiver like this:

http://www.ubid.com/Onkyo_TX-SR803_735W._7.1-Ch._Home_Theater_Receiver/a10676008.html

 

[xboxweasel]

There should be a way to make use of the current components. Except if compromise is not an option then some stuff will have to get changed. Fortunately, since you bought most of your equipment from a box store you should be able to return everything for a full refund.

YouYou, you (hehehe) must look at this as a learning experience. Everyone starts somewhere. You just happened to start a little harder.

 

[youyou]

So how to i go about getting all this resolved..
I mean ultimately i want to be able to get the best picture possible out of my Panasonic Plasma and my components running through my Hk receiver. Or other...
Thank you all so much again for your help. It's great to be able to have forums like these where you can look for some great advice and helpful solutions to problems that might arise.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

So how to i go about getting all this resolved..
I mean ultimately i want to be able to get the best picture possible out of my Panasonic Plasma and my components running through my Hk receiver. Or other...
Thank you all so much again for your help. It's great to be able to have forums like these where you can look for some great advice and helpful solutions to problems that might arise.

Here's what I would do. Keep your HK receiver. You really want the upgraded HDMI 1.3 on a receiver for HDCP playability issues. Those 1.3 receivers aren't even out yet (and if they were, wouldn't be in your price range). Keep your HK for a year or two until prices come down a bit, then swap your HK for a new unit in a few years (sell it on ebay). Run component from your satellite/cable box directly to your flat screen (the cables should already be run) so you don't lose 1080i/720p. If you are paying extra for HD programming, you don't want to settle for 480i/p.

Look at it this way. You buy a receiver for switching and sound. You buy a flat screen monitor for picture. Don't rely on a receiver to better a video signal (it can only pass a signal, not improve it - no matter what anyone tells you). Use two remotes until the new HDMI 1.3 receivers come out, and save your pennies.

 

[youyou]

Buckeyfan. I think you are right and ultimately that's what i need to do...
I will just have to pass more wires through my wall. Meaning I will have to pay a little more money to my installer to open things up and pass more wires in the wall.
I think that will be my best bet. And eventually as you stated i will just sell my receiver and buy the right one.
Thank you for your advice.

 

[pikers]

Thank you again all so much and hopefully you will be able to point me in the right direction...

Here is a poster case for why you should seek out a good local organization (also a good idea not to stab them in the back by purchasing a receiver from an unauthorized dealer based on the recommendations of the real dealer, but that's a different issue), and heed their advice regarding equipment and installation. You will notice the gear is not selected based on reviews, what some magazine/neighbor/Consumer Reports says, etc. The recommendations are based on what works for you and your personal situation. Bose speakers? HK receiver? Panasonic plasma? Having to return a set (after a year, it should have been yours) to begin with is unacceptable.

My advice is return anything you can (minus the plasma; it's not the weak link), and seek out a real CEDIA organization that actually help you, not advise purchasing a hodge-podge of gear. Getting some random trunk-slammer to do an install is equally unwise for the same reasons.