Which way to connect?

[johndoe]

Hi everyone,

I have a hook up dilemma. These are my HT electronics, and the available outputs for the sources:

Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR505
DVD player: Oppo DV-980 (Video: HDMI, component & composite. Audio: 7ch analog, optical, digital coax, HDMI)
TV: Panasonic TC-P50X1 (720p plasma HDTV)
VCR: old Sony VHS (composite + Stereo)
DirecTV standard definition box (composite or S-Video + stereo)
Nintendo wii (composite + stereo)

I've been running this system for almost a couple of years with an old 27 CRT TV, but my beautiful wife went ahead and got me for my birthday the plasma TV on a huge sale a couple of weeks ago (maybe because it's an old 720p model, hehe, but I won't complain). Now I can hook up things in a better way. My dilemma is:

Option 1. connect everything to the TV: the Oppo via HDMI, the dtv box via s-video, the Wii and the VCR via composite; and then send the audio from the TV to the receiver via optical cable. I'd keep the 7 ch. analog connection between the Oppo and the Onkyo for SACD and DVD-A. Will the audio signal from the oppo be affected? The advantage I see is that I won't have to turn on the receiver unless I choose to.

Option 2. connect everything to the receiver, and then to the TV (the problem is that I would have to connect the receiver to the TV with the same video connection as the source (i.e., a composite cable for the wii and the vcr; s-video for dtv, hdmi for the Oppo).

Option 3: is there an option 3?

I will get a Harmony remote in the near future.

I'm starting to lean toward Option 2. What are the experts' opinions? pros and cons? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[adwilk]

I like option 1. Thats what I would do.

 

[MDS]

It's a toss-up really.

With option 1, you have to change the input on the TV for each source you want to watch and there may be an issue with audio from the Oppo. Some TVs will only pass digital audio (2 channel PCM or Dolby Digital) thru the optical out if the signal originated from its own tuner. If yours does pass audio it receives from external devices connected to it then it won't be an issue.

With option 2, you still have to change the input on the TV each time you change the input on the receiver. A remote with macro capability can make that much simpler though. I'd lean towards option 2 but then I'm not the type that ever cares to watch the TV without the receiver on.

Option 3 would be to upgrade to a receiver than can transcode all video signals to HDMI so you never have to change the input on the TV.

 

[johndoe]

Thanks, guys! Unfortunately the TV user manual doesn't elaborate on whether the audio signal from the HDMI input is affected when sent to a receiver. I think I'm going to give Option 1 a try and see if the receiver automatically decodes the format.