Yamaha HTR-6130 receiver - no sound from speakers

[jaime2009]

I recently purchased the Yamaha 5.1 channel home theater system which includes the HTR-6130 receiver ( I wanted a system with an actual receiver so I could wire my in-wall surround sound speakers). I've connected everything as follows and done the basic set-up which verified that all the speakers were attached correctly and working, but I cannot get any sound out of the speakers with the TV on. I should note that this is my first attempt at this type of thing.

Components:
Samsung 50" 1080P flat-panel plasma with Dolby Digital
Yamaha HTR-6130 receiver
Comcast HDTV cable box
Old DVD/VCR box

Because of the limited connections on the old DVD/VCR I chose to run all video through the TV and audio from the TV to the receiver (salesperson agreed this should work). So I have an HDMI cable going from the cable box to the TV. I have component audio/video cables going from the DVD to the TV and then I have an HDMI cable and a Monster digital optical audio cable going from the TV to the receiver. I've read in other postings that the audio would not transmit through the HDMI cable which is why I added the Monster cable. Other thing to note is that I have 3 HDMI inputs on the TV but not an output, so I am not sure that HDMI cable going from the TV to the receiver is doing anything.

Initially when I turned the receiver on I could get sound out of the front 2 speakers but not the center, subwoofer or surround while watching the TV. The next day (with no connection changes made but after running the Basic Set-up) I couldn't get that to happen.

I checked the signal information and it says the format is Analog -- so my assumption is this is the issue but I don't know how to make it Digital.

Do I need to run audio directly from the cable box to the receiver (rather than or in addition to from the TV to the receiver)? Do I need to do the same for the DVD to the receiver?

And/or do I need to try and run the cable box and DVD to the receiver rather than the TV and keep the current TV - receiver connections (HDMI and Monster cable)?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[GlocksRock]

Connect the digital optical cable from the cable box directly to the receiver, don't run it from the tv, since many times the tv only outputs stereo sound.

 

[jaime2009]

Thanks.

What I am not sure is if my cable box has an optical connection - hopefully it does. If not, I suppose I need to do a component connection because that's the other option on the receiver (coaxial is only an input from the DVD).

 

[AVRat]

This is how I would connect things.

What digital audio connect(s) are available on the DVD/VCR? --> Receiver
Component video from DVD/VCR --> Receiver --> TV

Component video from Cable Box --> Receiver
What digital audio connect(s) are available on the Cable Box? --> Receiver

HDMI from Cable Box --> TV (This allows for TV viewing without the need to turn on the receiver.)

If you also want to use the DVD/VCR w/o the Receiver more cabling is required.