Help for a novice

Mike · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

I just got a new TV and home theater kit. I need some opinions on the
best set-up.

Here are the components:
Big Screen, dvd, digital cable box, and receiver with 6 speakers.

Currently I have run everything into the receiver and the tv's only
connection is output from the receiver. I had to use the fiber optic
cable to connect the DVD and receiver because my dvd didn't have the
digital coax output but the sound when playing dvds is really good so
I am not concerned there. One problem I have is not getting surround
sound when playing regular television. My cable box has one screw-on
coax output(not currently used) and one RCA output which is running to
the receiver(I plan on hooking up the second output to the tv to
utilize PiP).

Does anyone have any ideas on what would improve this set-up?

Thanks
Mike

Archived from group: alt>home-theater>misc

Steven Sullivan · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 21

Mike wrote:
> I just got a new TV and home theater kit. I need some opinions on the
> best set-up.

> Here are the components:
> Big Screen, dvd, digital cable box, and receiver with 6 speakers.

> Currently I have run everything into the receiver and the tv's only
> connection is output from the receiver. I had to use the fiber optic
> cable to connect the DVD and receiver because my dvd didn't have the
> digital coax output but the sound when playing dvds is really good so
> I am not concerned there. One problem I have is not getting surround
> sound when playing regular television. My cable box has one screw-on
> coax output(not currently used) and one RCA output which is running to
> the receiver(I plan on hooking up the second output to the tv to
> utilize PiP).

> Does anyone have any ideas on what would improve this set-up?

You won't get TV surround sound with this setup because your cable box
doesn't have the right outputs for it. Surround is DOlby Digital, which
must be decoded either in your cable box, or sent digitally to the
receiver for decoding.

However, if the RCA output is stereo, and your receiver has Dolby Pro
Logic II, you can simulate surround sound when playing TV sources.

Fiber optic for the digital DVD connection is just as good as coaxial in
most situations, so as you say that is no problem.

--
-S.