# HTF do I connect all of this?



## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Man, since I got my new TV I'm gonna tear this sub-forum a new one...

Equipment I have:
Samsung 50" DLP
Samsung upconverting DVD (mainly for cleaner audio than old DVD player allows)
Tivo DVR Series 2
Denon AVR-587


I'm buying all the cables I need to make the proper connections and am in a bit of a quandary.

My TIVO is not HD ready, so it has the regular ol' composite RCA's (y/r/w). I was planning on running one set of Video cable out of my Denon to the TV using component. My question is...will this co-operate with the Tivo? I suppose that the signal from the Tivo simply won't be in any sort of HD but will still pass through the component cables anyway, correct?

In addition, my receiver doesn't have HDMI. So, in this case, can I just send audio from the DVD player via optical, and video to the TV via HDMI, or will I run into any control issues?

I plan to run it like this:
DVD to TV via HDMI, and DVD to Receiver via optical 
Tivo to TV through receiver via composite (y/r/w)
Denon receiver to TV via component video, and optical audio

So, the wires I think I would need are:
(1) opticals (DVD-->Receiver) 
(1) RCA component (Receiver-->TV)
(1) RCA composite (Tivo-->Receiver)
(1) HDMI (DVD-->TV)

The only reason I'm going to buy a component cable for the Receiver-->TV connection is in case I add something later, and then I can use the Receiver to take care of the switching. 

Does this seem correct?


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## 6spdcoupe (Jan 12, 2006)

I would run optical from both the Tivo and DVD to the receiver if your Tivo has it. IIRC it does. Otherwise normal audio would suffice. It *should* also have component video - use that.

The optical out from TV into receiver for normal viewing if/when desired.

How many HDMIs does the TV have? Should have 2 no? Use that for further videro upgrade or even the second set of component.

Try coming to hookup all my crap.  

HD DVD (upconvert)
XBOX 360 Elite
Wii
DVD/VCR recorder
Tivo Series III HD
Plus the onscreen for my receiver.

Yes its a mess back there !


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## DjWeeDY (Sep 21, 2007)

Get another model of DVD player... the one you chose has an upconversion to 1080P but your TV is a 720P so it's pretty useless....

No need to use component for TiVo if it's not HD. If there is some movies in 5.1 on your TiVo, you should use optical wire to your Receiver for audio.

Rest looks good


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

DjWeeDY said:


> Get another model of DVD player... the one you chose has an upconversion to 1080P but your TV is a 720P so it's pretty useless....
> 
> Rest looks good


DjWeedy,
excerpt:


HD upconversion: When connected to an HDTV via HDMI connection, the DVD player digitally “up-converts” the resolution of standard DVDs to 720p

 

Erin is probably going to enjoy better visual detail along with the improvements!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Yeah, my Tivo isn't HD. I only have component outputs. 

As for the DVD player, Hic covered it.


So, other than that, everything I listed looks fine?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yup. why didn't you go with the Onkyo receiver? It had two hdmi inputs, and an hdmi output. with that receiver you're limited to 1080i.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I don't know. *smacks head*

My tivo doesn't have HD, and the only HDMI signal I'd be using is from the DVD upconvert player. I can make a direct connection there.


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## seagrasser (Feb 6, 2007)

Call me a lunatic, but I'd run everything through the TV and not add another junction for your video. I still don't like the idea of video switching with the audio device.

Basically my TV acts as a preamp switcher (think headunit) and my audio preamp does all of the decoding/processing and line matching (think 701). Turn everythin on and you only deal with the tv controls for the most part. It simplofies things quite a bit and there is no loss of video quality by adding another component to the chain.

Tivo > component to DLP > audio to reciever (don't like this but not much else you can do).
Dvd > HDMI to DLP >optical out to reciever.
Etc.

This keeps your HDMI cables as short as possible.

Only problem is that you have to have the television on to use the audio fromt he DVD player. Perhaps it has a nice screensaver.

By the way, the Denon will sound nicer. The Onkyo's are great bang for the buck, but I have had everyone say they prefer the sound of the Denon once they replaced their Onkyo (6 people and counting).


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

seagrasser said:


> Call me a lunatic, but I'd run everything through the TV and not add another junction for your video. I still don't like the idea of video switching with the audio device.
> 
> Basically my TV acts as a preamp switcher (think headunit) and my audio preamp does all of the decoding/processing and line matching (think 701). Turn everythin on and you only deal with the tv controls for the most part. It simplofies things quite a bit and there is no loss of video quality by adding another component to the chain.
> 
> ...


Honestly, you might be right.

I was even thinking why don't I just use the Denon to do only audio. I would have a few extra wires (maybe 1) but it's not much trouble.

As for having the DVD player on while listening to music, what about if I just go from the DVD player straight to the Denon for audio and HDMI to TV for video. Then I can just use the receiver to listen to music and don't have to have the tv on. 

Oh, I got the cd player in tonight. Trying to power it on via a computer power supply as we speak.  
I'll post up a feedback for you after that (though that won't effect it since you said it might not work).


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Info on correlation of EMI and RFI as viewed on a TV..

Depending upon what sort of signal a cable is carrying, we may be worried about EMI, RFI, or both. For video signals, both EMI and RFI are problems; low-frequency noise can distort a picture--for example, inserting "hum bars" into it--while high-frequency noise will be mistaken for part of the video signal itself and may appear, for example, as "snow" in the image. For analog audio, which operates at much lower frequencies, EMI is the principal problem. RFI can enter your system through audio cables, but unless it is particularly strong, ordinarily does not present a noise control issue.


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> yup. why didn't you go with the Onkyo receiver? It had two hdmi inputs, and an hdmi output. with that receiver you're limited to 1080i.


It's just HDMI switching, not upconversion, and he currently only has 1 HDMI component. 

Here's how it should go.

HDMI from DVD to TV converted to 720p
Optical from DVD -> Denon

Component from Tivo-> TV
Optical Tivo -> Denon (if it has it.)

That is going to save you the most cash on cables and whatnot to put towards a nice universal remote like you are looking for in your other post. You don't really need the receiver to do all your video switching if you have a macro based universal remote to change all the inputs automatically.


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

seagrasser said:


> Call me a lunatic, but I'd run everything through the TV and not add another junction for your video. I still don't like the idea of video switching with the audio device.
> 
> Basically my TV acts as a preamp switcher (think headunit) and my audio preamp does all of the decoding/processing and line matching (think 701). Turn everythin on and you only deal with the tv controls for the most part. It simplofies things quite a bit and there is no loss of video quality by adding another component to the chain.
> 
> ...


I didn't see this post before I made mine, but he is right on. This is pretty much just what I said. I don't mind video switching through the receiver, some of the newer nicer ones actually do it quite well. However, for what you are hooking up, and what you want to accomplish this is really the best way.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Cool.

I'm going to have to run composite from Tivo though, since it doesn't have the special inputs... just regular red/yellow/white. 

But, I'm ordering a component cable for future use anyway while I'm ordering this all

Here's my list:
(1) 1.5 Optical (DVD to receiver)
(1) 3' Optical (Tv to receiver)
(1) HDMI (DVD to TV)
(1) Composite (Tivo to TV, covering audio & video)
(1) 10' vga (laptop to tv)
(2) Pair of banana plugs (speakers)
(1) 50' roll of speaker wire ($7 and way more than I need, but can't beat the price)


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## s10scooter (Feb 5, 2007)

Although bad for Erin, this helps me.

The best my TV can do is 1080i, so there is no sense in getting a receiver that does this kind of thing.

And $299 isn't a bad price at all. Instead of getting the AVR-1508, I can save a couple bucks.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Flipx99 said:


> Although bad for Erin, this helps me.
> 
> The best my TV can do is 1080i, so there is no sense in getting a receiver that does this kind of thing.
> 
> And $299 isn't a bad price at all. Instead of getting the AVR-1508, I can save a couple bucks.


What's $299? I'm confused.


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## s10scooter (Feb 5, 2007)

bikinpunk said:


> What's $299? I'm confused.


The MSRP of the receiver.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Flipx99 said:


> The MSRP of the receiver.


OH, of the one I have.

Gotcha. Yea, I wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't gotten a good deal. I didnt buy it for video switching at all. Just to act as a standalone receiver. Then, as usual, I got caught up in everything I was reading and my intentions went another direction...but, I'm now back where I was when I bought this: using it as an audio output only.


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

bikinpunk said:


> Cool.
> 
> I'm going to have to run composite from Tivo though, since it doesn't have the special inputs... just regular red/yellow/white.
> 
> ...


 You may want to re-evaluate the cable lengths. Many times 3' appears to reach, but with a cabinet involved and any decent wire management it just wont make it. If you are unsure cut a 3' piece of string and set it up. 6' usually has plenty of slack to a TV, 3' to components. 

Also, your TiVo probably has s-video. Use that rather than composite.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Tv rack doesn't have drawers. I just re-measured and 3' will fit fine. 

1.5' should cover the wires to/from receiver dvd player.


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## DjWeeDY (Sep 21, 2007)

Hic said:


> DjWeedy,
> excerpt:
> 
> 
> ...


You didn't read far enough : "HD upconversion: When connected to an HDTV via HDMI connection, the DVD player digitally “up-converts” the resolution of standard DVDs to 720p/1080i/*1080p* high definition for super-sharp images."

It will work but you pay for this option when you won't ever use it because your TV can't display that resolution.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

DjWeeDY said:


> You didn't read far enough : "HD upconversion: When connected to an HDTV via HDMI connection, the DVD player digitally “up-converts” the resolution of standard DVDs to 720p/1080i/*1080p* high definition for super-sharp images."
> 
> It will work but you pay for this option when you won't ever use it because your TV can't display that resolution.


Right. But it's an x-mas gift. Think it only costs $75, too.

Like I said, the large part of wanting a new dvd player is to get optical out so that I can listen to cd's.


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

DjWeeDY said:


> You didn't read far enough : "HD upconversion: When connected to an HDTV via HDMI connection, the DVD player digitally “up-converts” the resolution of standard DVDs to 720p/1080i/*1080p* high definition for super-sharp images."
> 
> It will work but you pay for this option when you won't ever use it because your TV can't display that resolution.


It adds 60 lines of resolution, and then sends it through a line doubler.... that's it. It isn't that much of a difference at that price point. Either way you are starting with a DVD, there is only so much you can do with it for $75. My Sony ES player probably outperforms it via s-video just because of the scaling/processing built into it. Case & point is this, you will never get anything remotely close to 1080p out of a DVD player, especially one sub $1000.... so it doesn't really matter. It's just slightly better than component as the signal remains an all digital path from disc to TV instead of being converted to analog, back to digital, and the back again.


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