Extreme novice at home theater and multimedia entertainment setup.

bind777

Hello Highdeff Forums,

Like the title says, I know very little when it comes to the whole HD wave and the setup required to make it so. In the near future I plan on buying an HDTV, Home Theater System, and PS3.

I have been becoming slightly more informed and been trying to learn how it all gets set-up. Let me start off by saying that one of my friends who works at Radioshack told me that for optimal quality in Video and Audio HDMI was the way to go. This might sound dumb but is it possible to set up TV, audio, PS3, PC and digital cable through HDMI? It would probably be easier if I showed you what I was buying first.

(Don't chave enough posts for links )

TV: SAMSUNG 37" 1080p LCD HDTV - LN37A550

Audio System: Panasonic SC-PT960 1080p Up-Conversion DVD 5.1 CH Home Theater System

I understand that the PS3 and audio can get run through HDMI to the tv. This is really hard for me to word but I guess the simplest way I can put it is, how would I be able to set up PS3 in HD but also obtain the surround sound quality in the TV PS3 PC and CABLE all at once. Is this even possible? I apologize if it may sound stupid and I greatly appreciate and help and the time you take to answer my question.

~bind

bind777

Anybody?

m_vanmeter

do not get to impatient - answers are not "instant"......

In order for "everything" to be carried and processed by HDMI, everything on the input side will need to connect to the audio/video receiver which acts like a switch to connect the various sources to the TV. A single HDMI cable connects from the a/v receiver to the TV. The receiver also processes the audio stream and amplifies it for the speaker system. You do not use the poor speakers in the TV.

With the Panasonic "home theater" you mention, be forewarned that rarely do "wireless" speakers work well in modern homes with lots of other wireless devices like cordless phones and wi-fi routers using the same frequencies. The spec's are very poorly written, they don't even mention how many HDMI inputs the unit has.....only "Yes" it has at least one. It does not handle any of the new "lossless" HD audio codecs that will be available when you get the PS3 and play Blu-ray disks on it.

All that said, look at the Onkyo HT-S6100 system of HTiB. It has all the bells and whistles you will need, 4 HDMI inputs to handle all your sources, HD audio decoding, and "decent", but not great, speakers probably better than the small speakers in the Pany setup. Check Amazon.com...it's on sale with free shipping (a big deal because the box is quite heavy with all the gear inside).

The onkyo does not include a DVD player, but they are better as a "separate" because they are almost commodities now.

good luck

bind777

Many thanks m_vanmeter. So the receiver will put out the audio AND video to the TV? I think I was getting really confused because I thought it only carried out audio. I will DEFF look at the Onkyo system you mentioned, and I have also heard that wireless setups do not work well so I will stay away from them.

Just to clear things up. So HDMI cables coming from PS3 my PC and cable will go into the receiver? And then one output to the TV? If thats the case that sounds pretty damn easy. And as for the DVD player, I would just use the PS3 for normal DVD's and Blu-ray.

Thanks again!

~b!nd.

m_vanmeter

HDMI will come from from the PS3 and the cable box (if you get the right HD cable box that actually has HDMI output ! ) and go only to the a/v receiver. The receiver will switch those two signals and output them to the TV via. HDMI (the receiver does need to be ON with this setup, to process the signals).

The PC is a different issue. Very few sound and video cards work with HDMI. The PC may have to hook video directly to the TV (depends on the video out from your computer video card, most HDTV's can handle VGA out/in) and run a Toslink optical cable to the a/v receiver (if your sound card has optical out for Dolby 5.1 ??? )

Depending on how many movies you watch, a $50 DVD player might be a consideration to keep from over using the PD3 drive....save it for Blu-Ray

bind777

Ah ha. I've been doing some more research today and I'm going to be purchasing a new video card and sound card as well. The video card has an HDMI port and is HDCP ready. I really like that Onkyo system you mentioned and decided to get a sound card that supports 7.1.

This is the video card I'm looking at: (I also plan on using it for PC gaming)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130338
And sound card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102024
Optical cable:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812120019

Now if I use and HDMI cable going from the video card to the receiver and use that optical cable from the sound card to the receiver all should be well right?

That's also a valid point about the PS3, if my theory above is correct then I would just use my PC for standard DVD's and the PS3 for blu-ray.

Also on the 6100, the 4 HDMI inputs aren't specifically designed for a certain device are they? You can plug any device in there, cause they are just different inputs correct?

Thanks again for all your help vanmeter!

~b!nd.

m_vanmeter

you are putting together a very nice system. The 4 HDMI inputs can be used for any HDMI source.

I did not see anything about the video card that mentioned it somehow acquired the digital audio and pumped it into the HDMI output, so I think you will need the Toslink optical.

bind777

Hahah thank you, just got a new well payed job so now its only a matter of time.

My thoughts exactly about the Toslink. On the picture of the receiver it says that the optical inputs are assignable. Does that mean I would be able to assign the optical input coming from my sound card with the HDMI input coming from the video card? It makes sense but would be unnecessary if the video card processed audio to. Any difference in sound quality?

EDIT:Also the optical cables support 7.1 right? I heard over other forums and such that they don't =[
I'm going to do some more research on the HDMI video cards and see if any process the audio through.

DexterMorgan

Yes, you can assign audio from here and video from over there.

no, optical only supports 5.1. HDMI is the only mainstreme digital interface that can carry 7.1. Your best bet is to find a graphics card that can do 7.1 audio in passthrough mode (i'm not sure if there is one), and let your audio receiver do the decoding. I'm not sure what graphics cards have this feature, but I know I have a motherboard with integrated graphics that spits out both video and audio through its DVI port to be sent to a receiver with a DVI->HDMI cable.

Don't disregard a card just because the card doesn't have an HDMI port built-in. The reason for this is they want the card to be easily compatible for multiple-monitor setups. 99.9999% of graphics cards now come with a little tiny DVI->HDMI converter... so all you will need is an HDMI cable to run video and audio to your receiver. I know, I've done it. I just don't know know if ones have 7.1 passthrough abilities. I just use toslink for my 5.1 system.