Total Serious Happy Thread

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I'm off to Fry's today to grab the one extra HDMI cable I need to hook up the new receiver.

Which reminds me, can anyone give me some pros and cons of running all my components through the receiver then to the TV vs. running components to the TV and optical audio out from the TV to the receiver? Or a mix (e.g., I've read that some receivers have issues synching game system video, so perhaps I should put the BlueRay, TiVo, and cpu through the receiver but the xbox through the TV)? TOO MANY OPTIONS.

I'm going to stock up on all the cables I need to do any of the possible combinations, just so keep things flexible.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Which reminds me, can anyone give me some pros and cons of running all my components through the receiver then to the TV vs. running components to the TV and optical audio out from the TV to the receiver? Or a mix (e.g., I've read that some receivers have issues synching game system video, so perhaps I should put the BlueRay, TiVo, and cpu through the receiver but the xbox through the TV)? TOO MANY OPTIONS.

I'm going to stock up on all the cables I need to do any of the possible combinations, just so keep things flexible.

On the "con" side, it means you have to have your receiver powered up and set to the correct input anytime you want to watch TV. At least in my house this has a low WAF. I had to add a learning remote to the mix.



WAF = (Wife Approval Factor)

[CoasterMatt]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

On the "con" side, it means you have to have your receiver powered up and set to the correct input anytime you want to watch TV. At least in my house this has a low WAF. I had to add a learning remote to the mix.



WAF = (Wife Approval Factor)

Not necessarily true, depending on the TV and receiver- an HDMI 1.4 spec setup with audio return, you don't have to have everything turned on to watch tv. It's called standby bypass on our receiver.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by CoasterMatt

Not necessarily true, depending on the TV and receiver- an HDMI 1.4 spec setup with audio return, you don't have to have everything turned on to watch tv. It's called standby bypass on our receiver.

And use the tv's built in speakers? No thanks.

[alphabassettgrrl]

We've got everything run to the receiver, and out to the tv. The advantage I see is that all the connection cables are short, and only run long run needs to go up to the tv.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oh, we've already got a Harmony. Component power and input switching issues are non-issues.

So I'm gathering it's more about cabling/setup/ease-of-use convenience more than performance/capability concerns?

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Oh, we've already got a Harmony. Component power and input switching issues are non-issues.

So I'm gathering it's more about cabling/setup/ease-of-use convenience more than performance/capability concerns?

It depends on, well a lot of things....

How are you connecting the speakers you have?
What type of sound processing capability does your receiver have?
What else (if anything) is connected? Wii, PS3, BluRay, Tivo, etc?

If you have a lot of gear, then routing all it through the receiver is the way to go. Or if the receiver has better sound decoders then again that's what you will want to do.

On the other hand, older receivers may not be able to pass 3D video or the latest sound formats (dolby digital or truHD, etc...).

How loud do you want to play? The receiver should be better at pumping up the jam.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

It depends on, well a lot of things....

How are you connecting the speakers you have?
What type of sound processing capability does your receiver have?
What else (if anything) is connected? Wii, PS3, BluRay, Tivo, etc?

If you have a lot of gear, then routing all it through the receiver is the way to go. Or if the receiver has better sound decoders then again that's what you will want to do.

On the other hand, older receivers may not be able to pass 3D video or the latest sound formats (dolby digital or truHD, etc...).

How loud do you want to play? The receiver should be better at pumping up the jam.

Speakers will be connected to the receiver's front channel, speaker wire. It's a 5.1 receiver, but like I said we only have the 2 cabinet speakers for the time being. It's 3d-ready and brand new, so i gotta imagine the audio processing is just fine (TrueHD, HD). We've got 4 hdmi devices (BlueRay, TiVo, CPU, and XBOX). That's it.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Speakers will be connected to the receiver's front channel, speaker wire. It's a 5.1 receiver, but like I said we only have the 2 cabinet speakers for the time being. It's 3d-ready and brand new, so i gotta imagine the audio processing is just fine (TrueHD, HD). We've got 4 hdmi devices (BlueRay, TiVo, CPU, and XBOX). That's it.

Ah. For some reason I thought the receiver was an older model.

If you route the sound via the receiver and send video direct to the TV you are likely to get timing issues between the two where everything sounds like a badly dubbed Japanese film. So I would definitely use the receiver for what's it made for, being the hub of your AV world. Hook everything up to it, program the harmony and enjoy.

Hint:

I don't know about the Yammy, but on my Denon I can re-name the inputs to better match the device. (ie "Xbox" rather than "game")

If younglings can reach the volume knob you might want to see if the receiver has a volume limiter and set it to a reasonable level.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

If younglings can reach the volume knob you might want to see if the receiver has a volume limiter and set it to a reasonable level.

Or do what we do with our current old receiver and remove the knob*

Meanwhile

I have never noticed the "INDENT" vb tag

Also meanwhile

Good news 'goon!

* ETA: Aww, it jsut occurred to me T is going to be bummed that we're taking away the old receiver. The volume knob was off, but we let him twiddle the fader/bass/treble knobs and eq sliders. Hmm, I've been looking for a good excuse to buy and arduino and put something with knobs, sliders, and LEDs together...