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Thread: The Cable Box

  1. #1
    Hal
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    The Cable Box

    I am ready to buy a new a/v receiver. If I recall correctly, the DVD player will feed into the receiver and the receiver will feed to the TV. Should I run the cable box through the receiver or straight to the television?

  2. #2
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    You can do it either way.
    Either to the AVR and then to the TV,
    or to the TV and to the AVR.

    What cables are you using?
    Last edited by GMichael; 09-15-2010 at 10:01 AM.
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    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
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    I run HDMI from box to TV for non surround sound TV viewing (news & so on). I also run optical from box to AVR for surround sound viewing (sports, HD movies). Best of both worlds

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    Hal
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    Thanks.

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    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    I run HDMI from box to TV for non surround sound TV viewing (news & so on). I also run optical from box to AVR for surround sound viewing (sports, HD movies). Best of both worlds
    The "best" of ALL worlds is an HDMI ready receiver, run everything but the kitchen sink
    into it, and out to the TV.
    I got my receiver for the new lossless codecs(DTS MASTER, DOLBY TRUE HD) but
    the ease of a system integrated , with the receiver handling all of the switching chores
    automatically, is a nice bonus, worth the upgrade just for that.
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    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pixelthis
    The "best" of ALL worlds is an HDMI ready receiver, run everything but the kitchen sink
    into it, and out to the TV.
    I got my receiver for the new lossless codecs(DTS MASTER, DOLBY TRUE HD) but
    the ease of a system integrated , with the receiver handling all of the switching chores
    automatically, is a nice bonus, worth the upgrade just for that.
    That's all good but your missing the point. I don't care to turn all my gear on to simply catch 20 mins of the morning news. By hitting "Watch TV" on my Harmony One, I get TV sound only for news, cartoons for the kids and things like that.

    When watching football or HD Movies, I hit "Watch TV with Speakers" for the surround to kick in. I'm sure I'm not the only one that uses this type of settings.

    BTW, my 2700 handles HDMI just fine

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    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    That's all good but your missing the point. I don't care to turn all my gear on to simply catch 20 mins of the morning news. By hitting "Watch TV" on my Harmony One, I get TV sound only for news, cartoons for the kids and things like that.

    When watching football or HD Movies, I hit "Watch TV with Speakers" for the surround to kick in. I'm sure I'm not the only one that uses this type of settings.

    BTW, my 2700 handles HDMI just fine
    I run a straight cable feed, no box, to my set, for the times I want to watch without
    turning the system on.
    I USED to have a direct HDMI connection like your setup, but what I have now is just too convenient. To each his own.
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    GM, you said from TV to receiver, does any one know if TV's are now capable of outputting a 5.1 signal? It used to be they would only output a 2-channel, This would not be a good way to go to receiver, at least if one wanted true 5.1.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    GM, you said from TV to receiver, does any one know if TV's are now capable of outputting a 5.1 signal? It used to be they would only output a 2-channel, This would not be a good way to go to receiver, at least if one wanted true 5.1.
    I would have to say it depends on the manufacturer. My HD set is 2 yrs old now, but has always sent 5.1 signals to the receiver.

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    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    GM, you said from TV to receiver, does any one know if TV's are now capable of outputting a 5.1 signal? It used to be they would only output a 2-channel, This would not be a good way to go to receiver, at least if one wanted true 5.1.
    I NEVER saw one that put out more than 2 .0, but even if it did it would be a poor way to
    get sound into your receiver.
    Off topic MR P but how is your DLP doing? I AM HAUNTED BY the picture put out on
    a Mitshubishi 60" at my local dealer.
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    Quote Originally Posted by pixelthis
    I NEVER saw one that put out more than 2 .0, but even if it did it would be a poor way to
    get sound into your receiver.

    Think what you will, I find the quality of the of the connection/coding better from the TV to the receiver than from cable's spdif out. Guess those Vizio's only output 2.0, that's too bad.

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    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kevlarus
    Think what you will, I find the quality of the of the connection/coding better from the TV to the receiver than from cable's spdif out. Guess those Vizio's only output 2.0, that's too bad.
    No, pretty much all only output 2.0, its kinda a standard.
    And even if you're getting 5.1 from the teevee, it can't be better than something
    its transferring, in other words your set wont improve your signal, more likely you will
    lose something.
    This is why HDMI is the best connection, its straight digital.
    Component, you have digital-analog-digital.
    If you are using the digital audio out, your signal is going through several unnecessary
    steps, cant sound better, only worse, at best, the same.
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  13. #13
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    GM, you said from TV to receiver, does any one know if TV's are now capable of outputting a 5.1 signal? It used to be they would only output a 2-channel, This would not be a good way to go to receiver, at least if one wanted true 5.1.
    Huh? This is what I said:

    "You can do it either way.
    Either to the AVR and then to the TV,
    or to the TV and to the AVR.

    What cables are you using?"


    What I meant by "to the TV and to the AVR." is to run cables to both the TV as well as to the receiver (from the box) for the added flexability that LJ noted.

    But I do see how it could have been read your way.
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    Quote Originally Posted by pixelthis
    No, pretty much all only output 2.0, its kinda a standard.
    And even if you're getting 5.1 from the teevee, it can't be better than something
    its transferring, in other words your set wont improve your signal, more likely you will
    lose something.
    This is why HDMI is the best connection, its straight digital.
    Component, you have digital-analog-digital.
    If you are using the digital audio out, your signal is going through several unnecessary
    steps, cant sound better, only worse, at best, the same.
    I would have to say the HDTV does better processing it than the cheapo hd box does. It's HDMI from the cable box to the TV and then spdif to the receiver. Works great and I get full 5.1 or the option of just using the built-in speakers in the tv.

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    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kevlarus
    I would have to say the HDTV does better processing it than the cheapo hd box does. It's HDMI from the cable box to the TV and then spdif to the receiver. Works great and I get full 5.1 or the option of just using the built-in speakers in the tv.
    ACTUALLY if it goes through the cable box first, then its processed by that device, then
    by whatever the tv does to it, then whatever the receiver does.
    Can't avoid the processing from the cable box, can improve it slightly in setup, but you can further improve the sound by cutting out as many steps as possible in the signal path.
    And trust me, even an expensive tv murders the sound. As a matter of fact, the more expensive the set, the worse the sound, usually, because the logic is that a HT is going to be hooked up to it.
    ANYWAY the main advantage of HDMI is that its a straight digital connection from source to receiver, you are blowing it by putting a TV in the path. Ever hear of the weakest link?
    TO each his own, tho.
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    Pix, the cable box would not do processing, the signal would always remain digital until decoded by the receiver. It's digital in HDMI and it's digital in kevlarus's optical or coaxial out of the TV. There should be no processing until it is in the receiver, just passing of the signal along. However, theoretically, the shorter path would be best but sometimes one is willing to take the risk for convenience. This is especially true when the set is shared by the family. No one needs Dora The Explorer or Brian Williams in 5.1.

    My DLP is doing great. I am only on my second bulb. I think Toshiba sent out some bad bulbs in the sets, the first one blew in a year or less, knock on wood, the second one is hanging in there. In fact, I was wondering if something was to happen to my DLP what technology would I go with, I really don't like LCD better than my DLP yet and I'm not sure how big Plasma goes, and at what cost. I need to check who all still makes DLP. I'd do research to see if Mits has gotten their QC back.

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    Pix, the cable box would not do processing, the signal would always remain digital until decoded by the receiver. It's digital in HDMI and it's digital in kevlarus's optical or coaxial out of the TV. There should be no processing until it is in the receiver, just passing of the signal along. However, theoretically, the shorter path would be best but sometimes one is willing to take the risk for convenience. This is especially true when the set is shared by the family. No one needs Dora The Explorer or Brian Williams in 5.1.

    My DLP is doing great. I am only on my second bulb. I think Toshiba sent out some bad bulbs in the sets, the first one blew in a year or less, knock on wood, the second one is hanging in there. In fact, I was wondering if something was to happen to my DLP what technology would I go with, I really don't like LCD better than my DLP yet and I'm not sure how big Plasma goes, and at what cost. I need to check who all still makes DLP. I'd do research to see if Mits has gotten their QC back.

    GM, I didn't mean to sound like I was coming down on you I just wanted to point out that if the digital out was only 2.0 the surround would be inferior to going direct to receiver. It's good to know that at least some manufacturers have offered a true multichannel digital out.

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    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=Mr Peabody]Pix, the cable box would not do processing, the signal would always remain digital until decoded by the receiver. It's digital in HDMI and it's digital in kevlarus's optical or coaxial out of the TV. There should be no processing until it is in the receiver, just passing of the signal along. However, theoretically, the shorter path would be best but sometimes one is willing to take the risk for convenience. This is especially true when the set is shared by the family. No one needs Dora The Explorer or Brian Williams in 5.1.

    Thanks for the DLP info.
    In your cable box setup there is an audio section. IT HAS NO CHOICE for pass thru.
    Mine has tv sound, matrix , stereo, and compression with light, heavy, etc.
    NO way around it, if it comes through a cable box its been processed.
    SAME WITH the video, even if its just to rescale the pic. Thats why the few channels I
    can get without a cable box(straight cable) usually have a better picture.
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    Those settings are for analog. If you choose digital out or HDMI those audio settings shouldn't have any effect.

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