How do I connect this home theater system??

[dnast62uc]

I am a novice. Please help! I have the following equiptment to hookup: SAMSUNG LNS4692D 46" LCD HDTV, YAMAHA HTR-5860 RECEIVER, SONY DVPNC85HB 5 DISC DVD, COMCAST DIGITAL HD CABLE BOX. They all appear to have an hdmi connection, but I do not know where to start. What do I need for cables? What connects to what? Can someone straighten me out??

[elapsed]

Here goes nothing..

1. Coax into your Cable box
2. HDMI from your Cable box into your TV
3. Optical Audio or Digital Coax from your Cable box into your receiver
4. HDMI from your DVD into your TV
5. Optical Audio or Digital Coax from your DVD into your receiver
6. Component from your receiver into your TV
7. Speakers into your receiver

Enjoy!

[elapsed]

[likeitloud]

Elapsed....Great work man.

[dnast62uc]

Now that is one detailed response. Many thanks elapsed. Two minor questions: 1. Does it matter if I use the digital coax or optical audio for the receiver connection? and (2.) On the other end, what is a component connection? Is that the red, yellow, white cable?
Thanks so much for you help on this.

[audio amateur]

Now that is one detailed response. Many thanks elapsed. Two minor questions: 1. Does it matter if I use the digital coax or optical audio for the receiver connection? and (2.) On the other end, what is a component connection? Is that the red, yellow, white cable?
Thanks so much for you help on this.

Nope, the only video cable in the yellow, white, and red is the yellow one (even thought they are all exactly the same cables, the color is only given to not so that you can'y connect them wrong). Those are called coaxial or composite cables. Component is a set of three green, blue and red cables they are called Y; Pb/B-Y; Pr/R-Y respectivily. But don't bother about that, they are called component and are green blue and red (three cables together), one of the best video connections out there.

[elapsed]

To answer your questions..

Optical audio may have an advantage in environments where cable runs are longer than 10ft, or in cable runs in close proximity to video and power cords emanating RF noise. However, the connection on optical audio cables are not always as secure as a coax connection and can sometimes be compromised easily when moving components frequently. Also, optical audio cables are usually more expensive than digital coax.

Bottom line, both connection methods should yield excellent results on your system, and should be equally comparable in most environments. Keep in mind that your Yamaha HTR-5860 has 3 optical audio inputs and 2 digital coax inputs, so you may want to consider what connections you will need in the future.

As for video cabling, the yellow, white and red cables are typically known as Composite or RCA. For stronger video, I highly recommend Component cabling (Y-Pb-Pr), which are green, blue and red, as the poster above noted. From best to worst video cabling:

1. HDMI or DVI
2. Component
3. S-Video
4. Composite
5. Coax

Good luck!

[KaiWinters]

Great question and awesome replies.

[GMichael]

Great question and awesome replies.

Ditto! Great diagram elapsed. Simple, yet complete.

[audio amateur]

From best to worst video cabling:

1. HDMI or DVI
2. Component
3. S-Video
4. Composite
5. Coax

Good luck!

Coaxial and composite cables are basicaly the same thing.

[elapsed]

Coaxial and composite cables are basicaly the same thing.

"The process of modulating RF with the original video signal, and then demodulating the original signal again in the TV, introduces several losses into the signal. RF is also "noisy" because of all of the video and radio signals already being broadcast, so this conversion also typically adds noise or interference to the signal as well. For these reasons, it is typically best to use composite connections instead of RF connections if possible. Almost all modern video equipment has composite connectors, so this typically isn't a problem."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video

By coax cable, I'm referring to TV signals coming in on 75 Ohm Coaxial cable with Type-F ends. By composite video cable, I'm referring to coaxial cable with RCA ends, carrying non-RF modulated baseband video. You will generally get a marginally better signal with "composite" cable than with "coax" cable, but both forms of cable suffer from dot crawl and cross-colouration artefacts, so should be avoided when possible.

[audio amateur]

"The process of modulating RF with the original video signal, and then demodulating the original signal again in the TV, introduces several losses into the signal. RF is also "noisy" because of all of the video and radio signals already being broadcast, so this conversion also typically adds noise or interference to the signal as well. For these reasons, it is typically best to use composite connections instead of RF connections if possible. Almost all modern video equipment has composite connectors, so this typically isn't a problem."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video

By coax cable, I'm referring to TV signals coming in on 75 Ohm Coaxial cable with Type-F ends. By composite video cable, I'm referring to coaxial cable with RCA ends, carrying non-RF modulated baseband video. You will generally get a marginally better signal with "composite" cable than with "coax" cable, but both forms of cable suffer from dot crawl and cross-colouration artefacts, so should be avoided when possible.

I agree with you, missed that point. But keep in mind we are only talking video here right?

[dnast62uc]

Hello elapsed. On another set, I am hooking up a cheap theater in a box system for the kids playroom. When you have one of these receivers that is an all-in-one with a dvd changer & receiver, do I hook this up the same way? Do I hook an hdmi from the receiver to the tv as well as a digital coax from the receiver to the cable box. The only thing I am clear on is that I need an hdmi from the cable box to the tv.
Also, there is a wide variety of price ranges on hdmi cables out there. Is there really a big difference? What should I look for?

Thanks again

[elapsed]

Hello elapsed. On another set, I am hooking up a cheap theater in a box system for the kids playroom. When you have one of these receivers that is an all-in-one with a dvd changer & receiver, do I hook this up the same way? Do I hook an hdmi from the receiver to the tv as well as a digital coax from the receiver to the cable box. The only thing I am clear on is that I need an hdmi from the cable box to the tv.
Also, there is a wide variety of price ranges on hdmi cables out there. Is there really a big difference? What should I look for?

Please let me know what model of TV and Home Theatre in a Box that you have, so we can see what HDMI, DVI and Component connections it has. Is your cable box HD? If not, what outputs does it have?

As for HDMI or DVI cables, if the cable run is less than 5 meters you will notice absolutely no difference between a $15 no-name brand cable and a $150 Monster Cable when displaying 1080i. Go down to a local computer store and purchase a cheap HDMI cable, and return it only if you see any red sparklies or frozen pixels. The only time you may require a higher quality cable is over longer cable runs, or possibly when displaying 1080p.

Enjoy!

[dnast62uc]

Elapsed: The TV is a Sony 42" Wega KDFE42A10 rear projection and the receiver is an
Insignia 500 watt Home theatre in a box IS-HTIB102737. It is an all in one, dvd, cd, receiver etc. Let me know what you think. I don't think the receiver has HDMI.

Thanks

[elapsed]

Hi dnast - I couldn't find the Insignia IS-HTIB102 specs anywhere on the Internet, but for a HTIB setup I recommend keeping the system simple and straightforward for the kids - you won't get good audio quality out of this system, so no sense in investing in good cabling. Let me know how this goes!

[dnast62uc]

Elapsed: I picked up the new HD cable boxes from Comcast yesterday. A bit of a setback, they do not have any boxes with HDMI. Looks like I will have to use the component connection. Not what I was hoping for, but it will have to do.

[paul_pci]

Elapsed: I picked up the new HD cable boxes from Comcast yesterday. A bit of a setback, they do not have any boxes with HDMI. Looks like I will have to use the component connection. Not what I was hoping for, but it will have to do.

I wouldn't worry about it. Right now hdmi doesn't offer anything over good old component video and an optical cable.

[dnast62uc]

Elapsed: Since I had to switch the hdmi over to a component connection (red, green, blue), do I also need to run a component audio connection from the cable box to the tv? Or does the digital coax from the cable box to the receiver take care of all audio. I guess I am confused as to whether or not an hdmi or Y; Pb/B-Y; Pr/R-Y connection is just video or video plus audio.

Thanks

[elapsed]

Elapsed: Since I had to switch the hdmi over to a component connection (red, green, blue), do I also need to run a component audio connection from the cable box to the tv? Or does the digital coax from the cable box to the receiver take care of all audio. I guess I am confused as to whether or not an hdmi or Y; Pb/B-Y; Pr/R-Y connection is just video or video plus audio.

Hi dnast - if you are running component from the cable box then you will need to run seperate audio cabling. Recommend running digital coax or optical audio from the cable box to the receiver. There's no longer any need to run any audio cabling between the receiver and the TV. Enjoy!

[rjmarki]

Hello Ellapsed I'm a new home theatre owner and I tried your diagram, but my RX-v3000 is not channeling the video. I hooked the component cable to the mono out connection on my receiver but could not get any picture to display when I selected cable or dvd. I then went into the I/O section of the menus and selected cable for my comcast cable and dvd for my dvd connection. I did not see where you could select mono out. How do I get my receiver to display video through my PT-AE900U projector? My son was looking at me what the heck dad....