Okay, so I have had the HK AVR 245 for some time now, but am just trying to set it up with a new Plasma I bought.
Here is what I have:
HK AVR245 Comcast Cable Box (HDMI) Philips DVD Player UpCon 1080p (HDMI) Panasonic 1080p Plaz (HDMI)
All I want to do is hook up this simple system with my surround sound speakers with the cleanest setup.
I realize the AVR 245's HDMI is somewhat limited, but I an not really that smart when it comes to this stuff. I guess it has HDMI switching, or something...have no idea what that means.
I thought I would be able to run a HDMI cable from my Comcast box to the AVR 245, another from the DVD player to the AVR 245, and then run one HDMI from the AVR 245 to the Plasma.
The AVR 245 has three HDMI slots on the back, two in and one out, so I thought this would be perfect.
So my question is, is this that right way?
What I tried so far:
Since I only have one HDMI cable right now, I hooked it up from the AVR245 to the Plasma, and ran Comp. video and Optical Audio from the cable box to the AVR245. Also ran same from DVD to AVR245. This setup produced no sound or video.
Your receiver is capable of switching HDMI signals, but it cannot access the data and process it. Thus, the receiver is passing the audio and video information through to your video display without processing it in any way.
In order to benefit from the receiver's superior audio reproduction capabilities, make a separate digital audio connection from either the coaxial or optical digital audio output on your source device to the corresponding digital audio input on the receiver. Then adjust the audio input setting in the receiver's on-screen menu system (usually found in the Input Setup or In/Out Setup submenu) to assign the correct audio input to your source.
"So, use HDMI cables for the video, and coaxial or optical digital for the audio?"
Yes.
"Can you mix and match HDMI and Component video? (ie. run component video from dvd to receiver, and hdmi video from receiver to plasma?"
As Casey's excellent response to your post states, those HDMI jacks are on your AVR strictly for switching convenience. Any HDMI signal going through the receiver is not processed in any way, and that includes converting any analog video signal--be it composite, S-video or component--to the receiver's digital HDMI output. If you run component into the receiver, you'll have to run component into the TV. (I believe this receiver will upconvert composite and S-video signals to its component output.)
Also, this receiver will not output its on-screen displays on either the HDMI or the component outputs. In order to see the on-screen set up displays you'll have to run either a composite or S-video cable to the TV from the receiver's video monitor outs located next to the component inputs. So much for HDMI's promise of "one cable does it all", eh?