Ok, So I just got my new 50' Samsung rear projection tv. (HL-R5067W). Extremely happy with it, got for a great price. Also MY home theater system is the Onkyo HT-S770, which I'm sure most people are framiliar with or heard of. Anyways, I'm setting up my new tv and the problem is of a few things.
1. I'm trying to go S-video from my receiver OUT into my S-video IN from the tv. When I do that I do not get any signal from my receiver to my tv. Yet when I have the S-video cord go from my tv directly to my dvd player, the screen pops up.
Now what I really dont get is when I dont use the S-video and then use the just plain video cord from my tv to my receiver then I get a signal and everything is fine. Problem is, until I get the component cord or whatever (the best video cord I heard), I'd like to use the S-video b/ I know its supposed to have better quality than a regular rca video cord. Is there something on my receiver I need to change or a button to push to switch it so perhaps the s-video option will work? If anyone could help... thanks.
Last, hooking up my tv to my surround sound. I dont have the digital cable with the hdtv stuff yet. I will next week sometime when they come to install. But until then I have my cable directly feeding into my tv. From there I have a Monster optical cable running out from my tv into my receiver "optical 1." I then press the "digital input" button on my receiver to have it turn to optical one. Now the sound I get is the tv sound, but the problem is that it is only coming from the center speaker not the surrounding ones.
Do I have the optical cable hooked up wrong? If anyone could help I would much appreciate it. I"m tearing my hair out right now to try an figure this out. thanks..
It sounds to me that you need to set your receiver to automatically convert the video signals. Some receivers don't automatically convert--lets say you have the RCA video from your DVD to the receiver...your receiver does not necessarily outputs this on the S-video output.
Your TV to receiver connection...it's highly possible that your TV does not output surround signals...I'd highly recommend that you connect cable TV audio and DVD audio into the receiver and listen to sound that way rather than via your TV. Out of all components, TV sound is the worst and should be avoided.
I did do that, I first connected the dvd s-video directly to my tv an it worked. But then I have my other components I would like through one thing (my receiver). So when I had it directly to my tv from my dvd, I was having problems with sound and stuff with my receiver. As almost if the receiver was getting confused?
Hank, you say there should be a way to make my receiver automatically convert video signals? I believe my receiver does, but if there is anyone who has the Onkyo 770 system with the receiver an could help me out, be much appreciated. Thanks..
Brad, I seem to recall reading about your 770 system on some forum sometime back...if you only hear from the center channel, try PLIIx Music mode, you should get it from all.
The output from your TV is at best stereo and not 5.1. If you want true 5.1, you'd have to get a cable box and then only HD channel comes with 5.1. Best you can use is PLIIx Music. Let me know how it works.
Brad, Just to make sure we're on the same page here, let me state the obvious: You need two S-video cables to do what you want. One of them connects from the S-video out on the DVD player to one of the S-video inputs (DVD input) on the receiver. The other cable connects to the S-video monitor out on the receiver to the S input on the TV. Of course, you have to select the appropriate inputs on both the receiver and the TV.
Your receiver does not convert video signals from one type to another. So this is why you need two S-video cables. I may be wrong about this, but I think your receiver (HT-R 520?) user's guide states this on page 21. The video signal passes through provided the same type of video interconnect is used. If you are using a standard RCA cable into the receiver from the DVD and then S cable from the receiver to the TV, it ain't gonna work.
That said, if you want the best video quality from your DVDs, then you should be using the DVD player's progressive scan feature. The only way that will work is to use component (not S-video) cables either directly to the TV or two sets through the receiver to the TV as outlined above. When your HD cable box arrives, they will be using component cables as well. Your concern with S-video cables will soon be a thing of the past.
You don't hook up your TV to surround sound. Surround sound is accomplished by using either optical or coax cable from the DVD player to the receiver. You don't need to send audio to the TV while watching a DVD.
By the way, what does Samsung say is the purpose of an optical out on the back of their TV?
"By the way, what does Samsung say is the purpose of an optical out on the back of their TV?"
Maybe I'll answer my own question. The only use for it is probably when the HDMI input is used. The optical out would be used to feed any digital audio present on the HDMI line to an external component (e.g. a surround receiver or processor).
John, the optical in the back of the tv is just one of the "audio outs". In the back it says "Audio out, Optical" But thanks for the info, I got the surround sound of my cable to work. Only problem is that my cable is hooked directly to tv then the optical out is giving the sound signal to my receiver. I saw one cable thing in the back of my receiver but when I hooked the cable to the receiver but then I didnt get audio out. I believe maybe the cable on the receiver is for the radio antenna? Anyhow..
About the progressive scan. I'm looking at the Monster cables of the component cables. There are a few levels of the monster cable line when working with component cables. If any of you guys could help me out with a little more input on that I would much appreciate it.
They say the best of the component cables is the "ultra series 1000" But im looking at a 100 dollars a pop for just for a 4ft cord. Then Ill be needing two of them for one going from my receiver to my tv an then one from my dvd to my receiver, thats going to take quite a chunk of change out of my wallet.
But then they have a S-video cord in the "1000 serious" that says is THX certified. Will that work for progressive scan? Im looking at about 50 dollars for one s-video cord.
Last is the "Monster Standard Component" cables. They are tremendously cheaper than the 1000 series. For those are only 30 dollars for one.
I would like to know if there will be much of a difference between the two component cables. Well obviously there is, they wouldnt be such a difference in price if not, but I guess I want to know, is it worth the extra 70 dollars for one cable? If anyone could give imput I would apprecaite it. Thanks..
1. Yes, the coax input on the back of the receiver is for the radio antenna.
2. No, S-video cables do not work for progressive scan. S-video cable is just about obsolete, and you should forget about it. Progressive scan works only via component, DVI and HDMI cables. These last two are purely digital and even though you have one or both types of inputs on the TV, you don't have either type on your HTIB. So component is the way to go.
3. When you get cable HD soon you will get a set top box provided by the cable company. They always use component cable to send the SD and HD video signal to an HD TV. You will want to have the box's component output sent to one of the receiver's component inputs. The other component input on the receiver will be occupied be the DVD player's component output. Then, of course, the receiver's component output will go to the TV. The cable company should provide a component cable of sufficient length, so all you have to worry about is two component cables.
4. When you get that cable box, there should be a digital audio output on the back. This output (usually coax) should be fed directly to one of the receiver's digital audio inputs, so that you can listen to any Dolby Digital signals that are present on many cable channels.
5. There have been many heated discussions about Monster and other higher-end interconnects on this forum. Over the years, I have seen problems in my systems caused by the dirt-cheap interconnects typically found in blister packs in discount stores. On the other hand, I have not seen perceptible improvement with ultra-expensive cabling. In my opinion, it is absurd to spend half the cost of your HTIB on two cables! I have not priced component cables recently, but it seems to me you can do better than $30 ea for short lengths. After all, component cables are nothing more than standard RCA phono cables, and even the cheapest among them would work. I would not recommend you be overly frugal, but spending $100 on a component cable would provide the store with more profit than they made on your entire Onkyo HTIB system. I spent about $20 for mine and they work well. Good luck.
John, first off want to thank you for all your help. I just got my digital cable with hdtv installed. (really nice). But I just have one last question. When I have my tv going with the surround sound its considerable quieter than say when i have the dvd playing. So for example when I have my tv going I have to have it around 40 on my receiver. Then if I was to have it on 40 when watching a dvd it will be alot louder. Is that normal when I switch between the two options that it would have a difference in sound? I mean its not a huge diff. Just saying like if i wanted the sound to be equal between the two. Its more like a 8 in difference between the two. Thanks..
First of all Brad, I can only speak from personal experience. I am using the coax digital audio output from the cable box into the receiver, as I suggested to you above. My cable channel's audio signal varies in voume from type to type--that is to say the first half of my cable channels are PCM stereo and the other half are Dolby Digital (either stereo or 5.1). There is a significant volume difference between the PCM channels and the DD channels.
Furthermore, there's also some volume difference between the cable and the DVD. For that matter there's even some difference between DD and DTS on those discs that carry both. My point is that I don't see a problem with having to adjust the volume when switching between sources. Inconvenience yes, problem no, provided the sound is OK on all inputs. Some of the more expensive Onkyo receivers have custom volume settings on each input in order to compensate for this phenomenon. You might check for this feature on your receiver, but I doubt if it does.