I have: A new Sony 46" LCD V2500 w/ 1 HDMI A Denon AVR 1804 w/ NO HDMI A New Direct TV HD DRV w/ 1 HDMI A Panasonic DVD/CD F65 w/ no HDMI, but 1 optical. A cheap Daewood vcr (not used for recording) w/ the basic 3 jacks.
I think I should hook it up like this. Am I whacked?
Satellite DVR to TV via HDMI TV to Dennon AVR via Optical Dvd/CD to Dennon via Component Video & Optical Vcr to Dennon via the old av wire way.
Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks in Advance, Jason in AZ (where it is 117 degrees today!)}
Jason, not to denigrate the Denon---I would bypass any video hookup altogether into the receiver and go directly into the TV instead. Three reasons for this:
1) As you've stated, the Denon does not support HDMI. 2) At only 30 MHz bandwidth, the Denon's component inputs are OK for progressive scan DVDs but just a bit narrow for HDTV signals, which require 40 MHz minimum (for 720p). Most of the better grade receivers by all mfr's rate their component inputs at 100 MHz. At any rate, the only reason to feed video into a receiver is for switching convenience, unless the receiver has some superior video processing that you'd want to take advantage of. And even if this Denon had this (it doesn't) I would still guarantee you the TV will do a better job with video anyway. 3) This Denon does not upconvert composite or S-video to component, so there's no good reason to run the video signal from the Daewoo into the receiver.
Therefore:
1) HDMI from the satbox into the TV. 2) Coax (or optical, whichever the satbox has) into the Denon. Do not run the optical audio line from the TV to the Denon, because it won't work. 3) Component from the DVD player into the TV. 4) Optical from the DVD player into the Denon. 5) Composite video from the Daewoo into the TV. 6) R/L (red/white) analog audio into the Denon from the VCR.
This complicates your video switching a bit, but for reasons I've outlined above this is the best way. So you'll have three video inputs active on the TV and the corresponding three audio inputs on the Denon.