Newbie Here: Help! Setup Home Theatre
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New member Username: Package1MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA Post Number: 1 Registered: Dec-08 | I have a sony kdl52w130 bravia tv,sony dav-hdx500 home theatre system,sony bdps500 blueray,sony rdrgx360 dvd recorder,comcast hd setup box Dch3200,and sony dmx-sw1 input link module. I need to know how to configure everything and what connections to go where. And also to play all the components sound through the home theatre system.Maybe someone can send me a hookup diagram. i tried the sony site for hookups and it didnt help me. |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 533 Registered: Feb-08 | Grreetings, If what I am reading about your home theater system is correct, and the whole basis for your concern, there is no HDMI input. First question, can it be returned for the proper unit, one with an HDMI input? Secondly who sold all of this to you? With your input link the obvious best way to hook this all up is via HDMI. That is certainly it's intended method and it would be a shame to do it differently. There is, however a way around it if there is absolutely no way to return the HTiB. I need to know who sold all of this to you prior to going off on a rant about how forceful you could get when returning it!  |
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New member Username: Package1MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA Post Number: 2 Registered: Dec-08 | The tv has 3 hdmi inputs and with the link module, i can add three more hdmi inputs.I already have the cable box and the blueray sound coming from the home theatre system.But confused about doing it with the other components. |
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New member Username: Package1MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA Post Number: 3 Registered: Dec-08 | Also, the components all have 1 hdmi outputs |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 534 Registered: Feb-08 | How do you currently have things hooked up? Ideally the connections would be to plug the Blu-ray player, the DVD recorder, and the cable box via HDMI into an audio receiver then take an HDMI out from there to the TV. With a HTiB with at least 1 HDMI input you would connect all of your components to the input link out to the HTiB then the HTiB out to TV. With the equipment you currently have it would work best to put all of the components into the the input link out to a component video and digital audio converter, into the HTiB then back out of the HTiB via HDMI to the TV. But this defeats the who;e beauty of HDMI. The only other way to accomplish the hook up would be the components to the TV and a digital out to the HTiB but it is almost guaranteed that you will have audio delay problems if you get audio all the time at all. |
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New member Username: Package1MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA Post Number: 4 Registered: Dec-08 | The audio receiver has 1 hdmi out,1 sat/cable (digital in coaxial)jack,1 sat/cable(component video in)jacks,1 sat/cable (audio in r/l,video in) jacks,1tv(audio in r/l) jacks, 1 monitor out (s video/video) jacks, 1 component video out jacks, 1 sat/cable (digital in optical) jack, and 1 hdmi out jack. Currently i have the cable box hdmi out to tv hdmi in and the digital optical out to the audio receiver digital in. The blue ray hdmi out to tv hdmi in to tv,audio out (l/r) jacks to audio receiver tv(audio in r/l) jacks. I just bought a panasonic dmrez28 dvd recorder to replace the other one and want to hook that and a xbox 360.Can anybody send me a diagram how to hookup up everything properly? |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2393 Registered: Feb-04 | Thomas: I can't draw you a picture of any possible hookup, but what I can do is tell you what I would do given the limitations of your stuff. Without getting into what you could but don't own, let's see if we can work with what you do own. First: VIDEO The Sony switch box (DMX-SW1) will solve everything regarding video selection of your source components. It also will provide audio on the TV's internal speakers should you not want to use your external surround system on a given occasion. All you do is hookup all four external HDMI sources into this box, and then hookup the box's HDMI out into one of the TV's HDMI inputs. One of the cool features of HDMI is something they call CEC (Consumer Electronics Control, which Sony calls "Theatre Sync") which allows different components to "talk" to each other. In this case the TV, based on what input you select on it, tells the switch box to go to a specific HDMI input. The box is prefigured to select certain inputs depending on what you select on the TV's remote. You should hook up the cable box to input #5, the Blu-ray to input #3, xbox to input #4, and the DVD recorder to input #1. The beauty is that the box doesn't have to be in line of sight of the remote because it is the TV itself that tells the switcher what to do. Therefore the box can be out of sight. It can even be mounted to the TV's backside if you elect to do so. And because your TV is a compatible with the box, you shouldn't have any problem making this work properly, assuming you follow the setup instructions for the switchbox. AUDIO As I see it, there are two fairly easy solutions here: 1. Lacking HDMI audio support from external sources, you have no choice but to use the inputs you do have on the Sony HTiB receiver. So If you want digital surround from all sources, then first you hook up an RCA tipped coax to the Blu-ray player's coax audio output and the other end goes to the receiver's coax input. When you play any disc in the Blu-ray, you select that input on the receiver. The next problem is that you have three other A/V sources with optical outputs and only one optical input on the receiver. So you'll need an external switcher, thus similarly solving the problem with HDMI the Sony switcher does. A simple and cheap 3 in/1 out optical switch will do the trick, like this one: http://www.emtcompany.com/products/av-accessories/ads1000-recoton-toslink-optica l-cable-selector-switch-box.htm?gclid=CIPSwIXC3JYCFQNbxwodvSS_wA It would be your choice, but as an example you could hook the optical out of the cable box to input #1, the DVD recorder to input #2, and the xbox to input #3. The output of this switcher would go to the receiver's optical input. You would then first select the optical input on the receiver and then select the appropriate input on the switch itself. This may sound cumbersome, but it is the only way you can hear digital audio from all your external sources into the surround system. 2. Quick and Dirty: As before, the Blu-ray would feed into the receiver's coax in. You would use the receiver's optical input for the next most important audio source in your system. This would be your choice and of course you would hear digital surround from that source. The other two sources would be connected into the receiver's two analog R/L red/white audio inputs. You will not hear digital surround on these inputs, but you could use matrixed surround by using the Dolby Pro Logic II circuitry built into the receiver. DPL II does a pretty good job with stereo sources, so you may very well be satisfied with this setup. Obviously you would select the appropriate input on the receiver, depending on what source you're listening to. That's it. I highly recommend monoprice.com for any cables you need for your A/V system. |
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New member Username: Package1MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA Post Number: 5 Registered: Dec-08 | Thanks for all you help. Now you got me thinking about buying a new home theatre system like the onkyo 7100 or 9100. Now i have to figure out what to do with the system that i already have. |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2394 Registered: Feb-04 | Both Onkyo systems are a definite step up for the Sony you have now. And well they should -- they cost more. Either would make your Sony DMX-SW1 redundant, since both receivers offer 4 in/1 out HDMI 1.3 connections. So the receivers would perform HDMI switching as well as being able to decode lossless audio codecs on Blu-ray discs. This would eliminate the need for any coax/optical cables. The lesson to be learned here is that there should be a minimum amount of homework involved on the feature set of any electronic purchase, in order to insure future satisfaction. |
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