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TV/ Receiver wiring issue

HeraldSHeraldS Registered User regular
edited April 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
For the first time in my adult life I have a nice TV and the receiver/ speakers to go with it. I've got a few questions about the best way to connect everything given what I'm trying to connect and the space available to me. The TV is a Toshiba 32AV502U (can't find a picture of the inputs but it's got 2 HDMI, a RGB & audio jack for PC's, 2 component with R/ W audio, 1 audio out, 2 composite/ S-video, and optical digital audio). The receiver is a Yamaha HTR-6130 (here are the inputs). I'm running 5.1 surround to the receiver and also have a Gamecube, DVD player, PS2, ipod, and DVR/ cable box hooked up. It looked like I had found a way to hook everything using the best connections available for each device but the receiver had other ideas. According to the manual "audio signals input at the HDMI jack are not output from any speaker terminals but output from the connected video monitor. To enjoy the sound from speakers connected to this unit: make an analog or digital connection besides the HDMI connection and mute the volume of the connected video monitor". This kinda blew my mind as I though HDMI was always both video and audio.

Anyhow, here's how each item is connected:

- Gamecube - component(!) video and basic r/w audio (DVR slot on receiver)
- PS2 - component video and optical audio (DTV slot on receiver)
- DVD - component video and coaxial audio (DVD slot on receiver)
- DVR - HDMI video and basic r/w audio (DTV slot on receiver)
- ipod - basic r/w audio (CD slot on receiver)

Basically everything runs to the receiver and then to the TV, so there's one component w/ audio and one HDMI running from the receiver to the TV. The PS2 and DVD I can switch back to standard r/w audio while the DVR has inputs for coaxial and optical. The DVD does not have an HDMI spot. There's also some proprietary ipod dock I can get if I so choose. I really only use the cable to watch HD sports. Mostly I use the PS2/ DVD/ Gamecube. So my questions are:

1) Is this the best way to connect everything given my usage? For example, do PS/ PS2 games take advantage of the digital optical or was that included for DVD playback and such?
2) Is there truly a noticeable difference between coaxial or optical and standard r/w audio? Afro Samurai sounded amazing with coaxial but that may have been the reefer.
3) Is there a way to have two devices run into the same audio input? Like some kind of double jack so I can run optical from the DVR box and the PS2 or coaxial from the DVR and DVD?
4) Barring any other options, is there some workaround with the receiver so I can get both sound and video from HDMI? If it matters my cable box is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD.

I hope I've been clear with how everything is plugged in and whatnot. Let me know if I need to be clarify anything.

HeraldS on

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    eternalbleternalbl Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    1) unless you can program inputs on your receiver to assign the 2nd optical input for your DVR, yes.

    2) Considering its a digital signal whether through coaxial or optical there should be no difference

    3) Optical audio switches are available

    4) Some receiver's HDMI ports are passthrough only, which means you need to hook up audio in addition to the HDMI cable for audio through you're 5.1 setup.

    You know you've posted this already right?

    eternalbl on
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