Arcam AVR280 connecting up sky & dvd (sound through TV for SKY?) HELP!

Ambrose

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Feb 19, 2008
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Hi,

Is it possible to get sound through TV (Panny TH PX42 70B) for SKY HD. Just brought Amp to go with Marantz DV6001 DVD player and MT-20 2.1 to start off. Add remaining M1's later.

Is there any point connecting HDMIs to AMP as only carries Video and no audio? To get seperate Coax & optical and presuming this is the best option? IE one less cable needed (saving) and also I can use TV sound for SKY day to day TV viewing rather than having to put through speakers? Will this work???

This could be a major blow if not. Is there a way around this in which case?

PLEASE HELP!

Thanks

Ambrose
 

professorhat

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Hi Ambrose,

I'm guessing you are asking whether you should connect the HDMI connection from your Sky HD box to your amp or TV? You're right in one way, to get 5.1 sound from your Sky box, you need to have an optical connection from it to your amp. In this sense therefore, it may be better just to send the HDMI connection direct to TV and in this sense you're right, you then get the normal sound from your TV for normal viewing.

However, depending on how your home cinema is set up, it may be easier to have the HDMI connection going from the Sky box to your amp. This then allows you to only have one HDMI lead going from amp to TV and then everything else plugged into the amp (good if your TV only has one HDMI socket). If you have an amp with decent upscaler in it (like the higher spec Onkyos), this will also provide good upscaling of Sky's SD content. It may need some jiggery pokery in the settings to make sure sound is output through the optical connection (and not the HDMI) though to ensure you still get the 5.1 sound.
 

Ambrose

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Professorhat,

Thanks for your comments. I do have 2 HDMI inputs on my TV so would the video and sound work in synch if the sound is going via the optical cable and through the AMP and Video direct to TV via HDMI cable?

I don't believe the arcam has video upscaling so sounds like I could connect SKY HD direct to TV and have sound coming from TV for normal viewing and also when I want 5.1 / 2.1 etc I can put sound through the AMP / sats etc? Is this correct?

Many Thanks

Ambrose
 

professorhat

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Spot on. I have heard that there can sometimes be delay when listening to sound via the optical connection to an amp, but the Sky box has a setting which can synchronise this so the picture and sound are in sync.

One other minor inconvenience with this setup, when listening through your speakers, sound will still be coming from the TV as well, so you'll need to turn the volume down each time you do this. It's not a massive issue, but annoying to some!
 

Ambrose

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Thanks again. I am somewhat relieved to say the least!

I can live with muting TV volume but not having only having sound only through the surround speakers!

One side consideration, is coax best way to connect up for CD (and SACD sound quality or is phono much better?

Cheers

Ambrose
 

professorhat

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It really depends on which CD player and amp you have. Some CD players have very good DAC (digital to analogue converter) units in them and these therefore may sound better than letting your amp do the conversion, in which case you're better off hooking up the CD player using phono connections. My advice would be to hook them up with both, listen to the difference and see which you prefer.
 

Ambrose

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Ah, I see. Will try this out although the Arcam AMP should be a lot better than the DVD player in this case.

DVD player is Marantz DV6001.

You certainly know your stuff!

Ambrose.
 

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