TV, AMP and connection questions please help

[admin_exported]

I'm buying a home cinema set up and am planning on buying:

Sony STR-DA2400ES or Sony STR_DG820 (see http://whathifi.com/Reviews/Home-cinema-Reviews/Home-cinema-amplifiers-Reviews/Rule-Brand-Sony!10/Rating/ for review and tech specs)

and a

Panasonic TH42PZ81B ( see http://whathifi.com/Review/Panasonic-TH-46PZ81/ for review and tech specs)

and a

Panasonic DMP-BD55 Blueray player (see http://whathifi.com/Review/Panasonic-DMP-BD55/ for review and tech specs)

Wanted to ask about connecting them, The blueray player has an upscaler; The amps have dedicated Blueray HDMI socket (whatever that means), and the more expensive Sony amp (the 2400) has an HD audio decoding, 1080p upscaling and video upconversion.

Now add to this the TV which has “Intelligent Frame Creation” and “24p Real Cinema” motion-compensated frame interpolation (MCFI) technologies (haven't got the foggiest what the latterr is).

So the big question where do I plug all this cr@p in? The amp and the tv both have numerous HDMI inputs, outputs; phono/digital audio outputs, composite inputs, etc.

By this I mean do I want to plug my blueray into my tv and then have a phono or digital audio going from the tv to the amp ( or is there a better way of connecting these 2?) or do I plug my blueray into my dedicated HDMI input on the amp and then using the HTMI video out connect it to one of the TV's HTMI inputs?

The second way sounds the more likely option to me am I right?

But what happens when I want to connect say my XBOX that uses a HD Component cable, it can either go into the component input on the Amp and then go via the HDMI output to the TV (having been upscaled??) or it goes straight to the TV and then via the phono/digital audio out to the amp. Which way is preferable in terms of quality of picture and sound?

The Tv will be mounted on a wall and any wires will be hidden into the wall, down a chimley to a boxed in fireplace where the amps, blueray players, xboxes, etc will be sitting. So there is no issue with the number of wires that can go into the TV.

Any help would be great

Thanks

Agent Bozo

 

[d4v3pum4]

You will connect the bluray player to the amp via HDMI, the amp will extract/decode/amplify the audio inc. HD and pass the video the TV. Your TV and bluray are both 1080p and to be brutally honest the scalers in budget receivers aren't worth bothering with so I wouldn't particularly look for that feature in a receiver. It's only when you spend big bucks on receivers that you get decent scalers that will outperform the one in the display or source. To benefit from the latest HD audio formats, you will need to use HDMI, although your player has multi-channel analogue outputs but I wouldn't bother with them, they're more for if you had an older legacy non HDMI amp. Optical and Digital-Coax connections/cables have insufficient bandwidth to carry HD audio so these will not be used.

How you connect your Xbox 360 would depend on the amp in question for example there would be no point in connecting the component output via the Sony 820 as it is the only component video source and you would need a further component cable from the amp to the TV. Therefore if you opted for the 820, you would connect the component video to the TV and leave the 820 to handle Xbox audio only. The 2400ES on the other hand has upconversion, so it will convert the analogue signal to digital and output over HDMI, therefore you would only need one cable going from the amp to the TV. To get DD5.1 from Xbox 360 games, you would need an optical cable running from the back of the AV cable ouput to the amp.

To obtain sound from the TV through the amp/speakers, you would need to connect the TV to the amp via optical cable. This would ensure you get DD5.1 from the odd programme that is broadcast in DD5.1 on BBC-HD which is currently the only full time HD channel available. Sorry but I don't cound Luxe as a 'channel' before anyone chimes in!

Can I ask why you are looking solely at Sony amps? In my opinion Sony are jack of all trades and master of none and certainly not audio gear. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the ES range in particular is worth auditioning but I would also look at the likes of Marantz, Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo and Pioneer. All do amps at around this price point and to be honest it's not really fare comparing the 820 with the 2400ES as they're entirely different beasts. The 820 is a bottom of the range amp, whereas the ES' is obviously Sony's premium range.

Before finalising your installation make sure you test everything and run your cables inside conduit so you can pull them through in the future should any of them fail or if you wanted to add another cable. You can get some brush faceplates to finish the exit/entry holes too.

 

[professorhat]

Yup, you're right with your more likely option, Blu-Ray player should hook into the Sony amp, then have another HDMI go from the amp to the TV.
On the Xbox, this depends on which amp you choose. If you get the Sony STR-DA2400ES, this has video upconversion listed as a feature which means you can input the Xbox into the amp with a component cable and get the amp to re-route the video through its HDMI cable to the TV - the benefit of this is, with the Xbox also connected into the amp via optical, when you switch the amp to the Xbox input, you get both video and audio without switching the TV input. With the Sony STR-DG820, you can't route the signal via the HDMI so you would also need a component cable going from the amp to the TV to carry the Xbox picture. Whether this is worth getting another component cable for is up to you on whether you like the idea of this feature. You can of course just plug the Xbox straight into the TV's component port.
As to best for picture, in theory, the component lead straight into the TV would produce the best picture. I don't think there's much in it though to be concerned about.
BTW - if you have the budget, I would definitely get the 2400 over the 820 - it would be worth the money.