TV-AV CABLING

[admin_exported]

I am in the process of upgrading my complete AV system. I will be purchasing all new kit LCD TV, AV receiver, DVD/HDD recorder, and 5.1 speakers. The only existing piece of kit I am keeping will be the VCR. My question is about cabling there seems to be many option on the back of the TV and I am not sure what cabling I need to purchase to give me all the best options, hope you can help me and other in the same predicament. My confusion comes with what cables to connect from the LCD TV back to the AV receiver/ DVD/HDD recorder/VCR. I understand I need the following, HDMI from LCD TV to AV receiver, HDMI from AV receiver to DVD/HDD recorder, SCART from LCD TV to VCR. What other connects do I need from the LCD TV back to the other kit? I will not be using the VCR to record only viewing. Confusion PLEASE HELP!

Connections on LCD TV Sony 37W5500:

Audio cable L/R

Optical audio cable

COMPONENT IN Component video cable, audio cable

SCART cable AV1 AV2

Arial socket

 

[professorhat]

It will be dependent on exactly which model of AV receiver and DVD recorder you buy, but sounds like you have it pretty much spot on for most set-ups.

You could also connect your TV to the AV receiver using the optical output to allow you to put sound through your speaker system when watching the internal TV tuner or when watching videos from the VCR.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe I was some what confusing in my question.

These are the connections on the back of LCD TV.

Connections on Sony 37W5500: HDMI, Audio cable L/R, Optical audio cable, COMPONENT IN Component video cable, audio cable, SCART cable AV1 AV2 and aerial socket.

AV receiver: Sony STRDH800 - DVD/HDD Recorder: Sony RDRHXD890

Do I need to have ALL these connections from the LCD TV back to the AV receiver to obtain ALL the options?

See how confusion this can be with so many connections!

 

[Big Aura]

Simply put - you want to send all audio to the A/V amp, to take advantage of its processors and the 5.1 speakers.

The HDMI will take the DVD signal from the DVD player and pass it to the amp, and out to the speakers.

The scart will take the sound and picture from the VCR and pass it to the TV.

The HDMI from your amp to your screen will take the upscaled image (assuming it does that) from the DVD to your screen - it's not a two-way street. If you want your amp to process your TV signal (assuming you're using your LCD's internal TV tuner) or to process your VCR sound, you'll need to use the optical output on your LCD to bring sound to your amp.

To summarise, the amp-TV HDMI takes picture flowed from DVD to the TV. The TV-Amp optical, takes the other TV and VCR sound from those sources to the amp.

 

[professorhat]

Ah I see - with the Sony amp, there is no video upconversion (whereby analogue connections can be converted and output via the HDMI socket). However, you only need to connect up the video cables to the TV that you are inputting into the amp, you don't need to connect everything. Best way to explain it is using examples - you have the Sony DVD recorder which will connect into the Sony amp using HDMI, thererfore you also need an HDMI cable to go from the Sony amp into the TV. This ensures the Sony DVD recorder will work with your system and nothing else needs to be connected after that. If you added another HDMI device (e.g. a Blu-Ray player), you'd need to connect this into the amp with an HDMI cable, but nothing else would be needed between the amp and TV.

If you were to add another device which used component video cables (e.g. an old Xbox 360 or DVD player), this could be connected into the amp via the component inputs. However, you would then need to add a component cable between the amp and TV to allow the amp to send the video signals on to the TV. Again, any further devices which used component cables could be added to the amp without having to add any further leads between the amp and TV.

The same is true if you wanted to connect an S-Video or Composite source to the amp i.e. you'd also need the same connection type going from the amp into the TV's input.

The other connections there allow other options i.e. Audio cable (L/R) and Optical out allow you to connect the TV to an amp so that sound normally output via the TV speakers are output via your home cinema / hi-fi system. The Scart inputs allow you to connect any Scart devices (like a VCR) direct into the TV. The aerial socket is obviosuly the input for TV aerial to allow you to use the TV's internal tuner. These connections are optional for you - you don't have to use any of these inputs / outputs unless you want to use the feature associated with them.

Hope this makes sense - let me know if anything is unclear.

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for your reply and help, I understand now . Final Q as my new system will come in the budget range and requires 5m cables to link up the TV to Receiver/DVD. What is the best make/model of HDMI/optical cables for a budget system? Do I really need to spend £100 plus on cabling?

Many Thanks

 

[Big Aura]

the errors in transmission over hdmi increase with longer cable runs. How noticeable these will be is a debatable point. If you want a cheap as chips option, consider this...

www.thatcable.com sell 5m for £8.49....