I have an Integra DTR 5.5 receiver w/o HDMI and am in the market for my first flat screen TV. If I were to hookup a Digital Cable Box or DVD Player or Blue Ray Player to a new Flat Screen Telvision (probably a Pioneer) via HDMI, would there be a way to send the audio to the receiver and still get surround sound?

Or do I just need to get a newer receiver?

I'd prefer not to as I have a budget and really do love the sound on the 5.5.

Any help would be appreciated.

Yes, you can pass the optical or digital coax from your player to your receiver while using HDMI for the video. Note that your display will be receiving HDMI audio so you'll want to mute it (if it has speakers) and use the receiver to drive the audio.

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

the previous scenario has played itself out. Question: If I hookup my HD cable and upconverting DVD (no blu-ray yet) via HDMI to the Flat Screen and send digital or optical audio out to the surround receiver -- will there be any noticeable audio lag? Will it ruin the experience?

Or should I just use component cables all around until I purchase a current receiver? Maybe using the upscaling feature on the DVD player can wait...

Thanks in Advance for your help!

the previous scenario has played itself out. Question: If I hookup my HD cable and upconverting DVD (no blu-ray yet) via HDMI to the Flat Screen and send digital or optical audio out to the surround receiver -- will there be any noticeable audio lag? Will it ruin the experience?


You mean run digital out from the TV? Probably no lag, but the TV may downmix the signal to stereo, negating the 5.1 discrete sound DVDs and HD cable is capable of bringing.

If you route audio direct from the HD box and DVD player to the receiver, there won't be any lag, either. I have this arrangement for my setup, and it works fine. HDMI from both cable and DVD player to TV, digital audio cables to receiver.

Thanks. I'll give it a try.