I would really appreciate it if someone could tell me how to set this thing up. My components:

Sony K-STR7200 receiver (3 HDMI ins, 1 HDMI out, 2 optical ins)
Panasonic TC-P50S1 Plasma
Directv HD DVR
Xbox 360 Elite
Samsung HDDVD Player
Panasonic Bluray player
Standard upconverting DVD player
Energy Take Five 5.1 Speaker System

I currently have 3 HDMI cables and that's it. Could someone tell me what additional cables I will need or point me in the right connection. Also, what cables connect where? I am having trouble finding a handy guide online describing what I need to do with all of these components.

Have you tried looking in the owner's manuals? The receiver owner's manual will include diagrams on how to connect virtually every A/V source known to man.

Have you tried looking in the owner's manuals? The receiver owner's manual will include diagrams on how to connect virtually every A/V source known to man.
Ha! RTFM!!! :D Whodda thunk it!

Ha! RTFM!!! :D Whodda thunk it!

I will never understand how people can buy that much complicated, expensive equipment and NOT even open the owner's manual. :rolleyes:

Then they come here expecting us "experts" to tell them how to hook it all up.

I have no problem with someone not understanding what the owner's manual says, but this kind of post is ridiculous.

I will never understand how people can buy that much complicated, expensive equipment and NOT even open the owner's manual. :rolleyes:

Then they come here expecting us "experts" to tell them how to hook it all up.

I have no problem with someone not understanding what the owner's manual says, but this kind of post is ridiculous.

I no longer have any of the documentation after moving, that's why I need some more guidance. I figure the answer should be relatively simple; I'm thinking HDMI from Directv DVR to receiver, Bluray HDMI to receiver, and one more component to receiver via HDMI with anything left using component cables to receiver. Then receiver HDMI out to the display.

I tried this and the only problem is that I only get directv video on my plasma, and no sound. Is this a "handshake" problem between the directv dvr and my receiver? If so, what can I do to workaround it? (use Toslink for audio and maintain HDMI cable for video?)

Man, y'all are mean. :D

tarheel, as bluesky's first post suggested, read all your manuals. Then read them again. And again. Even though we know how to connect your stuff, no one is going to spend the time to answer your question in detail.

You have 5 output devices. I do not know if they all support HDMI output or not. Nor do I know whether your receiver will process audio via HDMI. I assume it will. Think about how you will get the audio and video from each device to the receiver and/or TV. HDMI can carry both audio and video. But your receiver only has 3 HDMI inputs. So, (without adding any more equipment) you will only be able to connect 3 devices to the AVR via an HDMI connection. You will have to figure out how you will connect the other 2 devices. Your TV most likely has more than one HDMI input so the video from 2 of your HDMI capable devices can be passed directly to the TV via its other HDMI inputs. But you will need to use another connection type (optical or digi coax) to the receiver for the audio for 2 of your devices. The best candidates for this would be the devices that do not output hirez audio. This would be your standard DVD player, your Xbox (I think), and/or your DVR.

If your TV only has 2 HDMI inputs, you are going to have to think about passing the video from one of your devices via something other than an HDMI connection. This may not be an issue as I am not certain all of your output devices are HDMI capable, anyway. Does your standard DVD player have an HDMI output? Do Xbox's have HDMI outputs?

And you are going to need more than your 3 HDMI cables.

I will never understand how people can buy that much complicated, expensive equipment and NOT even open the owner's manual. :rolleyes:

Then they come here expecting us "experts" to tell them how to hook it all up.

I have no problem with someone not understanding what the owner's manual says, but this kind of post is ridiculous.
While I totally agree, I will say that some owners manuals are really intimidating, especially to the uninitiated. When you don't know a crossover point from a composite video port, it can be very difficult to read a manual full of technical jargon.

Having said that, it would be nice if people tried to decipher the OM before they ask for basic advice. For example, the OP can use 2 of his existing HDMI cables to connect his HD DVR and BluRay player to his receiver, and then use his 3rd HDMI cable to send those signals to his display. He still needs speaker cables to hook up his speakers, a shielded RCA cable to hook up his sub, and component video and optical/coax cables to hook up the non-HDMI sources. Of course, a brief reading of his OM would have told him this.

To the OP, check out Monoprice and Bluejeans cables for good inexpensive cable choices. Both are forum sponsors and they have sticky ads at the top of the page.

Craig

Agree.

A more useful question would be "My receiver has 3 HDMI inputs but I have 4 HDMI sources. How do I connect the fourth source?" Now THAT is a question that people would take the time to think through and provide an answer.

In this case, the OP has basically dumped a big bag of parts on the floor and asked us to build him a car.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

So now I have everything pretty much setup the way I want it, except there seem to be handshake issues over HDMI from the Directv receiver to my Sony receiver. So what I'm planning on doing tomorrow once my Toslink digital cable arrives is:

HDMI from Directv to Plasma, and then Toslink cable from Digital Out on Plasma to Sony receiver

HDMI from xbox 360 to receiver

HDMI from Bluray to receiver

HDMI from HDDVD to receiver

HDMI from receiver out to the Plasma

Would all of this, in theory, work?

HDMI from Directv to Plasma, and then Toslink cable from Digital Out on Plasma to Sony receiver

Would all of this, in theory, work?Most TV's will not pass-through a multichannel signal via their optical outputs. Instead, most simply pass a 2-channel downmix. That said, I do not know how many of the DTV channels that you receive are truly DD5.1 and not just DD2.0. If many of your channels are DD5.1 and your TV can't pass-through a DD5.1 signal via it's optical output, then your proposed scheme would obviously not be desirable. Your TV's manual may provide information as to whether it can pass-through a DD5.1 signal via its optical output. Or, you can determine that empirically, yourself. If you are certain that what you are sending to the TV is DD5.1 but your receiver can't detect that, then most likely it is because your TV doesn't pass-through DD5.1 to its optical output. Provided your DTV box has an optical (or digital coax) output, the simple remedy if this is the case is to connect the optical cable (or digital coax) directly from the DTV box to your receiver instead of from the TV to the receiver. You may want to just connect it this way in the first-place, anyway, whether the TV can pass DD5.1 to its optical out or not. There is no advantage gained in passing the audio through your TV. Either way you're going to have to change the input on your TV and on your receiver when you switch to DTV.

HDMI from Directv to Plasma, and then Toslink cable from Digital Out on Plasma to Sony receiver

Would all of this, in theory, work?

No.

Run a digital cable from the DirecTV box (coax or toslink, I forget which it uses) to your receiver.

No.

Run a digital cable from the DirecTV box (coax or toslink, I forget which it uses) to your receiver.
And for ease of switching, run a component video cable along with it.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

So now I have everything pretty much setup the way I want it, except there seem to be handshake issues over HDMI from the Directv receiver to my Sony receiver. So what I'm planning on doing tomorrow once my Toslink digital cable arrives is:

HDMI from Directv to Plasma, and then Toslink cable from Digital Out on Plasma to Sony receiver

HDMI from xbox 360 to receiver

HDMI from Bluray to receiver

HDMI from HDDVD to receiver



HDMI from receiver out to the Plasma

Would all of this, in theory, work?


Why don't you just do the Toslink from the DTV box to your Sony receiver?

You can also just do HDMI from Bluray to TV for video and Toslink from bluray to receiver.