Pardon my ignorance. I'm a complete newbie compared to people around here. I searched for an answer to my question for a long time, but couldn't find any other threads on it.

My question is:

How do I get surround sound from broadcast TV? I just got my first home theater system for Christmas. It's an ONKYO HTS-790 7.1 system. I know that several TV shows, like The Simpsons, are said to be available in surround sound, but my receiver never kicks into any surround sound mode. It stays in stereo. I use a roof-top antenna with excellent reception. The coax cable is plugged into my VCR and the VCR goes to my receiver. Am I supposed to plug the coax from the roof directly into my receiver? If so, would that be where the FM antenna is now?

If you do not have an HD tuner with digital audio, you cannot receive multichannel. The tuner in your VCR is, apparently, not suitable for that.

So a home theater receiver won't have any kind of tuner other than AM/FM radio, right?

So a home theater receiver won't have any kind of tuner other than AM/FM radio, right?Right. You need a suitable TV/video tuner (like the one in your AVR) but it will have to be an HD tuner since most SD broadcasts are in stereo, only.

Well... do you have the VCR connected to the audio receiver using both Red/White audio cables?

Does your VCR support MTS Stereo?
You TV's internal tuner probably does (with a 99% probability). That should also be connected to the A/V receiver using red/white audio cables (to the A/V receiver).

As long as both the VCR's tuner and the TV's tuner support MTS stereo, your A/V receiver should be able to provide Dolby Pro-Logic, which is "surround sound" (as close as you can get to Dolby Digital using analog connections).

I _do_ have the VCR connected to the receiver with both red and white composite cables. I verified that my VCR supports MTS, but in the manual only talks about SAP with MTS. It doesn't mention surround sound or Dolby Pro-Logic.

I couldn't verify whether my TV supports MTS, but I don't think it should matter since I'm just using my TV as a monitor. I don't use its tuner nor its sound.

I verified that my VCR supports MTS, but in the manual only talks about SAP with MTS. It doesn't mention surround sound or Dolby Pro-Logic.


Surround sound can be encoded into a stereo signal, you use a pro-logic decoder to extract the information. there's no need for a VCR manufacturer to mention this.

Try plugging the antenna coax directly into the TV (instead of through the VCR) and run the red/white audio cables from the TV's audio outputs to the A/V receiver and see what happens.

If that doesn't work, check your A/V receiver's manual for setup/selection instructions for Dolby Pro-Logic.