Just bought a onkyo 800 system. I have a Samsung LN-S3251D TV, a xbox 360, a cyberhome dvd player and a old school vhs player. I need help connecting the pieces.

If you want more specific answers than the ones I give, I'd be happy to give them, but I'll probably need some more detail on what exactly you're looking for. Probably your best bet is to connect your Xbox 360 and DVD player to your receiver via component (three wires with RCA connectors, typically red, green, blue) cables. These only carry video, so you'll also need to hook up audio. You'll probably want to run either optical or coaxial digital (depending on what your components have) into your receiver. There is no real benefit to one over the other, so whichever you choose is probably fine. These will allow you to have surround sound from your system. For the VHS player, you can probably use an S-video connection to your receiver. Again, that only carries video, so you'll also need to connect some stereo cables to that input on your receiver (the old Red and White RCAs). That should get all the information to your receiver. I would assume that you would want to use your home theater speakers for everything and not use your tv speakers, so that's what I'm describing in this next part. You should just need to connect one additional set of component video cables from your receiver's output to your TV's input. Your receiver may not transmit S-Video over component though, so you may also need to run an S-Video cable from your receiver's output (probably labeled "monitor out") to your TV's S-Video input. That should get you hooked up the way you need to be. When you want to watch a DVD or play Xbox, you'll just need to select that input on the receiver and make sure the TV is on the component input. To watch something on VHS, you'll need to change the input on the receiver to the VHS input and also change the input on the TV to S-Video (unless it works through component, and it might). I hope that helps--that's just a quick rundown of what you need. I don't know your background knowledge so I don't mean to insult you or to talk over your head. If you need more help, feel free to ask.