AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Receivers, Amps, and Processors › One av receiver feeding two TV sets
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

One av receiver feeding two TV sets

post #1 of 24
10/21/11 at 5:46pm
Thread Starter 
I'd like to buy my first av receiver and am looking at the Onkyo HT-RC360.

We have a kitchen and a living room TV sets back-to-back and the receiver will be feeding both. Since there is only one HDMI output from the receiver, I need to buy a HDMI splitter. I want to buy one that can pass 1080p 3D HDMI signals so anything I play will not be restricted by the splitter.

EDIT: Scratch the 3D. Just one that can pass 1080p HDMI signals will do. I don't intend to buy a 3D hdtv set.

I also need to split the composite video/audio output from the receiver. I could use a mechanical 1 to 4 switch that I already have but any suggestions for a "splitter" that can split both video and audio so I don't have to manually switch from one TV to the other will be welcome.

Any suggestions for a good quality HDMI splitter and a composite video/audio splitter will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sky
Reply
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 24
10/21/11 at 8:11pm
Without 3D, you can use any good HDMI 1.3 splitter such as these from MonoPrice. I have a 1x2 and a 1x4 splitters from MonoPrice and they worked great.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 24
10/21/11 at 8:27pm
^ I was going to say the same thing.
You could also use a HDMI balun if you wanted to get fancy and go through the wall. Also at monoprice.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 24
10/21/11 at 8:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo King View Post

Without 3D, you can use any good HDMI 1.3 splitter such as these from MonoPrice. I have a 1x2 and a 1x4 splitters from MonoPrice and they worked great.

Hi Leo and Joe,

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with a first time av receiver buyer. I wasn't sure what kind of splitter would work since I remember reading somewhere (can't remember where now) that HDMI is bi-directional. I wasn't sure whether HDTV sets ever sent anything back to the av receiver and if so, how signals from two sets could be combined and sent back to the av receiver.

PS: I found some composite video/audio distribution amps on amazon which should work for splitting that output.

Thanks again,
Sky
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 24
10/21/11 at 9:09pm
I would suggest you get an AV receiver that has 2 HDMI (ARC) outputs, one for each TV, such as the Yamaha RX-V867. If the receiver has only 1 HDMI out, you can use a 1x2 HDMI splitter to split the output to 2 TV's.

Edit: This 1x2 HDMI splitter will work fine.

.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 24
10/22/11 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo King View Post

I would suggest you get an AV receiver that has 2 HDMI (ARC) outputs, one for each TV, such as the Yamaha RX-V867. If the receiver has only 1 HDMI out, you can use a 1x2 HDMI splitter to split the output to 2 TV's.

Edit: This 1x2 HDMI splitter will work fine.

.

That RX-V867 with 2 HDMI outputs looks sweet. But there's two things that concern me:

1. There's no built-in USB port. Ouch!

2. The unit up-scales analog video to 1080p. But doesn't a 1080p HDTV set do that anyway? What's the advantage of having the V867 do it instead?

Thanks much for your input!
Sky
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 24
10/22/11 at 3:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skylark View Post

That RX-V867 with 2 HDMI outputs looks sweet. But there's two things that concern me:

1. There's no built-in USB port. Ouch!

2. The unit up-scales analog video to 1080p. But doesn't a 1080p HDTV set do that anyway? What's the advantage of having the V867 do it instead?

Thanks much for your input!
Sky

No advantage. A dual output AVR or using an HDMI splitter (powered) will work for what you want to do.
AVScience Insider

Buy Gear From AVS

» Get the latest news and updates at the AVScience sponsor page.
Reply
AVScience Insider

Buy Gear From AVS

» Get the latest news and updates at the AVScience sponsor page.
Reply
post #8 of 24
10/22/11 at 8:43am
Yep, both will do what you want to do. Only when you have a 3D TV, on the receiver with 2 HDMI OUT's, you can switch off the port that you connect the non 3D TV to via the remote so you can watch 3D BDs or channels. These are the threads that are related to your thread:

HDMI 1.4 splitters - 3D TV/HDMI 1.3 AVR
List of entry level Receivers with mutiple HDMI out (2 HDMI out)

You can browse the 2nd thread for the receiver that has the features you like to have.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 24
10/22/11 at 8:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AV Science Sales 05 View Post

No advantage. A dual output AVR or using an HDMI splitter (powered) will work for what you want to do.

Hi AV Science,

Thanks for your input.

Sky
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 24
10/22/11 at 8:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo King View Post

Yep, both will do what you want to do. Only when you have a 3D TV, on the receiver with 2 HDMI OUT's, you can switch off the port that you connect the non 3D TV to via the remote so you can watch 3D BDs or channels. These are the threads that are related to your thread:

HDMI 1.4 splitters - 3D TV/HDMI 1.3 AVR
List of entry level Receivers with mutiple HDMI out (2 HDMI out)

You can browse the 2nd thread for the receiver that has the features you like to have.

Hi Leo,

Thanks for your very helpful links and your previous recommendation for the Yamaha RX-V867 receiver.

Reading the thread about multiple HDMI output receivers, the OP mentioned that, while a HDMI splitter worked with his single HDMI output receiver, he said "It works perfectly for changing displays, but the lag and hiccups when changing channels is too disruptive." --- So that eliminated using a HDMI splitter on a single output receiver for me and I'll buy a 2 output receiver.

I noticed that the RX-A800 has almost the same specifications as the RX-V867 receiver that you suggested. The A800 is cheaper than the V867 and I don't need the V867's networking since I'm buying a blu ray player with networking. I most likely will buy a RX-A800.

Thanks very much for your replies. They really changed which AV receiver I will buy.
Sky
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 24
10/22/11 at 8:27pm
What exactly are you wanting to send to the other television? The reason I ask is because it may be cheaper to use an HTPC or Apple TV to send video via wifi. If money isn't an option feel free to ignore this post.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 24
10/22/11 at 8:50pm
The RX-A800 is an excellent receiver. The Yamaha Aventage series receivers are Yamaha top of the line receivers.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 24
10/23/11 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joeforsale View Post

What exactly are you wanting to send to the other television? The reason I ask is because it may be cheaper to use an HTPC or Apple TV to send video via wifi. If money isn't an option feel free to ignore this post.

Hi Joeforsale,

What do I want to send to the other TV? Let me explain.

We have two back-to-back TV sets, one for the kitchen and one for the living room.

On the living room cabinet I have a:
1. Cable DVR
2. DVD recorder with hard drive
3. DVD player (to be replaced with a blu ray player)
4. VCR

Currently, I'm using two mechanical 1-4 switches and a bunch of cables to connect devices 1-3 to the two TV sets. So I'm able to watch devices 1-3 on either the living room TV or the kitchen TV. If we need to watch a VHS tape (rarely), I have to disconnect the cables from the DVD player and connect them to the VCR.

Installing an AV receiver will allow connecting all of the equipment 1-4 and be able to watch any on them on either TV set by just pressing buttons on the remote. I will be connecting HDMI cables whenever possible, hence the need for an AV receiver with "TWO" hdmi outputs. --- So in essence, I will have both HDMI and composite video/audio in parallel for some of the devices. HDMI for best quality and "subtitles". Composite video/audio for ok quality and "closed captions".

I might have to buy a composite video/audio distribution amp to feed composite video out of the A800 to both TV sets, to have closed caption capability on both. Whether I need a distribution amp or not will depend on whether I can use the A800's composite video output to one TV and component video output to the other TV, and still be able to switch anything to either TV and have closed captions work on both TV sets.

After years of manually switching and fussing with cables, money is no longer a consideration (within reason)

Best regards,
Sky
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 24
10/23/11 at 6:24am
I would definitely get the receiver Leo King is referring to then.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 24
6/19/12 at 12:24pm
sorry if this is a silly question, I have very little knowledge of how these things work but with an AV receiver with 2 outputs is it fair to assume you can watch 2 completely separate signals, i.e. having the ps3 running on one tv and sky on the other one? I'm guessing a splitter would just mirror the signal? Cheers
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 24
6/19/12 at 12:26pm
Sorry, but no ... it's just a splitter on the AVR as well (ie. same source to both monitor outputs). AFAIK, the new Denon 3313CI and Marantz AV/SR7007 will be the first AVRs with a dedicated Zone 2 HDMI out which can play a separate video source than is playing in the main zone.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 24
6/19/12 at 7:48pm
You mentioned splitting a Composite output as well. Just a note: unless your sources are composite, I'm not sure you will get any video signal on the composite output. Perhaps you already know this, but just in case...

If you meant to say 'component' then you might be ok if your sources are also component. Generally if you have HDMI sources I think the only video output you will get is HDMI, although I haven't tested this personally. I believe it may violate HDCP to take an HDMI source and convert it to component or composite?
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 24
6/19/12 at 8:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsmoothie View Post

Sorry, but no ... it's just a splitter on the AVR as well (ie. same source to both monitor outputs). AFAIK, the new Denon 3313CI and Marantz AV/SR7007 will be the first AVRs with a dedicated Zone 2 HDMI out which can play a separate video source than is playing in the main zone.

Do you happen to know if either of those will be able to power a 7.1 set of speakers and HDMI in zone 1 with a dedicated source (say tv) and a 2.1 set of speakers in zone 2 (say xbox)? If so I may have found my perfect receiver. Right now I do this with two different receivers, the down side is I can't on occasion (big football game) run both from the same source.
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 24
6/19/12 at 8:16pm
Yes, both would power a 7.1 setup in the main zone playing one HDMI source while passing another HDMI source to Zone 2; however, if you wanted to power a 2.1 setup then another AVR would have to be used to power those speakers so the HDMI from the primary AVR would pass to the 2nd AVR and on to the TV.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 24
6/19/12 at 10:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsmoothie View Post

Yes, both would power a 7.1 setup in the main zone playing one HDMI source while passing another HDMI source to Zone 2; however, if you wanted to power a 2.1 setup then another AVR would have to be used to power those speakers so the HDMI from the primary AVR would pass to the 2nd AVR and on to the TV.

Isn't it possible though to have 7.1 in the main zone when you want it and just switch to 5.1 when you want to use zone 2, so you don't need another AVR? Also, doesn't need to be another AVR, really just need an amp, since AVR in zone 1 will do all switching- or you could use powered speakers- correct?
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 24
6/20/12 at 3:36am
Not if you want rear surrounds as they share the same speaker posts as the powered Zone 2 speakers, while the Front Height and Front Wide speakers have dedicated speaker posts. Also note that you would have to connect an analog cable from the HDMI source to the AVR in order to pass audio to the Zone 2 powered speaker posts. If you want to use the Zone 2 HDMI monitor out, then you would have to connect the HDMI either (a) directly to the TV and use powered speakers from the TV (or perhaps a soundbar/w sub) with the restriction of only passing 2.0 audio if the TV cannot except anything higher, or (b) to an AVR that can process whatever audio is received (HD, multi channel or stereo) and pass it to the 2.1 setup with another HDMI going to the TV for video.
Edited by jdsmoothie - 6/20/12 at 8:44am
Reply
Reply
post #22 of 24
6/20/12 at 7:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsmoothie View Post

Yes, both would power a 7.1 setup in the main zone playing one HDMI source while passing another HDMI source to Zone 2; however, if you wanted to power a 2.1 setup then another AVR would have to be used to power those speakers so the HDMI from the primary AVR would pass to the 2nd AVR and on to the TV.

I guess I will have wait until a 9.2 receiver comes out where, 2.1 can be sent to zone 2 along with video. My 2.1 setup is to a projector with in wall speakers and a sub.
Reply
Reply
post #23 of 24
6/21/12 at 4:18am
^^
Not sure what being able to do this with a single AVR does for you when you have the capability with 2 AVRs other than it reduces the footprint. The new Denon 4520CI (Sep release) is 9.2 and will also have the new Zone 2 HDMI output as well.
Reply
Reply
post #24 of 24
6/21/12 at 7:21pm
Mostly reduces footprint/remotes etc. Also lets me replace one dead (lightning) and one old (pre-HDMI) receiver with one new modern piece of equipment. I currently can't drive the same TV feed to both the PJ and the TV. I can put the same station to the PJ via my HTPC and the TV via its internal tuner, but the feeds are always 2 or 3 seconds off and the rooms are back to back so you can notice the difference. Its only an issue when I want to run a football game in both rooms.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Receivers, Amps, and Processors

Gear mentioned in this thread:

AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Receivers, Amps, and Processors › One av receiver feeding two TV sets