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Budget 5.1 Home Theater set up w/ unique devices (seeking input/information/help)

post #1 of 12
12/19/12 at 12:48am
Thread Starter 
I am a total audio/home theater newb, so please bear with my ignorance. With that being said:

Here's the home theater hardware that I'm looking to connect to my several month old HDTV (it's a lower end/budget 720p plasma).

HDTV: Samsung PN51E450 51-Inch 720p 600Hz Plasma HDTV: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PN51E450-51-Inch-600Hz-Plasma/dp/B0074FH14C
Speakers: Energy Take 5 Pack 5CH Home Theater Speaker System: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882269004
Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR509 5.1 Channel Network A/V Receiver: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004O0TRCO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
Subwoofer: Pioneer SW-8 100 Watt RMS Subwoofer System: http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SW-8-Watt-Subwoofer-System/dp/B004MF2ZG6

I have 3 very specific needs I'd like to accomplish with this 5.1 home theater set up:

1. Get 5.1 surround sound while watching TV via my HDTV antenna (over the air - free)
2. Get 5.1 surround sound while watching video from my WDTV Live Plus Media Player (I use this to watch my movie collection that I've backed up/ripped to my hard drive)
3. Get 5.1 surround sound while streaming content with my Roku device (the Roku is where I watch Netflix, Hulu, etc.)

#1 & #2 are extremely important and #3 would just be icing on the cake.

I have no video game systems, no dvd/bluray players, and no other devices. I have no need for any other devices. Basically, I want to know if I will run into any obstacles/limitations with my HDTVs limited input/outputs. If there are limitations, is there a cheap/easy fix?

My HDTVs input/outputs:
* HDMI x2 (no ARC support)
* Component x1
* Composite (AV) x1
* Digital Audio (Optical) x1
* USB 2.0 x1

Thanks in advance for any information that you may be able to provide.
Edited by LogicLiker - 12/19/12 at 3:47am
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post #2 of 12
12/19/12 at 8:00am
Everything should be connected to the receiver to take advantage of the 5.1 surround sound. Your tv will be the hdmi output for the receiver. The media player and Roku will be attached to two of the four hdmi inputs on your receiver.

I don't use an antenna for tv service so I can't comment on that.
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post #3 of 12
12/19/12 at 3:30pm
Yep, run everything to the AVR, and if you're using an OTA antenna connected directly to the television, it should have a digital audio output that will allow you to run a toslink optical cable from the TV to an AVR input - that will get you 5.1 sound from that source as well.

Jeff
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post #4 of 12
12/19/12 at 5:06pm
Thread Starter 
Great to hear...thanks for your feedback.
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post #5 of 12
12/19/12 at 10:09pm
Thread Starter 
Do I need a special cable/wire to hook up my subwoofer to my A/V receiver or can I just use regular speaker wire?
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post #6 of 12
12/19/12 at 10:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LogicLiker View Post

Do I need a special cable/wire to hook up my subwoofer to my A/V receiver or can I just use regular speaker wire?

You'll want to use an RCA audio cable to connect the subwoofer output jack on your Onkyo to the sub. There are long "subwoofer cables" that are single-RCA connections - same thing. Any RCA cable of length will do.

Like one of these, pick your length:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2682&seq=1&format=2
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post #7 of 12
12/20/12 at 1:41am
Thread Starter 
sweet, thanks. I really appreciate your help.
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post #8 of 12
12/20/12 at 5:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonyad View Post

Everything should be connected to the receiver to take advantage of the 5.1 surround sound. Your tv will be the hdmi output for the receiver. The media player and Roku will be attached to two of the four hdmi inputs on your receiver.
I don't use an antenna for tv service so I can't comment on that.

I agree with this. Do all your switching at the receiver if you want 5.1. This is from the owners manual for the Samsung:
Quote:
xxWhen the receiver (amplifier or DVD home theater) is set to on, you can hear sound output from the TV’s
optical jack. When the TV is receiving a DTV signal, the TV will send 5.1 CH sound to the amplifier or DVD
home theater. When the source is a digital component such as a DVD player / Blu-ray player / cable box / STB
(Set-Top-Box) satellite receiver and you connection it to the TV via HDMI, you will only 2 CH audio from the
amplifier or DVD home theater. If you want to hear 5.1 CH audio, connect the digital audio out jack from your
DVD / Blu-ray player / cable box / STB satellite receiver directly to an amplifier or home theater.

That says that if you connect a source directly to the TV, you will only get stereo out to the receiver.
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post #9 of 12
12/20/12 at 11:40am
I'm also assuming that how you ripped the DVD's to the computer will affect the audio channels. Hopefully they were all ripped and kept all the audio channels. Maybe it's more common for that to be the case, I just know in the past whatever software I was using back then, always would default to stereo audio for ripping. So then the audio output from the WD would be limited to whatever it was ripped as.
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post #10 of 12
12/23/12 at 1:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jayn_j View Post

I agree with this. Do all your switching at the receiver if you want 5.1. This is from the owners manual for the Samsung:
That says that if you connect a source directly to the TV, you will only get stereo out to the receiver.

I'm sorry but I'm a little confused.

Does this mean I will only get 2.0 sound if I hook up my fiber optic audio cable from TV to Receiver when watch tv OTA?
Edited by LogicLiker - 12/23/12 at 1:08am
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post #11 of 12
12/25/12 at 7:38pm
If the signal goes to the TV first then to the receiver you will get 2.0. If the signal is 5.1 and goes to the receiver first, you will get 5.1. The basic idea is to send everything to the receiver first, then the receiver will send the video signal to the TV and the audio signal to the speakers. For my system I have PS3, XBox360, cable box and my PC with ~800 movies on the hard drives running into the receiver first then video to the TV via HDMI, the audio goes out the speakers via speaker wire. You are on the right idea of using a receiver to take in all the input sources first.
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post #12 of 12
12/25/12 at 8:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LogicLiker View Post

I'm sorry but I'm a little confused.
Does this mean I will only get 2.0 sound if I hook up my fiber optic audio cable from TV to Receiver when watch tv OTA?
No, you'll get 5.1 from an OTA source when you use the TV's internal tuner. That's what the digital output is for... But you shouldn't expect 5.1 back out from anything connected to the TV.

Jeff
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