[LCangler]

I am slowly upgrading our system. Purchased a Mitsubishi DLP 65inch TV a MD65731 and an Onkyo txsr804 for Christmas. Still have an older model DVD player and a broken DTV box. Have had DTV for years, but my box just broke a few months ago and have held off getting a new DTV box until I upgraded my TV and receiver. I am still planning on holding off on the new HD DVR from DTV as it seems like they are not quite stable yet. So for the next few months I will just have basic cable going to TV. My husband and I are definitely noobs when it comes to audio stuff. What is the optimum cabling and settings for now with this new receiver with just basic cable? I own one HDMI cable and have lots of RCA video and audio cables, no optical.


I would like to add a new HD DVR, a new DVD player and new speakers system. We currently just have a sub and two wall mounted speakers.


I do not want to spend big bucks on a HD DVD player just yet. So if this receiver upconverts (and/or the TV does too) can a decent DVD player with HDMI get me a decent DVD picture. Any suggestions? Also any suggestions on speaker system that would complement this receiver? It is a fairly large room with a high ceiling. I don't want the best but something midrange pricewise? $800-1000.


Thanks in advance. This is a great site for us noobs.

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

So if you get a new DTV box, you will probably get an HD model?


Look into Oppo DVD players, they really do get all the best marks and will open up the possibility of SACD to you as well if your music fans.


On the connections...


use HDMi for your new Oppo player. Use the best available for any othter devices working your way down with what the device has avaialble.


Not sure of your location, but hook an antenna up to that display as well as Cable TV and you may get more real HD than you expect for free even.


Your display probably has Optical out and you may as well us it for your audio connection from it's tuner sources to your sound system. Don't spend a lot on it though, cheapo TOSLINK should be fine.



On the speakers. Is physical size important? The best bang for bucks will be larger bookshelf speakers. The smaller they get, if you want similar performance to larger bookshelf speakers, the higher the cost.

 

[LCangler]

Will be a while before I get the new DVD player. Thanks for the suggestion. For now though, I have the old DVD player hooked up to the receiver with my old audio/video cables. Between the Receiver and TV i connected the HDMI cable from the out of the receiver to input on TV. The audio would not work unless I hooked up regular audio cables between TV and Receiver. Is this because I do not have digital signal to TV? just regular, basic cable? I just need optimum hookup for system now and when I get new equipment, will figure that out later. Thanks again.

 

[moovtune]

It sounds like you're using a composite video cable (RCA plug) and analog audio cables L & R (also RCA) to your Receiver, then for video to your TV are using the HDMI cable. So you're not getting any benefit from using the HDMI digital connection. You might be better off just connecting the DVD video cable directly to the TV. Still connect your audio cables to an input on the receiver so you can use your wall speakers (and set the speaker size to small so your subwoofer can be involved) - that is if you have a separate powered sub. If it's a passive sub, where the L/R speakers run from a cable connected to it, then use large.