I have had my TV for awhile, and now I am looking to move up to a DD 5.1 audio setup. My budget is very modest, and I have researched some components, but I have some questions which are confusing me.
All I have right now is the TV: Mitsubishi vs-60603 rptv. It has one component input and 3 s-video inputs.
What I will be using as the DD 5.1 source will be the XBox video game console (which for the mean time will also serve as my DVD player). It supports component video output, and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio output both for games and DVD's.
For my audio setup I was looking at the Kenwood htb-504 "home theater in a box" av receiver/speaker package. I am looking to spend no more than $500 for receiver/speakers, and from what I have read, this product is very good for the price for an entry level system.
How I will hook everything together is where I start to get confused, however. Component video is better than svideo, so I should use component where-ever possibly, right? But from what I can tell, the Kenwood htb-504 doesn't have component inputs or outputs. So should I hook up the XBox directly to the component inputs on my TV, or should I hook the XBox via svideo to the Kenwood receiver, which in turn will hook up to the svideo input on my TV? But wouldn't that degrade the signal? But, lets say I hook the XBox up directly to the component inputs on my TV. What if later I want to add a seperate DVD player to my setup. I will have to unplug everytime I want to switch between the DVD player the XBox, since my TV only has one set of component inputs. Should I spend extra to get a receiver with component input/outputs? Also I have read several times that I should replace the the speaker wires that come with the Kenwood htb-504 with "monster" cables? Does it really make that much of a difference and should I be figuring that into my budget as well? It seems that the more research I do, the more questions I have, and that my costs could quickly spiral beyond the $500 limit I wanted to spend for the receivers/speakers.
This is a little trickier than I thought it would be, and any suggestions which might help me avoid making a mistake which would cost me more later on would be greatly appreciated.
All I have right now is the TV: Mitsubishi vs-60603 rptv. It has one component input and 3 s-video inputs.
What I will be using as the DD 5.1 source will be the XBox video game console (which for the mean time will also serve as my DVD player). It supports component video output, and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio output both for games and DVD's.
For my audio setup I was looking at the Kenwood htb-504 "home theater in a box" av receiver/speaker package. I am looking to spend no more than $500 for receiver/speakers, and from what I have read, this product is very good for the price for an entry level system.
How I will hook everything together is where I start to get confused, however. Component video is better than svideo, so I should use component where-ever possibly, right? But from what I can tell, the Kenwood htb-504 doesn't have component inputs or outputs. So should I hook up the XBox directly to the component inputs on my TV, or should I hook the XBox via svideo to the Kenwood receiver, which in turn will hook up to the svideo input on my TV? But wouldn't that degrade the signal? But, lets say I hook the XBox up directly to the component inputs on my TV. What if later I want to add a seperate DVD player to my setup. I will have to unplug everytime I want to switch between the DVD player the XBox, since my TV only has one set of component inputs. Should I spend extra to get a receiver with component input/outputs? Also I have read several times that I should replace the the speaker wires that come with the Kenwood htb-504 with "monster" cables? Does it really make that much of a difference and should I be figuring that into my budget as well? It seems that the more research I do, the more questions I have, and that my costs could quickly spiral beyond the $500 limit I wanted to spend for the receivers/speakers.
This is a little trickier than I thought it would be, and any suggestions which might help me avoid making a mistake which would cost me more later on would be greatly appreciated.