Connection Help

[WAID]

I finally got my Samsung 61" DLP set delivered yesterday (and for those interested, Costco has a $400-off coupon good for the next week; it's for the Samsung 67" and includes stand. In the store it was $2800 last week but saw it yesterday for $2500. Less the $400 coupon makes a pretty good buy for $2100!).

Because of my ongoing trouble with satellite HD service I still have a standard Dish DVR set-up but I could use some advice on how to best hook everything up (each manual has its own suggestions).

The inventory:

HDTV: Samsung HL-T6156W
Satellite DVR: DishDVR 625
Receiver: Pioneer Elite VSX-39TX (Note: No HDMI)
DVD Player: Pioneer Elite DV-F07
CD Player: Pioneer Elite PD-F27
VCR/DVD Combo: Sony RDR-VX525
Speakers: M&K K-5 (4) surrounds and M&K K-7 (3) for ctr and fronts

I guess what I'm ultimately asking is: Which components should feed into the receiver and which to the TV? And how will things change when I ultimately go for HD from satellite provider? For some reason I can't grasp why a DVD video signal should even go through the receiver rather than straight to the TV.

Thanks!

[PunkMunkey]

Route all video straight to the TV if at all possible...only route the video signals through the receiver if you're lacking available inputs on the TV or wanting the convenience of input switching through the receiver.

Route all of your audio directly to the receiver using digital connections where available (IE digital Coax or Optical from DVD Players, satellite receivers, CD Players, etc.)

Doing so will ensure the "cleanest" connections...you may have to futz with some remotes to get your TV's inputs to display video while your receiver outputs the corresponding audio, but at least you know you won't be suffering any quality degredation from unnecessary connections.

[tomdkat]

I helped my dad sort through some connectivity issues a couple of weekends ago.

First, connect each component ONE AT A TIME and make sure it works before proceeding.

As for your question about what to route through the receiver, using the receiver to route video can help if you're short on video inputs. Given you have only 3 video sources, you should be fine.

If your TV has 3 component video inputs, connect the Satellite receiver, and both DVD player directly to the TV. If the TV doesn't have 3 component inputs, you'll either have to connect one of those video devices via composite or S-Video or you'll have to get a component video splitter.

Do you watch VHS tapes mainly on the VHS/DVD combo? If so, connect that using S-Video to the TV directly.

Then, connect the satellite receiver and DVD player to the TV directly.

Connect the audio from all three to the receiver UNLESS you sometimes want to use the TV's speakers to hear the audio and not fire up the HT.

That should be a good starting point, short of walking through each component one at a time.

If you have a friend who is a HT nut, have him/her come over and help. This kind of stuff is fun for HT nuts.

Peace...

[WAID]

Thanks guys....this is helpful and makes sense (especially running the video straight to the TV). What still doesn't make sense to me is why there would be a need to ever run a video feed to the receiver.

The VCR/DVD combo is a recent purchase for the purpose of copying old VHS material to DVD. I won't have to worry about never seeing a wedding video because the format is dead, and it's a good excuse to clean the garage some. I haven't watched a tape for a long time and it's shocking how had the image is! I can easily see running anything from this unit (both audio and video) straight to the TV.

Hopefully I'll get this all worked out and not have to use three different remotes to watch a DVD (as is now, one to operate the TV, one to operate the receiver, and one to operate the jukebox DVD player). First things first; I've got to get the whole setup hooked up right!

[limacharliewhiskey]

Originally Posted by WAID

Thanks guys....this is helpful and makes sense (especially running the video straight to the TV). What still doesn't make sense to me is why there would be a need to ever run a video feed to the receiver.

This is more useful with older TVs that may have had only 1 or 2 video connections. With my old TV tube, I ran all the connections to the receiver because I had 2 VCRs, 1 LD player, and 1 DVD player. The receiver became a video switchbox and worked quite well. It was also quicker to switch between video sources because the remote control usually had separate buttons for each input source.

New HDTVs usually toggle through video inputs in a certain order, and usually have to hit the input button multiple times to get to the correct video input, unless you go through the TV's menus. This is what I have to do with my current HDTV, and it's a pain to do sometimes.