Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Hi there,

I wish to set up a Home Theatre set up on a limited budget.

I am currently looking at the Samsung HT-D450 set up and want to know how easy it will all be to connect to my current set up.

I have a Phillips 37" HD TV with 2 HDMI inputs.
Currently connected to the 2 x HDMIs are a VirginMedia TiVo box and a PS3.
None of the above two devices are connected together.

I want to have a Home Theatre set up so I can get the best out of the Audio from the Samsung, TiVo and PS3.

What cables/connectors/switches would I need?

Thanks in advance

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Im not 100% but I think the easiest way is to connect your optical audio out from the back of your tv to your 5.1 sound device/amp! its just one cable then no messing around

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Problem is as I have just checked it has no optical out :-(

Sorry for the lack of info on the TV. It is a Phillips 37PFL5522D
From what I can see, it has Audio In (White-Left Red-Right) and a Y (Green), Pb (Blue) and Pr (Red)
So no optical link.. does that make that model of Home Cinema useless or can you recommend an alternative circa £200?

Thanks for the reply

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Would one of these work?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/hdmi-switch-with-remote-224917

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

If im honest mate I dont have a TiVo or a PS3, I would Imagen your TiVo box has a optical digital out so that would sort that (you may have to change settings)?
I have no idea about the PS3 set up, hdmi??

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

If you are going to the optical digital route you could go for this - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-SC.../ref=de_a_smtd - which has two optical digital inputs.

What you really need is a unit with more HDMI inputs. I have found this Sony set up - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/sony-ht...u-ray~05037907 - which has 3 inputs, but obviously doesn't have a Blu-Ray player included. This would enable you to set up all 3 (TiVo, Blu-Ray and PS3) to the HDMI inpits with just the one cable going off to the TV.

I think that at below this price point you may struggle to find units with the inputs you need.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

I'm struggling to understand your hardware.

Do you have a home cinema already, or are you looking to buy one? All we know at the moment is that you've got a TV, TiVo, and PS3.

The Samsung you posted above only has one optical input and one coax input, which isn't ideal.

Its slightly over budget, but this is by far the best way to do it.
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/pioneer...49154-pdt.html
It has 1x HDMI Out and 2x HDMI in. You connect your TiVO and PS3 to the two HDMI inputs (both devices are capable of outputting 5.1 over HDMI) and the HDMI from the Pioneer to the TV.

I would knock the DVD side of things on the head - the PS3 will do a much better job at upscaling than some of the home cinema upscalers.

Even something like this - although you'd have to supply your own speakers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ONKYO-TX-NR5.../ref=de_a_smtd

Hope this helps a bit?

If HDMI isn't your thing, then any device with two optical inputs will be sufficient.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Thanks guys, that Sony one looks good :)

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Looking at the specs on the Currys site, the Sony doesn't decode HD audio (which you can get from blueray played on your PS3). The Pioneer does.

The best way, as has been suggested, separate amp and speakers.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Your right it doesn't seem to decode HD audio, but it is capable of recieving MULITI Channel LPCM which i believe the ps3 is capable of outputting over HDMI.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Yes, the PS3 can do that. In fact, unless it's the 'Slim' PS3, HD audio has to be sent as LPCM.


I'd still prefer a system with on-board HD audio decoding, to make sure you're covered ---- I've come across one Blueray player in the past that couldn't decode all HD audio formats, so an amp that decodes HD audio prevents checking specs of any BR player you may want to add in the future.

---------- Post added at 19:10 ---------- Previous post was at 18:11 ----------

Don't know what your budget is, but this seems a good deal, with much more flexibility than an all-in-one system.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ann-sfx5.1-blk

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...y-strdh520-blk

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Cheers folks, will check out all these links :)

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

I have one of these and it works well :) I have my TiVo & Xbox plugged in to it and the sound seems good for the price :)

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ky-hts3405-blk

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

If you check out places like avforums.com, you'll find that those tannoy speakers are one of the most popular budget speaker sets. and they are are regularly paired with Sony amps because they are a good tonal match.

You used to have to go up a level on the amp, but now, according to the RS web site, Sony have introduced HD audio decoding on the 520 amp. It's easy to upgrade in the future with separates, e.g. speakers; you usually can't really do that with an all-in-one system.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Just an update guys, went for This HT-D5530 Samsung and loving the sound from it :-)

---------- Post added at 22:46 ---------- Previous post was at 21:56 ----------

Anyone heard reports of the TiVo dropping the Dolby Digital audio from it and needing several reboots to fix? Is this bug still occuring?

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Not all streams carry Dolby Digital content, most are standard stereo I believe.

You'll need to set the TiVo audio output to the correct type too (Dolby Digital / PCM).

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Yeah I know have checked them out and setting is correct.. but people have reported this issue on here and the VM Community forums.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Does the 5.1 system not display what it is receiving? My AV amp shows 'Dolby Digital' when it's receiving 5.1, and PL11 Movie (or whatever DSP I've selected) for stereo.

That way you know if 5.1 is working.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

I have what would be considered to be an old Philips home cinema 5.1 system, at a guess about 7 or 8 years old.
I connect my TV with the red and white connectors to the red and white connectors on the surround sound system and all the TV programs are in surround that is providing i set the system accordingly.
It has an optical and coaxial digital input but there are for sound only.

Re: Help with setting up a home cinema set up
 

Just a quick query for anyone with home cinema system. I had mine set up with previous V+ box and my Xbox 360 connected direct to the TV via HDMI and optical connections from both to my amp for dolby digital sound. My thoughts were that by directly connecting the boxes to TV rather than looping them both into AV receiver By HDMI in and then connecting the HDMI out from the receiver to the TV that this would perhaps give a better picture as it reduced any handover, maybe maybe not. Anyway, now have my TIVO set up and just replaced the V+ box so it is set up the same way. What i have noticed now though is that when i bring up the info bar on screen it shows alternative audio available and allows me to choose Dolby digital (it is already set to dolby digital in settings) what it does not show however is the Dolby Digital icon that the manual says should be on the info bar. My Amp does show it is receiving Dolby Digital 3.2.1. My question is, would i be better connecting both my TIVO and Xbox 360 by HDMI to my AV receiver inputs and connecting my receiver HDMI output to the TV. Anyone think there would be any difference between set ups. Thanks for any help.