Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with audio and tv

Help me hook up a new HDTV to an old(ish) stereo receiver?

Dr. Wu — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:03:39 -0800

Can you help me connect my optical-out DVD players to my new HDMI-in HDTV? This is the kind of thing that drives me bananas.

Just got a nice, brand-new Sony HDTV, with several HDMI-in ports. I would like to get the highest resolution I possibly can out of my video components -- generally DVD. In the past, when I had an older, analog TV, I just used the stereo receiver as an A/V switcher, for which purpose it works very well. But now this functionality has been compromised by the new array of input/output jacks.

Here's the setup:
- The two DVD players I have (one "regular" and one multistandard) both have optical-out ports. I have an old laserdisc and an even older VHS player hooked up to the system, too, but I'm not terribly concerned about them right now.

- I have all audio and video components running through a good, but eight-year-old, Sony A/V receiver. LP/tape/VHS/LD are connected via regular old component RCA plugs, which are just fine. The CD player and the two DVD players can connect to the receiver with optical cables -- which I prefer to use whenever I can. They work well and provide good sound.

- The problem is that the new HDTV does not have any optical-in ports. (If it did, I'd just run the sound from the DVD players through the receiver, and the picture, via optical cable, right to the TV. But I can't do this.) It does have composite-in and component-in, but no optical-in. And the receiver has only composite-out.

The receiver I have is a Sony STR-DA 333 ES. The manual, in PDF form, is available on this page; click "primary user manual" and go to Page 5.

The HDTV I have is a Sony Bravia KDL-46VE5. The manual doesn't seem to be online, but you can find the details here by clicking on "Specifications." (The site will not allow me to access that page directly.)

- The upshot of all this (if you're still with me) is that my only current option is to run all video components into the receiver, and thence to the TV via a crappy composite video cable. Which would sort of defeat the purpose of the 1080p set that I just bought. (We don't have any sort of cable, satellite, or other TV, so this new HDTV is really just going to be used as a monitor for movies on the DVD players.)

What I would like to do is get the highest possible resolution (the HDTV can handle 1080p/24f) when I watch DVDs. Is there a simple, inexpensive way to convert the optical signal to HDMI?

I can imagine several options:
1. I find a magical converter device that can handle multiple optical inputs and output HDMI. This device would be a switcher, so I could run optical cables from both DVD players into it, and then a single HDMI cable from the switcher to the HDTV.

2. If it's cheaper, I certainly don't mind eschewing with the idea of the switcher box and just getting two separate optical-to-HDMI cables, one for each DVD player.

HOWEVER: the problem I foresee: What about the audio??
I want to run the audio from the DVD players through my stereo system, which has a nice 5.1 setup. HDMI handles both video and audio, right? So if I choose either option above, will I be locked into using the speakers built into the HDTV? Or would I then just add another cable, so that the setup would look something like this:

DVD optical out --> HDMI cable --> HDMI in to HDTV --> TV audio out --> receiver. (In which case the audio running from the HDTV to the receiver would be component, yes? Which would be a step downwards, yes?)

I am reasonably good with stuff like this, but the age disparity between the new HDTV and the older stereo system is giving me a headache.

What's the best, cheapest, most reliable way for me to get the highest-quality picture from the DVD players onto the TV, and still get the room-shaking audio through the stereo?

Should I just buy a new multistandard, HDMI-out DVD player? If I did, I could connect it right to the HDTV, but I'd still have the audio problem that I detail above.

*****
Related questions, for masochists and/or AV geeks:

- Let's say I solve this problem above. I'm still left with an LD and a VHS, both of which I still use occasionally, that will be unconnected. Is my best bet with these just to run A/V to the receiver, and thence to the HDTV via component cables?

- I'd like to minimize the number of A/V component switchers. Ideally, I'd still like my receiver to be the one and only device that switches between ALL a/v components. And what's nice is that I can split the audio and the video signals -- that is, I can listen to the CD player while watching the signal from the VHS, if I so desire. Is there some way I can use this functionality to refrain from buying any further switchers?

speakers from optical out?

striker — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:59:40 -0800

Don't like the speakers in my TV - TV only has digital optical out. What are my options for getting better speakers? Can I avoid having a big receiver? The tv sits solo in the bedroom without anything else - I'd prefer not to have a big receiver box sitting next to it. Also, is there any way that I won't have a seperate remote for the volume, without getting a universal remote? What do I need to just add a couple of speakers in a convenient way?

What kind of audio gear does Dr. House have in his office?

kenliu — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:30:11 -0800

HighEndAudioAndTVShowFilter: What kind of stereo system (speakers/amp/record player) does Dr. House have in his office? Dr. House has some very interesting looking tall, skinny speakers in his office. Also, his record player is also featured prominently in several episodes.

I am curious as to the makes/models of his audio gear and as to whether this is actually high-end audiophile equipment or if it just fancy looking Sony/Kenwood/consumer-grade gear.

I tried googling this, but of course I get a lot of hits related to the "Speaker of the House".

Audio Technician Gear?

AltReality — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:32:25 -0800

What is included in a typical sound technician's kit when recording scenes for TV or Movies? I am looking into all the potential uses of a degree in sound engineering, and was looking at the idea of TV and Movies...I notice the sound guys who hold the boom mic's have the lines run into a belt-pack kind of thing..I'm guessing a mixer and power supply, and then I guess they lead out to the camera?

So my question:
What is included in a typical sound technician's kit when recording scenes for TV or Movies?

Thanks,
AltReality

What do I need to know to stream a TV station to between 500 and 100 people?

asnowballschance — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:29:44 -0800

How do I set up a server to stream media ? A client has contacted us about developing a website with a streaming TV station and a streaming radio station. The stations will run 24/7 with a great deal of duplicated content. Content items will run from 15 minutes to 2 hours. The client wants to set it up as a broadcast, so that if someone tunes in at 8am, he sees the same program as everyone else, just like with regular stations. Because of the need for playlists, it looks like progressive (http) downloads won't work; however, if there are alternatives to setting up a streaming server, I'd love to hear about them.

Right now, I'm getting a handle on hardware and coding requirements so that we can put a team together. We're in West Africa, so the budget is thousands of dollars, not tens of thousands of dollars. We're also looking at a maximum of about 1000 simultaneous users, but hoping to average between 100 and 500.

What kind of hardware should I be looking at for (managed dedicated) servers? And where can we find the Terabytes of bandwidth we'll need?

What do I need to know about compressing media (into Flash)? Best practices?

Anything else I should generally be aware of?

Licensing, content, and profitability are not my problems. Putting together a plan, a budget, and hiring people to do this are.

Two-speaker TV setup for non-audiophiles?

everichon — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:08:40 -0800

We have an LG LCD tv with some not-very-good speakers, and they are starting to sound "blown". Is there some kind of amp-speaker set designed for people who just want decent audio, rather than surround sound? We do not want 5 speakers. We want two small but pretty-good sounding speakers. What's a good product or approach?

Probably shouldn't be watching it anyway...

heavenstobetsy — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:38:59 -0800

So I'm watching Veronica Mars reruns on my TV a couple nights ago and all of a sudden the audio goes and all I get is a staticky type sound. What's the deal? The TV is not new. It's probably about 5 years old. But I got it from a friend's parents who kept it in the guest room and rarely used it. So it's older, but not used so much...I have it connected to my cable box via regular RG59 (or is it RG58?) coax. I plugged in another TV, same setup, just a different TV and the audio is fine. No DVD player. No RCA connectors for audio or video.

I've checked all the settings on the TV AND the cable box and they're all fine.

Am I SOL or is it worth trying to connect my cable box and the TV with RCA audio connectors? Would that do anything at all? Should I try something else?

In case it matters, on the TV I have space for audio and video in and out, and S-Video.

I can't connect this iBook to the TV

mattbucher — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 12:28:18 -0800

I am trying to connect my G4 iBook to my TV, but apparently I don't have the right combination of output cables. I need some advice here. I bought this iBook in March 2005. It came with a VGA cable and I bought a red composite audio output wire that plugs into the headphones jack. The audio is working fine. I wanted to run the video out through S-Video to my TV, but this apple adapter doesn't work (it has a female end and I need a male). Is there another Apple adapter that will work with my iBook to output S-Video? Maybe through FireWire or USB? Do I need to use my VGA adapter and then get a VGA to S-Video adapter?

How to connect PC sound card to an LCD TV?

titans13 — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:42:55 -0800

I have a Gateway desktop with a standard sound card in it. The video is connected to a Vizio 42" LCD TV via VGA cable. We would like to connect the sound to the TV as well. There is no PC Audio input on the TV...just red and white RCA jacks. I looked for an adapter cable or sound card that had RCA jacks out, but got confused really quickly. All help is appreciated!

What's with my TV's speakers?

DoctorFedora — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:10:56 -0800

What's wrong with my TV's speakers? I have a Sansui of some sort (I got it used, so I don't know the model number offhand), and for some strange reason the audio seems... backward. This isn't to say that the stereo is reversed.

Instead, I have a rather more unusual problem: loud sounds are quiet, and quiet sounds are loud. I have no idea what's causing this, and naturally this has rather detrimental effects on a whole lot of the stuff that's on TV, because the background music has a nasty habit of overpowering the muted voices.

Any idea what's causing this, and, more importantly, how to fix this?

My MBP hisses when I connect it to my TV. Why?

tonylord — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:17:42 -0800

Why does my MacBook Pro hiss/bubble when I connect it to the TV (not the logic board thing, I've done that)? So I use my (2gig ram, 2.16 processor) MBP to watch films, dvds etc through my TV. I use the DVI-S-Video doohickey and a standard 3.5mm Y cable from the headphones socket.

Whenever I connect the system up, there is a constant hissing/bubbling sound through the TV's speakers.

It is incredibly annoying and sounds like the Logic Board problem did (through the right speaker), before I got that fixed. Was kind of hoping it was the same problem and all would be well when I got a new logic board. Ah well.

The sound is worse when the processor is doing lots of work and is realtively quiet when it isn't so busy. What is causing it, can I solve the problem?

I wonder if it's something to do with completing a circuit or something (sorry for the crappy terminology!). When I detach the audio cable, if I touch more than one of the posts on the plug with my fingers, I get audio feedback through the TV's speakers. Is that connected?

Are RCA cables and Component cables the same?

tpl1212 — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 05:34:54 -0800

Can one use RCA cables (red/white/yellow) in component jacks (red/blue/green)? I understand that the jacks carry much different data/signal/whatever, but I was told that there is no need to buy (very) pricey component cables...you can actually just hook up good quality red/white/yellow RCA cables to the component jacks for the same purpose. My backstory: for some reason, I am a complete AV dolt. I don't get it and can't wrap my head around wiring and hooking up my new digital video box, home entertainment receiver, and new LCD tv with all sorts of in/outputs.

So, I went to radioshack (ugh...hate that place, but I was in need of a quick fix to get this all hooked up) and the guy asked if I had component outputs, and that hooking these up with component wires (the three red/blue/green wires) would give me the best possible picture. So I bought some $45 package of Monster component cables (knowing full well that this guy was probably upselling me and raking me over the coals...but not understanding enough to be able to know for sure...hate that feeling).

I got home and my friend who was helping me set everything up mentioned to me that it was merely the inputs that were different; the component jacks were what carried "better" picture data...the cables (within reason) were more or less irrellevant. The cables just carry that signal.

I tested it out...and over the short distance hooked up (about 2'), I noticed no change in picture quality whether the component jacks were connected by dedicated (expensive) component cables or by good quality (but 1/2 or more as pricey) RCA cables.

I found this discussion on Yahoo Answers...but it seems like there if just a lot of back and forth ("yes, they are the same" and "no, they are totally different.").

Should I return these expensive cables and just go with some high quality RCAs in the component jacks? Are dedicated component cables really only marketed for suckers like me?

Thanks!

Any way to send 1 coax TV signal to a TV in another room wirelessly?

ilikebike — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 17:05:34 -0800

Any way to send 1 coax TV signal to a TV in another room wirelessly? We've moved into an apartment with 1 coaxial cable output in the living. We have basic cable (no box) and we have other goodies like tivo, dvd player, xbox media center, and a full wireless streaming server floating around. Needless to say, we're wired up for alot of things.

I need to be able to so a (seemingly) simple feat: Take the coax signal from my cable in the living room and shoot it wirelessly to the TV in the bedroom. The only catches are that the TV only has a coax input, no a/v or rca jacks, and since there is no cable box it uses the tuner in the TV to change the channel.

I picked up a video sender the other day, but it will only send 1 signal from an a/v or rca source, and it will not allow me to change channels on the TV. Some further investigating tells me I can get around this with a VCR tuner, but that would not let me change channels from the other room without either walking back to the living room or getting an remote sender of sorts. Our 2.4ghz frequency is crowded as it is!

So, is ther another way to get this done? Can I send the raw coax signal first to the TV or a VCR in the bedroom, or am I SOL when is comes to what I'd like to do?

Can I add an audio/video source to my cable signal on coax?

gfroese — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 08:51:03 -0800

Short version: Want to piggy back the audio/video output of my receiver onto my cable TV signal. Long version: I want to take the output of my receiver which is in RCA plugs (2 audio, 1 video) and somehow put that onto coax that ALSO contains my basic cable channels. I'm sure I stumbled onto something like this while looking at home automation stuff months ago, but I'm not finding it now. Effectively what I want is to be able to put my receiver's output on channel 100 or something on my coax. This would allow me to split that coax and run it to other TV's in my house and have the output from the receiver available on any TV on channel 100, while still having the regular cable channels available as normal. This will allow me to play Xbox on any TV in my house with my wireless controller. I found this but it only puts the one signal onto coax, it doesn't add it to coax with an existing set of channels. Not what I want, but its the closest thing I've found. Is this even possible or am I dreaming that I have seen this before?

help my Dad hear the TV

Galvatron — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 19:29:51 -0800

My father is hard of hearing. I'm looking for suggestions regarding easy audio devices that will let him listen to the TV at the volume he needs, but also let the rest of the family enjoy the program at a more reasonable volume. He has tried the obvious solution of routing the audio signal through a stereo amp and plugging in headphones. This didn't work out so well--he found the headphone cable to be a nuisance, he would rather not swap out his hearing aids in order to use the headphones, and getting all the right settings on the TV, VCR, and amplifier can be something of a daunting task to a man of his generation.

Ideally, we're looking for a system that gives him some amplification in a way that works with his hearing aids, doesn't restrain him with wires, and is easy to use. Bonus points for a solution that lets him simultaneously hear people trying to talk to him. I realize that this combination may not exist, so any other recommendations would be most welcome.

Which manufacturers make well-built home theater equipment at a reasonable price?

danwalker — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 19:21:06 -0800

Over the past several years, I have been burned by poor quality in home electronics from various manufacturers. I have purchased pieces by Sony (home stereo), Panasonic (theatre-in-a-box) and RCA (various pieces of junk), and all have given out in one way or another far too quickly for my liking. In a renewed attempt to build a proper home theatre system (DVD/CD, receiver, speakers, etc), and recognizing that I haven't the money for really high-end stuff but will avoid anything cheap, I seek outside opinions as to which manufacturers are making products that are of reasonable quality, and reasonably priced. Your experiences, please.

TV repair

stopgap — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 21:40:20 -0800

Television repair question: My TV displays everything in fuzzy black and white, and the audio is just static. [MI] The TV was bought new in January, and it was in storage (at college) for the summer. A DVD player is hooked up through an RF switch because the RCA inputs on the back of the TV don't seem to work. The VHF/UHF antenna is also hooked up through the RF switch right now, but the reception is no different when plugged directly into the TV. Both the antenna and DVD player work fine when connected to another TV, and there is no reason to think the RF switch is at fault because the reception doesn't improve when the antenna is plugged directly into the TV. The TV can display colors just fine, and does so in its on-screen menu and when showing a blue screen for a channel that doesn't come in.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Is it something related to the RCA inputs not working? Could the TV have been damaged somehow in storage (by moisture, perhaps)? Most importantly, can it be fixed? Thanks.