Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hometheater and TV

Help me bring my living room into the future!

COBRA! — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:14:04 -0800

My wife and I are finally getting around to getting an HDTV soon. When we do that, we want to adjust the setup in our living room to reflect the way we consume entertainment these days. Part of this means the VCR gets chucked, of course. But more
importantly, we're trying to figure out the most cost-effective way to
get content from our 2 main online sources, iTunes and NetFlix, onto
the screen. And be able to run DVDs, and have a
basic-cable-for-the-broadcast-channels hookup.

The options, as I see them (and part of the reason I'm asking this
question is that I assume I'm missing something):

- Roku + basic cable. Great, except we can't buy shows from iTunes.

- AppleTV + basic cable. Opposite problem. Can't stream from Netflix.

- Cheap, web-connected computer + basic cable. Seems like a winner,
but involves more of an outlay (this is more or less what we do now,
except that it's my wife's laptop that gets laboriously hooked up
every time we want to watch something). Plus then there's a desktop
box sitting in our living room. And, assuming the setup wound up like
our current laptop hookup, we don't have remote control of the sound.

Is there an angle I'm missing? A way to optimize one of these options? Help!

how to get sound from tv's built-in speakers

anonymice — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:51:54 -0800

How do I set up my home theater to let me use my tv's built-in speakers? I normally use a Bose 5.1 surround speaker system, but would sometimes like to use my tv's internal speakers instead.

My main home theater components -- all connected by HDMI -- are:
-- Onkyo TX-SR674 Receiver
-- Tivo Series 3 HD, and
-- Panasonic TH-42PX60U Plasma TV

The tv's speakers definitely work. I've tested them by connecting a VCR directly. But I've never been able to get any sound from them when I use the receiver. So I figure either the receiver or the tv is cutting off the audio signal.

The TV automatically shuts off its speakers when it detects that external speakers are connected. But the TV's set-up menu has a setting to turn the speakers on. I've done that, but no success.

I've also screwed around with the receiver settings, like turning on HDMI audio out. I've even tried running composite audio cables from the receiver to the tv. Still no luck.

Any suggestions?

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?

How can I use my TV speakers as the center channel on my receiver?

odinsdream — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:02:13 -0800

How can I use the speakers in my TV as the "center" speaker on my receiver? I have a receiver hooked up to four normal speakers. I'd like to use the speakers in my TV as the center speaker.

My TV has audio inputs for each set of video inputs. These are normal RCA red-white connectors.

Is there some way to connect powered speaker wires to these without breaking the TV? My first thought was to open the TV and disconnect the speakers from the internal wiring and substitute my own. I'd prefer not to do this since the TV is new and still under warranty.

The other problem would be that the TV has two internal speakers, left and right, which I want to treat as one.

Any thoughts?

How do I get a DVD playing on two screens?

bigcheesegump — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:04:02 -0800

How do I have one DVD player go to two TV's? I am looking to configure a way to have one DVD player send it's image to two TV's. I have looked at Best Buy and other electronics stores for some information or products with no luck. The two TV's are standard non-HD capable TV's with only one antenna output and one set of component jacks a piece. The closest example I can think of is at electronic stores, they have walls of TV's playing the same thing. Is there a basic way to do this or is it so complicated/expensive it's not even worth it?

Help Configuring Home Video Solution

seinfeld — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 12:40:27 -0800

Home Theater Question: I have a LG 32LX1D LCD TV, Tivo Series 2, Sony DVD player with Component Outputs, and a Comcast CableCard, and an old-school VCR, all of which I would like connected. (No special audio considerations, for now). What's the best way to do it? The Tivo does not have component outputs (not HD-compatible) so I'd like to run S-Video and Composite Audio to the TV. Can someone help me figure out how to wire this?

And, how does the Comcast Cablecard work? I realize it plugs into the TV, but is there a cable running from the Cablecard to the TV? Or to another device? Thanks for the help!

Thanks!!

Reverse tv Burn-in?

Mark5four0 — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 05:46:56 -0800

Is there any way to reverse tv burn-in on a widescreen tv? We've been watching too much 4:3 material on our widescreen and have started to notice lighter colored vertical bars on the side of the screen. Is there any way to get rid of this? My only idea was to play a dvd with white bars on the side and black center for a couple hours a day until they evened out. Would this even work? any other ideas?

Can I run the audio and video from my PC through my TV as well as a theater system?

Scottk — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 17:16:45 -0800

I've bought this home theater system, a tv with s-video, and I've got the video card in my pc with s-vid and this s-vid+audio cable. Question inside. Is it possible to have the audio and video from my pc run through the tv as well as the theater system?