Can I connect a new TV to this Receiver?
November 22, 2021 9:09 AM   Subscribe

My mother and I are navigating the "new TV for mom" process. It would be great if her new TV could connect to her existing receiver. Can someone who understands these things look at it?

The new (dumb) tv we're looking at supposedly has "optical" and "analog" outputs. There's a picture about halfway down the page that shows red and white jacks, but I can't tell if those are for input or output.

This is the receiver. It only has red and white jacks for the TV input, no optical.

Thanks in advance!
posted by bluesky78987 to Technology (9 answers total)
 
Best answer: Looking at "inputs and outputs" section of your TV link, I think it's only got optical and 3.5mm headphone audio outputs. Pretty sure the red and white jacks (these are called "RCA" jacks) you are seeing are inputs - it looks like they for the audio of the component video input in the picture.

You can get an adapter like this that takes a headphone output and splits it into RCA plugs so you can plug it into your receiver, but it might not sound too wonderful when amplified.
posted by tracert at 9:26 AM on November 22, 2021


Best answer: It doesn't look like the TV has RCA audio outs (see here). The red and white jacks you see are the audio inputs for the component input. It might also be time for a new AV receiver (if that's in your budget at all). HDMI will simplify your life immeasurably here.
posted by The Bellman at 9:27 AM on November 22, 2021


Best answer: The red and white RCA jacks on the TV appear to be inputs. Only the Optical socket is explicitely listed as output, but it can be connected to the receiver via a converter such as this one
posted by Stoneshop at 9:28 AM on November 22, 2021


Best answer: Almost certainly yes; you will probably need to connect via the headphone out using a 3.5mm stereo to RCA cable, this is what I did for a while on my current TV (which also does not have any other output except optical) to an older receiver and it worked just fine. On preview I agree that the RCA jacks visible in the TV picture are probably inputs.
posted by advil at 9:29 AM on November 22, 2021


Best answer: it might not sound too wonderful when amplified.

On post I'll add that I had no noticeable audio quality hit from doing headphone -> RCA in my particular (previous) setup as long as the levels were ok (though YMMV because it's a different TV and receiver). In fact annoyingly my TV doesn't actually support internal volume control over optical so going to optical was actually a feature downgrade.
posted by advil at 9:33 AM on November 22, 2021


Response by poster: Thanks everybody. Might look into the headphone--> RCA adapter and if it's terrible, just get a soundbar. Whatever we get it will be better than what she is using now!
posted by bluesky78987 at 11:22 AM on November 22, 2021


Best answer: I have an similar optical to RCA powered convertor for the FIL's cordless headphones - and it works well.

If you are going to get a soundbar, you might want to look at Roku's option - then you have a streaming device and soundbar all-in-one. (I would - but I wanted an Ethernet jack - so am still using an old Roku Ultra)
posted by rozcakj at 12:59 PM on November 22, 2021


Best answer: In what is an amazingly weird co-incidence, I have this exact TV sitting in front of me right now! And I have it hooked up to an amplifier via the 3.5" connector - that connector is line level audio, which is exactly what the onkyo reciever expects on its inputs (my amplifier is not onkyo, but it takes a very similar input).

All you have to do, is:
a) plug the 3.5" into the back of the TV, and the red/white inputs into the onkyo
b) in the TV's menu, disable the TV speaker itself - if you just mute the TV, no sound will come out - on mine, i go menu -> sound -> othersettings -> speaker and set it to "off". After which, I can turn up the volume on the TV, and it comes out that 3.5" port and to my amplifier.

For me, at least, it sounds great.
posted by jaymzjulian at 1:56 PM on November 22, 2021 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: That is amazingly wierd indeed jaymzjulian! Thanks so much everybody!
posted by bluesky78987 at 8:44 PM on November 22, 2021


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