How to setup new system

[kaiser88]

Help for newbie please!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi all

Firstly i would like to say what a great forum this is.

I have been reading through various threads but am still confused on one or two areas.

Please bear with me.I am new too HT.

Here we go....I have recently bought a property and would like to get all the cables and wires ready before the plaster goes on the walls.

My equipment consists of.
Yamaha Rx-v1600 reciever
Anthony Gallo Nucleus micro's (5 0f)
Rel Subwoofer(can't remeber model number)
Pioneer pd 507xd Plasma screen.
Xbox 360
PS3(to be purchased next week)
Sky+ box

I have been reading i can use one HDMI cable running to my reciever to control my consoles and sky box?Is this right?
Or do i need to keep using the scart lead for the sky box?
Also ,i have my xbox set up using the component leads i got with the console connected to tv. with an optical lead to the reciever for sound
Can i connect the xbox to the reciever using the component lead then out through the hdmi?

I would really appreciate iF people could post how they would personally set up my gear.
Sorry if i have confused anyone,i have confused myself lol!!

Thanks in advance

carl

[JCD]

I have a couple of questions before I can offer any advice:

1. Do you know if your receiver can "up convert" all signals to HDMI? Unfortunately, I couldn't find a quick answer on the internet
2. What's Sky Box? I figure I should know what this one is, but, well, I don't.
3. And what is "scart lead"?

JCD

[F1 fan]

JCD wrote:

[*]And what is "scart lead"?[/list]
JCD

It is a multi pin connector similar to a serial port on a PC.It is common on European AV components.

[kaiser88]

JCD wrote:

I have a couple of questions before I can offer any advice:

1. Do you know if your receiver can "up convert" all signals to HDMI? Unfortunately, I couldn't find a quick answer on the internet
2. What's Sky Box? I figure I should know what this one is, but, well, I don't.
3. And what is "scart lead"?

JCD

As far as i know it can up convert to HDMI
A sky box is a sattelite reciever

Thanks

[JCD]

So, I'll throw something out there as far as how I would connect everything up:

1. Connect Sky box, xbox and ps to receiver via HDMI -- this assumes that the sky-box is a HD receiver. This also assumes that the yamaha has three HDMI inputs
2. Use in-wall wire to connect your receiver to the speakers. I'd probably use either 12 or 14 guage wire for all the speakers. Lower guage wire is important for the longer wire runs. Depending on where you live, I'd probably go to your local Home Depot or Fry's and buy the wire in bulk. You DO NOT NEED anything esoteric/expensive. If the package says "Monster" anywhere on it, it's overpriced. However, my understanding is that you need wire that is rated for in-wall use if you want to route it that way, so be sure to check for that.
3. The Sub needs a sub interconnect. Sub cables are a little more than speaker wire, but don't need to be prohibitively expensive. Blue Jeans Cable is a good source of all things AV wiring if you live in the the US.
4. Connect receiver to plasma with HDMI

I think that's everything. With this setup, you can minimize the wiring of the various components and it will switch the video/audio when using the receiver. The only caveat is that you will need to use the reciever anytime you want to watch tv, play a game, watch a movie, etc.

You may also not have enough inputs on your receiver for all the components you have. If that's the case, you may need to run two connections to the plasma instead of just one. I'd choose the Sky-Box -- that way, if you just want to watch tv, you don't need to turn on the receiver (sound would come out of the tv itself). This would require another connection for the audio from the sky-box to the receiver. I'm assuming you have a digital connection, so either a coax or an optical connection would be required -- again, this assumes your Sky-Box has HD capabality. I don't know which is supposed to be better, but I always have used the optical.

Without really knowing the components, I may be leading you astray, but that's what I think I'd do based on what you listed.

JCD

[salvasol]

JCD wrote:

....With this setup, you can minimize the wiring of the various components and it will switch the video/audio when using the receiver. The only caveat is that you will need to use the reciever anytime you want to watch tv, play a game, watch a movie, etc...

This is the reason I didn't connect my video inputs to my receiver .....

What I did is connect the video an audio signal of my DVD, VCR and SAT to my TV, and then just the audio from those inputs to the receiver ... this way I can use just the Tv or TV and receiver.

This is not a big deal, if you have to use your receiver at night and don't want to disturb anybody, just use headphones or some receivers have the Night field ... Good Luck.