Home theater setup suggestions

demingm

Alright, I'm slowly piecing together my home theater system and I was looking for suggestions for the optimal setup based on the components I have. Here is what I am working with:

HK AVR-635
Polk RM6900
Panasonic TH42PX60U (2 HDMI hookups)
Digital Cable box (w/ HDMI hookup)
Old Pioneer DVD player

I'm looking for the best audio/video quality with the least amount of wires. I was hoping to take advantage of HDMI wherever I possibly can. My Pioneer has s-video and component video, optical audio, but no HDMI. I'm looking to upgrade my player soon to something with HDMI. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. Thanks.

adam2434

An option with your current equipment would be

1) DVD video - component cables to TV
2) DVD audio - digital coax or optical to receiver

3) Cable box video - HDMI to TV
4) Cable box audio - digital coax or optical to receiver

For 1), if you get an upconverting DVD player with HDMI, change to HDMI cable. You'll need that to get the upconverted signal to the TV with most players.

For 3), I only indicated HDMI because you were looking for the least amount of wires. In my system, I can't see I difference between component and HDMI with HD cable.

If you're not set on using both HDMI inputs and want to save a few bucks, you could swap video cables when you get an upconverting DVD player. Use the HDMI from 3) for the DVD player and the component from 1) for the cable box.

demingm

Well, by using the HDMI, I guess I'm not really saving myself any cables, because I still need to run the audio to my receiver. The whole point of HDMI is to carry both the audio and video in one cable, right? If there's no difference in video quality between hdmi and component, I might as well go component I guess because they tend to be a bit cheaper. I will keep in mind what you said about an upconverting DVD player and HDMI though, because I'm definitely wanting to upgrade that as soon as possible. Thanks.

adam2434

Your receiver would have to have HDMI inputs and switching to get the audio, unless there is a way to send the audio from the TV to the receiver for surround decoding. Right now, most folks just use HDMI for video and use a separate digital audio cable to their receivers.

comer

In my case the difference bewteen component and HDMI from cable box was like night and day - HDMI was much better. From DVD - very subtle difference and I personally prefered component. So the point is - try both and then decide what cable to run from each component for best quality. The easiest way - hook up a device through both component and HDMI to TV and just A/B the signal. And don't forget to tune each input on the TV so the comparison is fair

adam2434

Yeah, I think this is very equipment dependent. For me, the HDMI upconversion from my DVD is a major improvement over component. It's definitely worth experimenting on your gear.

demingm

So now the next logical question... is there any major difference to the HDMI cables on the market. You have your expensive monster cables, and I've sene them really cheap at monoprice.com. I've heard both sides of the story and I was hoping to get some input from some people who have already tested out. I'm guessing I'll need to test it out for myself but a little help never hurts.

adam2434

I can't answer your question, but I can say that I'm happy with the quality of the relatively inexpensive HDMI cable I bought from bluejeanscable.com - much nicer build quality than the freebe HDMI cables that come with some DVD players.

comer

Mine from Bluejeans too. I read what they have to say on their website and it looks like they know what they are doing without going into subjective "hi-end". Build quality is as good as it gets IMO, but you don't pay premium for the right "picture" or "sound" of the cables.