Audio receiver questions
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Posted by Mack McKinnon on November 14, 2004, 8:26 pm
Please log in for more thread options search for a replacement for my old Pioneer audio receiver. I run the analog audio out of my Sony HDTV set into the "TV/SAT" component analog (R/L RCA cables) input. So, for analog surround audio, I tune the receiver to "TV/SAT". But if we are watching a channel with digital audio, such as any HDTV programming, we want the 5.1 digital audio that feeds out of the TV set via an optical OUT. I run this to an assignable optical IN on the Pioneer which I then assign to the "CD" selection. The receiver has to be tuned to "CD" to get the 5.1 digital audio. So watching TV, changing channels, requires a great deal of changing receiver settings as well. What I want in a new receiver is a component input channel to which I can assign optical 5.1 digital but will also default to an analog signal if no digital signal is present. That way, the receiver can just be left, all the time, on the same -- presumably "TV/SAT" -- setting when watching TV. I thought I had found this in the Sony SRT-DE897-S, which I ordered from Amazon, tried and sent back. It had assignable optical digital inputs and you could supposedly, according to the manual, set the various component channels on it to "2 CH" so that they would default to analog input if no digital signal was present. But, in fact, I found that if there was no digital signal, the DE897 receiver would not actually default to analog. If I started with analog, it would detect a new digital signal, but not the other way around. In other words, this feature -- the reason I bought the receiver -- just didn't work. I had other problems with it as well. The optical IN's were not assignable to any component, the DVD channel could only take COAX digital (so my DVD player, with only an optical OUT, had to go to VIDEO ONE), and I could not get it set up so that it would run the center channel, along with front R & L, with analog surround audio from analog TV channels. It insisted on playing TV audio as though it were music, i.e. L & R. Possibly I was just unsuccessful at finding the correct settings for this. Another question: Who uses all those video connections? What is their purpose? I have a digital HDTV set with digital and analog audio OUT and a DVD/DVR player with component OUT. I find no use for video inputs and outputs on my receiver. Is it possible to find a Home Theater receiver that just exists to take care of your audio rather than wasting all my dollars on video inputs and outputs that I can't even imagine how I would use? mack austin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by N on November 14, 2004, 10:25 pm
Please log in for more thread options I don't have any experience with your gear, but I do have a few questions: 1) Do the Sony TV and the Sony receiver have S-Link connections, which should keep all Sony gear operating in synch? 2) Did you try using the S-Link feature to keep all your Sony hardware in synch? Several makers have features like Sony's S-Link that operates only within one brand. For example, JVC makes Compu Link, where, for example, if you put in a DVD into the DVD player and press "Play," all the other JVC gear will automatically power up and switch to proper inputs and outputs, or so it's claimed. Pioneer's feature like this is SR. In a system as complex as yours, I don't know if S-Link will really keep up with all your gear, but if you can borrow another Sony receiver and use the S-Link feature to connect all the Sony gear, it's worth a try. (snip) > Another question: Who uses all those video connections? What is their
> purpose? I have a digital HDTV set with digital and analog audio OUT and a > DVD/DVR player with component OUT. I find no use for video inputs and > outputs on my receiver. The idea with the AV receivers is that they can act as a central controller to handle and connect all your other gear, so that (for example) you can use your AV receiver to control whether the output of your DVD player or the output of your VCR reaches your TV. This gets further complicated by the fact that in almost all cases, the TV's tuner is in the TV or in a cable or satellite TV tuner, not in the AV receiver, which is where I think the TV tuner should be. (If the TV tuner was in the AV receiver, then your TV screen could act as a monitor and just play whatever comes out of your AV receiver, sort of like the way speakers just play whatever the AV receiver sends to them.) I'll add that a lot of the gear is so complex that many consumers (including me) find it a bit overwhelming and too much bother and so confusing that a lot of the features will eventually get little or no use. >Is it possible to find a Home Theater receiver that
> just exists to take care of your audio rather than wasting all my dollars on > video inputs and outputs that I can't even imagine how I would use? You could use a receiver this way: DVD player, cable box, VCR, etc. -> TV audio and video inputs -> TV
audio outputs -> receiver In other words, let your TV control all the inputs to the TV, then have the receiver amplify whatever the TV sends to the receiver. To simplify matter further, you could take the TV's L/R stereo outputs and connect those to a stereo receiver or a Dolby Pro Logic receiver that would take the stereo output of the TV and synthesize the surround effect. For a system I have that is used by several family members and for that reason needs to be kept simple to use, that's what I have. The disadvantage is that there's no true Dolby Digital surround, but we can live without that. Here's my very simple system: DVD player -> TV video and L/R audio inputs -> TV L/R audio outputs ->
Powered speakers with built-in Dolby surround circuits
The above system doesn't do a lot of things, but it works well, sounds decent, and is very easy to use. Anyone can walk into the room, pick up the TV's remote, turn on the TV, and watch with surround sound. The only thing that requires any switches is the need to switch the TV to the video input to watch a DVD. > mack
> austin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Mack McKinnon on November 15, 2004, 6:40 pm
Please log in for more thread options
> 1) Do the Sony TV and the Sony receiver have S-Link connections, which
> should keep all Sony gear operating in synch? > > 2) Did you try using the S-Link feature to keep all your Sony hardware > in synch? As far as I can tell from reading about it, I don't believe that Sony's S-Link feature goes this far in coordinating various Sony components. In any case, they have recently upgraded (?) that feature, so it appears as one thing with some products, another with others, is barely mentioned -- and never explained -- in the Sony manuals and they don't even supply -- or offer -- a cable for it. Anyway, I think that would only turn on the linked components together. I would not affect the main problem I had with the Sony receiver, which was that the promised default to audio when on digtal signal was present did not work. mack austin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by N on November 15, 2004, 8:41 pm
Please log in for more thread options >
> > 1) Do the Sony TV and the Sony receiver have S-Link connections, which
> > should keep all Sony gear operating in synch? > > > > 2) Did you try using the S-Link feature to keep all your Sony hardware > > in synch? >
> As far as I can tell from reading about it, I don't believe that Sony's > S-Link feature goes this far in coordinating various Sony components. In > any case, they have recently upgraded (?) that feature, so it appears as one > thing with some products, another with others, is barely mentioned -- and > never explained -- in the Sony manuals and they don't even supply -- or > offer -- a cable for it. None of these Japanese makers really does much to publicize these sort of linking features, which seems odd to men, given that pushing these features would encourage consumers to buy within one brand. I used to have some JVC Compu Link gear and really liked the linking feature, but never tried anything as complex as what you need. > Anyway, I think that would only turn on the linked
> components together. I think with most linked one-brand systems, the gear will not only power up, it will automatically go to the correct (or at least those that will work) inputs and outputs. However, although I had JVC receiver, DVD player, and VCR, I never got around to buying a JVC TV with the linked feature. But it's my impression that with Compu Link'd JVC gear you could, for example, when put a DVD into the DVD player, and all the JVC receiver and TV would power up and go to the correct settings. But I don't know if that would work with needs as extensive as yours. (I never got to the point of buying the JVC TV because I need to do some remodeling and other pricey things, so I sold all the rest of the JVC gear. Eventually, I may get more JVC gear or another brand such as Sony that offers linking features and try again.) BTW, if you search web and newsgroups via Google.com, you'll probably find more info on S-Link. I know I've seen it discussed at least once previously. > I would not affect the main problem I had with the
> Sony receiver, which was that the promised default to audio when on digtal > signal was present did not work. Well, I don't know either, and the only way to find out would be to try the Sony gear while it's all connected to S-Link, which I can't do. If you've got a decent dealer nearby and want to try the S-Link feature, maybe they can help you. > mack
> austin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by larrylook on November 27, 2004, 12:09 pm
Please log in for more thread options
> > Maybe someone has some insight into where I should look in my continuing
component
> > search for a replacement for my old Pioneer audio receiver. > > > > I run the analog audio out of my Sony HDTV set into the "TV/SAT" > > analog (R/L RCA cables) input. So, for analog surround audio, I tune
the
> > receiver to "TV/SAT". But if we are watching a channel with digital
audio,
> > such as any HDTV programming, we want the 5.1 digital audio that feeds
out
> > of the TV set via an optical OUT. I run this to an assignable optical
IN on
> > the Pioneer which I then assign to the "CD" selection. The receiver has
to
> > be tuned to "CD" to get the 5.1 digital audio. So watching TV, changing
can
> > channels, requires a great deal of changing receiver settings as well. > > > > What I want in a new receiver is a component input channel to which I > > assign optical 5.1 digital but will also default to an analog signal if
no
> > digital signal is present. That way, the receiver can just be left, all
the
> > time, on the same -- presumably "TV/SAT" -- setting when watching TV.
> > > > I thought I had found this in the Sony SRT-DE897-S, which I ordered from > > Amazon, tried and sent back. >
> I don't have any experience with your gear, but I do have a few > questions: > > 1) Do the Sony TV and the Sony receiver have S-Link connections, which > should keep all Sony gear operating in synch? > > 2) Did you try using the S-Link feature to keep all your Sony hardware > in synch? > > Several makers have features like Sony's S-Link that operates only > within one brand. For example, JVC makes Compu Link, where, for > example, if you put in a DVD into the DVD player and press "Play," all > the other JVC gear will automatically power up and switch to proper > inputs and outputs, or so it's claimed. Pioneer's feature like this is > SR. > > In a system as complex as yours, I don't know if S-Link will really > keep up with all your gear, but if you can borrow another Sony > receiver and use the S-Link feature to connect all the Sony gear, it's > worth a try. > > (snip) > > > Another question: Who uses all those video connections? What is their
and a
> > purpose? I have a digital HDTV set with digital and analog audio OUT > > DVD/DVR player with component OUT. I find no use for video inputs and
> > outputs on my receiver. >
> The idea with the AV receivers is that they can act as a central > controller to handle and connect all your other gear, so that (for > example) you can use your AV receiver to control whether the output of > your DVD player or the output of your VCR reaches your TV. This gets > further complicated by the fact that in almost all cases, the TV's > tuner is in the TV or in a cable or satellite TV tuner, not in the AV > receiver, which is where I think the TV tuner should be. (If the TV > tuner was in the AV receiver, then your TV screen could act as a > monitor and just play whatever comes out of your AV receiver, sort of > like the way speakers just play whatever the AV receiver sends to > them.) Many of the wives and some of the children will do better if the receiver selects/switches the audio source with the videa source together as a unit. With this type of set up you probably (at least in the future) only need two wires going to your tv. A power cable, and one set (perhaps component cables) of wires to take the video from your receiver to the tv. This minimizes wires running to your tv. Many like it this way. The Yamaha 750 I plan to buy apparently converts automatically all video input signals regardless of the type of signal (through some internal mechanism) for the best output signal, for a single component cable to run to the HD tv. >
> I'll add that a lot of the gear is so complex that many consumers > (including me) find it a bit overwhelming and too much bother and so > confusing that a lot of the features will eventually get little or no > use. > > >Is it possible to find a Home Theater receiver that
dollars on
> > just exists to take care of your audio rather than wasting all my > > video inputs and outputs that I can't even imagine how I would use?
>
> You could use a receiver this way: > > DVD player, cable box, VCR, etc. -> TV audio and video inputs -> TV > audio outputs -> receiver > > In other words, let your TV control all the inputs to the TV, then > have the receiver amplify whatever the TV sends to the receiver. > > To simplify matter further, you could take the TV's L/R stereo outputs > and connect those to a stereo receiver or a Dolby Pro Logic receiver > that would take the stereo output of the TV and synthesize the > surround effect. For a system I have that is used by several family > members and for that reason needs to be kept simple to use, that's > what I have. The disadvantage is that there's no true Dolby Digital > surround, but we can live without that. > > Here's my very simple system: > > DVD player -> TV video and L/R audio inputs -> TV L/R audio outputs -> > Powered speakers with built-in Dolby surround circuits > > The above system doesn't do a lot of things, but it works well, sounds > decent, and is very easy to use. Anyone can walk into the room, pick > up the TV's remote, turn on the TV, and watch with surround sound. The > only thing that requires any switches is the need to switch the TV to > the video input to watch a DVD. > > > mack
> > austin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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> search for a replacement for my old Pioneer audio receiver.
>
> I run the analog audio out of my Sony HDTV set into the "TV/SAT" component
> analog (R/L RCA cables) input. So, for analog surround audio, I tune the
> receiver to "TV/SAT". But if we are watching a channel with digital audio,
> such as any HDTV programming, we want the 5.1 digital audio that feeds out
> of the TV set via an optical OUT. I run this to an assignable optical IN on
> the Pioneer which I then assign to the "CD" selection. The receiver has to
> be tuned to "CD" to get the 5.1 digital audio. So watching TV, changing
> channels, requires a great deal of changing receiver settings as well.
>
> What I want in a new receiver is a component input channel to which I can
> assign optical 5.1 digital but will also default to an analog signal if no
> digital signal is present. That way, the receiver can just be left, all the
> time, on the same -- presumably "TV/SAT" -- setting when watching TV.
>
> I thought I had found this in the Sony SRT-DE897-S, which I ordered from
> Amazon, tried and sent back.