pjten101

I bought a new TV and PS3 Slim and I am now trying to determine the best way to hook everything up. Below is what I have in the way of components and I was leaning towards running everything into the receiver and then one HDMI out to the TV- but want to make sure I am not going to loose any sound or picture quality with this method. I would like to experience lossless audio when utilizing the PS3 or HD DVD player and also enjoy a great picture on the new LCD.

Components:
Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver
Sony 46”Z series LCD TV
PS3-Slim
Toshiba A2 HD-DVD Player
Time Warner HD Box

tommyp007

As long as the receiver has enough HDMI inputs, go ahead and hook it up the way you're thinking. The Onkyo is great at pass-thru.

pjten101

The receiver only has two hdmi inputs and then a few component inputs. I was thinking about running the PS3 and hd-dvd player into the receiver via hdmi and the cable box into the receiver via component and digital audio cables. I wonder if the receiver will pass thru the component signal from the cable box via the hdmi cable out to the TV? I would prefer to not have to also run a component cable over to the TV from the cable box- but don’t want to loose any pic quality if the receiver wont send the component signal over via hdmi at the same resolution as it came into the receiver at.

Just thinking, are there any special settings I need to do in the PS3 to get lossless audio?

Sdallnct

What speakers do you have? All matching (no comments from you Spiky..lol)?

Is your equipment near your TV?

Does the A2 have audio 5.1 analog out?

pjten101

Right now I have a 5.1 Onkyo set of speakers that came with my prior Onkyo HT in a box purchase a few years back, nothing great but they do the job till I shell out some $ for a new set of speakers.

Equipment will be within a couple of feet of the wall the TV will be mounted on. The TV will be mounted about 4 of 5 ft up the wall so I will run cables through the wall to the TV and am hoping to limit how many I run in the wall.

I believe the A2 has optical out, analog left/right out (so not 5.1?), and hdmi out.

SUPERMANROB

I don't think the 605 upconverts to HDMI so I think your gonna have to run component to the tv or get a switcher. The A2 does not have analog out.

Sdallnct

I wouldn't base your hook up decision on getting lossless then. Hook some of your video directly to the TV as needed. Your not going to tell anything about lossless with those speakers.

Then get a Harmony remote that will do all the switching for you and you will have a seemless set up regardless if you have some video going to your receiver and some directly to your TV.

That is how I have my set up. All video directly to my projector (well thru a HDMI switcher), then digital audio to the receiver. My equipment,

Optoma HD70 projector
H/K receiver (pre-HDMI)
PS3
HD DVD A3
HD Dish Network
Monoprice HDMI switcher
Celestion 5.1 speaker system
Harmony 880 remote

Regular "lossy" 5.1 is still very, very nice.

pjten101

Thanks everyone. I did forget to add that I do have a Harmony 670 remote too.
Ok here is what I am thinking now...
-Run the PS3 and hd-dvd player to the receiver via hdmi and then hdmi out of the receiver to the tv for those two.
-Run Digital Audio out from the HD cable box to the receiver to utilize it for sound from the cable box and run component cable directly to the TV for the picture from the cable box- because the hdmi out on this box limits some picture settings- so component benefits me in this case.

If I am thinking of correctly based on the above-
--I will have the pass thru 1080p via hdmi to the tv for the Blu and HD players and would also have the DolbyTruHD and DTSHD utilized (even know as mentioned above by Sdallnct I wont get much benefit from my current speakers).
--The cable box would have Dolby Digital sound (in some cases based on the cable channel) via the digital audio out from the cable box into the 605 receiver and a clean picture on the tv via the component cables direct to the tv.

How does this setup sound?

Also, I can select in the HD cable box the Output Resolution- 480i 480p 720p 1080i or I can select all. In the past I always just set it to 1080i and figured it somewhat upconverted the lower channels to equal what my old TV could handle-1080i and seemed to work fine.
I now wonder what I should do for the new Sony Z 1080p tv. Still select 1080i in the cable box for resolution or something else to get the best cable tv picture possible with this new beauty?
?

Spiky

Onkyo's site seems to indicate that it will upconvert with its Faroudja chip. I doubt you need more than HDMI to the TV.

I don't know for sure, but "all" from the cable box suggests that it will send unconverted signal to the receiver. I'd bet lots and lots of anything that the receiver or TV does better conversion, so "all" would be the best choice if that is correct.

Ooh, Crutchfield agrees about the upconversion. I'd almost trust them more.

pjten101

After browsing through the 100 page manual last night I did notice mention of what seemed like component input being able to pass over to the tv via the hdmi out- and it said component video sources are upconverted* but I couldn’t find what the asterisks was for so not sure it does actually upconvert the component to a better resolution or just to hdmi.

Spiky

Converting from analog to digital is not called upconversion.

Page 48 of the online manual for the TX-SR605 discusses the conversion, even showing a diagram. There are asterisks there, probably what you read. I think they refer to the "Notes" at the end of the page, which talk about the proper setup to get the conversion to work.

pjten101

I emailed Onkyo and a rep emailed back and said if a signal enters the receiver via component cable, it would exit at the same resolution via hdmi