Q about inputs and outputs

[Footloose301]

Just bought the SONY 46" XBR3 LCD (Love it!) and a HTIB 7.1 Onkyo system with HMDI 1080P pass thru. Heres the question... what is the point of the pass thru? Is there any purpose to it, because it still requires an optical hookup for audio? I am going to buy a Blu-Ray player this week and not sure how to hook up the audio for 7.1. I bought a coaxial because the guy at Best Buy said it would work great for 7.1, but I don't know personally. The back of my receiver has analog inputs that are for 7.1 but the back of EVERY blu-ray player I've seen say 5.1 for analog. I'm confused...

What is the best way to hook up my audio here where the HDMI is only a pass-thru?

[ProvenFlipper]

Originally Posted by Footloose301

Just bought the SONY 46" XBR3 LCD (Love it!) and a HTIB 7.1 Onkyo system with HMDI 1080P pass thru. Heres the question... what is the point of the pass thru? Is there any purpose to it, because it still requires an optical hookup for audio? I am going to buy a Blu-Ray player this week and not sure how to hook up the audio for 7.1. I bought a coaxial because the guy at Best Buy said it would work great for 7.1, but I don't know personally. The back of my receiver has analog inputs that are for 7.1 but the back of EVERY blu-ray player I've seen say 5.1 for analog. I'm confused...

What is the best way to hook up my audio here where the HDMI is only a pass-thru?

With that system, you will want to use the 6ch analog connections on the back of your Blu-ray player. Digital coax will only get you lossy 5.1 with a BD player. If you are getting any player other than the PS3, then you can use the 6ch analog connections to get LPCM to your HTiB.

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by ProvenFlipper

With that system, you will want to use the 6ch analog connections on the back of your Blu-ray player. Digital coax will only get you lossy 5.1 with a BD player. If you are getting any player other than the PS3, then you can use the 6ch analog connections to get LPCM to your HTiB.

I just read that the Panasonic Blu-Ray has 7.1ch output, that should work with mine I'm guessing because I have the 7.1 DVD analog inputs in my receiver... that should work, right? And I'll just return the digital coax...

[nhaase]

Yea, the only way you can get lossless audio is through HDMI or analog inputs. The pass-through, if all other video inputs of the receiver can be channelled to the HDMI output, allows you to keep your TV on one video input (HDMI). Right now I've only got my audio hooked into my receiver, so I still have to change video inputs on my TV.

W/ the DTSHD-MA receivers coming out, I'm thinking of upgrading to one of those so I can have just one cable going to my TV. W/ that setup, the TV will just turn on and off, and all input switching is done through the receiver, so it makes things a little simpler, since it's quicker to switch sources through the receiver than the TV.

[theknub]

that was my setup till hdmi came out... it makes me mad. however, once i get an hdmi 1.3 receiver, ill be golden