Connecting Blu-ray to TV or Receiver

[aznav]

Mods - please move if this is the wrong forum. Being a newbie, I'm hoping I'm in the right place. Just purchased and received a Samsung BD-P 2500. I have an Olevia LCD and a Denon 5.1 home theater receiver. Questions:
1. According to the Samsung manual, using an HDMI-DVI provides best quality. I believe this cable carries both audio and visual, right? Because I have the Denon 5.1, will I lose home theater surround sound if I hook directly to the TV instead of the home theater receiver?
2. I also realize I will lose back speaker surround sound effect because I have 5.1 and not 7.1. Is this correct?
3. The Samsung player allows me to stream Netflix directly. Is the only way to do this through a LAM connection?
4. If it is only a LAM connection do I lose some audio and video strength? i.e. not as good a picture? I am techno impaired and recognize some of this may basic knowledge for the techies.
5. My box and router are at the opposite side of the house as my TV/BRP, do I have to bring them to the entertainment center or is there such a thing as a separate box or "Y" cable that would let me hook directly from my cable input. I'm guessing no as I am also guessing the cable signal may need to be unscrambled (newbie, here).
6. Last but not least (for now). My back speakers seem weak. I cannot seem to find a way to generate more power to those speakers. Is there not something like in a car that will let you generate more power left to right and front to back or is that supposedly all done automatically with the home theater receiver. Also, and again, pardon my ignorance, does the gauge of wire play any significance with the volume ability generated to the speakers?
Thanks for any and all help!

[tbizzle]

i'm no pro, but i might be able to help

1. If your Olevia LCD has an HDMI port, then just use a regular HDMI cable from monoprice.com, they're excellent quality and very cheap in price. If it only has a dvi input, then i would assume HDMI to DVI is the next best option. After that, go component

2. You would want to run an hdmi cable from the tv to the receiver, and another hdmi cable from the receiver to the tv, so no, you won't be losing the surround sound capability. The HDMI cable transfers audio and video in HD

3. Yes, you would need a LAN connection. So you would just run an ethernet cable from your router to the player

4. Not sure about this. I have netflix too, and when it allows me to "Watch Instantly", it streams the movie in an ok quality, nothing fancy. I only watch it on my 19" computer monitor because i think it would look pretty crappy on my HDTV

5. I would think that you just need to run an ethernet cable from your router through your house to the player

6. Not sure about this, as I am still learning about Home Theater myself, but I don't think speaker wire guage plays a role in volume. Unless the wire is tiny maybe. Most people recommend to use anywhere from 12AWG to 16AWG for home audio

[aznav]

Thanks so much! That surely helps!

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by aznav

Mods - please move if this is the wrong forum. Being a newbie, I'm hoping I'm in the right place. Just purchased and received a Samsung BD-P 2500. I have an Olevia LCD and a Denon 5.1 home theater receiver. Questions:
1. According to the Samsung manual, using an HDMI-DVI provides best quality. I believe this cable carries both audio and visual, right? Because I have the Denon 5.1, will I lose home theater surround sound if I hook directly to the TV instead of the home theater receiver?

HDMI=DVI+Sound. So a DVI cable carries no sound. If your Olevia has HDMI ports, use HDMI cables instead.

Provide a model number and input ports on your Denon sound system.

tbizzle got it right. BD Player -> HDMI -> Receiver with HDMI for sound and audio -> HDMI -> Olevia

2. I also realize I will lose back speaker surround sound effect because I have 5.1 and not 7.1. Is this correct?

You won't lose it if you set the player properly. The extra two surround channels will be downmixed to the surround channels. But you're not getting the same effect. Most movies on BD are still in 5.1.

3. The Samsung player allows me to stream Netflix directly. Is the only way to do this through a LAM connection?

Yes. You could do it wirelessly if you have a wireless adapter.

4. If it is only a LAM connection do I lose some audio and video strength? i.e. not as good a picture? I am techno impaired and recognize some of this may basic knowledge for the techies.

The Netflix videos can't compare to BD in terms of audio, video and extras quality. It is JUST for convenience.

5. My box and router are at the opposite side of the house as my TV/BRP, do I have to bring them to the entertainment center or is there such a thing as a separate box or "Y" cable that would let me hook directly from my cable input. I'm guessing no as I am also guessing the cable signal may need to be unscrambled (newbie, here).

What is "box and router"? Don't use short-hand when describing a problem. You'd be the only one who'll understand the short-hand.

6. Last but not least (for now). My back speakers seem weak. I cannot seem to find a way to generate more power to those speakers. Is there not something like in a car that will let you generate more power left to right and front to back or is that supposedly all done automatically with the home theater receiver. Also, and again, pardon my ignorance, does the gauge of wire play any significance with the volume ability generated to the speakers?

We don't know what your sound system is so we can't really say. But generally surround speakers do not play as loud as the front speakers UNTIL there's something to play loud with. It's not loud all the time.

However if it's weak, check your connection. The receiver should have test tones. Adjust all of your speakers using the test tone. The white noise should sound the same for all speakers. If not, check your wire connection for loose connections. If that is fine, you can increase the volume of the surround channels via the receiver settings. If the surround speakers are the same model as the front speakers (satellite speakers), try switching them to see if they are indeed working properly. If they don't, then there's something wrong with the surround speakers but if they do, there's something wrong with the wiring.

The gauge plays some level of significance. The higher numerical number of the gauge, the thinner the diameter of the cable. A thin cable have a higher resistance level than a thicker cable. Less resistance means more power from the receiver can be directed to drive the speakers. HOWEVER, you need to buy speaker wires that match your speakers and receiver so don't rush out and buy the thickest cable you can find. Read the manuals for your receiver and speakers.


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[b15nut]

I have an HK 5.1 receiver that does not have HDMI inputs so I run the HDMI from BD player to TV. I turn the speakers off for the tv and run digital coaxial from the BD player to my receiver. I also set the BD player to turn off HDMI audio and went with digital audio bitstream and sounds so much better than the rca cables I was using for sound yesterday!

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by b15nut

I have an HK 5.1 receiver that does not have HDMI inputs so I run the HDMI from BD player to TV. I turn the speakers off for the tv and run digital coaxial from the BD player to my receiver. I also set the BD player to turn off HDMI audio and went with digital audio bitstream and sounds so much better than the rca cables I was using for sound yesterday!

Glad you made the best of your situation and figured out the solution. When you have money to spare, upgrade to the newer receiver with HDMI inputs for audio processing and video passthrough.


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