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Why suffer with HDMI into receiver?

ikorman

ikorman

Active Member
Folks, admittedly, I am a stereo guy, with no home theater of my own. However, I am usually the guy that sets up HT stuff for my friends.

Long story-short: why bother with running HDMI to receiver from every source when any recent TV has enough HDMI inputs of its own? I spent some time with my friends HK surround receiver and messed with cables in and out of it, also programming the damn universal remote control. At the end, I just plugged an optical cable from the TV audio OUT into Optical input of the receiver and ran all the sources into TV with HDMI cables. So now, the TV is using the receiver as output, no matter what input is selected. The receiver itself is only used to change the volume, no need to select input from there.

I guess, there are uses, like using the built-in menu in the receiver with HDMI out. But, how often do you have to play with that?
 
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A lot of it is six of one, half dozen of another.

1. You either select the sources on the receiver or select the sources on the TV.
2. Either way you're using separate remotes for the various devices, or you're programming a universal remote to try to do it all in one.

The choice for me is simple for a few reasons:

1. I don't like all the gear/light distractions by my TV so all that stuff is at the back of the room. By the time you make the bends and height routings it takes a 35-ft HDMI cable to do that. I'm not buying nor having three or four 35-ft, 1/2" thick HDMI cables running to the TV from the back of the room.

2. Went with Blu-ray not only for the picture/resolution, but also the sound. Optical and digital coaxial cables cannot convey the lossless codecs that can be had from Blu-ray discs. The only way to get them is with HDMI, unless you're going to go the multichannel analog route.

3. With HDMI ARC, sound from the TV gets to the processor on the same cable that the sound from the other sources gets to the TV. It's a two-way street.

And suffer? Not me. Quite contrary, I find it a Godsend to do it my way.
 
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1. So you don't have to run more than 1 long HDMI cable through the wall.
2. So you can use the room EQ and video processing in your A/V receiver.
3. Many HDTVs can't pass through the high-resolution surround audio tracks (DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD) and will instead output a downmixed stereo signal. And even if they could pass through the high-resolution audio tracks, it'd have to be over HDMI because optical/coax S/PDIF links can't carry those tracks.
 
if you go optical from the TV to the receiver you almost certainly are only getting stereo

(or you can use PCM I guess... ..yay??)

where as with hdmi into the receiver you can get true multi channel audio ... or i guess with HDMI ARC as well..

i use my harmony remote w/ the everything hooked up to the receiver, and HDMI ARC from the TV (smrt tv) to the receiver.
 
The TV downconverting external input sources to stereo PCM was the norm in the past and may still occur on some models today. But, allegedly, more of the newer TVs will pass Dolby Digital from external inputs to the optical output. As mentioned though, still not the lossless/high res audio tracks but better than just stereo downconvert.

Should be easy enough to tell though. Play an external source that is known to have a Dolby Digital track then watch the AVR display. It should automatically change to Dolby Digital. If it stays on PCM or stereo (or maybe changes to Pro Logic and gives matrix surround) then you know the signal is being downconverted.
 
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ikorman said:
Folks, admittedly, I am a stereo guy, with no home theater of my own. However, I am usually the guy that sets up HT stuff for my friends.

Long story-short: why bother with running HDMI to receiver from every source when any recent TV has enough HDMI inputs of its own? I spent some time with my friends HK surround receiver and messed with cables in and out of it, also programming the damn universal remote control. At the end, I just plugged an optical cable from the TV audio OUT into Optical input of the receiver and ran all the sources into TV with HDMI cables. So now, the TV is using the receiver as output, no matter what input is selected. The receiver itself is only used to change the volume, no need to select input from there.

I guess, there are uses, like using the built-in menu in the receiver with HDMI out. But, how often do you have to play with that?
Click to expand...

It all depends on what works for you and what you have. My receiver is a 2.1 channel model. It only handles composite video. I run analog stereo outs from the bd player and cable box to the receiver and the HDMI connections to the TV which only has 2 HDMI inputs. How many would you expect on a $240 TV? It doesn't have any digital audio outputs. This is plenty for now and the foreseeable future. I don't mind having to switch the inputs twice. Everyone and every system are different.
 
ikorman said:
At the end, I just plugged an optical cable from the TV audio OUT into Optical input of the receiver and ran all the sources into TV with HDMI cables. So now, the TV is using the receiver as output, no matter what input is selected. The receiver itself is only used to change the volume, no need to select input from there.
Click to expand...
Unless you're sure otherwise, odds are that he's only getting 2.0 sound since most TV's downmix all external inputs to 2.0 for audio outputs. And, at best, he's not getting the best versions of DD/DTS sound that can only be passed from a Blu-Ray player via HDMI directly to the receiver.

So, if all one wants is 2.0 sound, then what you suggest is simply dandy.
 
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I prefer to use my Integra Pre/processor as the HDMI/signal switching point, The TIVO Roamio manages TV Channels,
the OPPO manages discs and video signals from my Mac upstairs, and I use the Sharp Aquinos TV as a dumb monitor ...
The Integra manages audio much better than I would expect any TV to!
 
Yep...no surround / HD audio from TV. As the Green Arrow would say "Ikorman, you have failed your friends."

As far as the remote control? Why spend money on universal remotes? I buy my clients an inexpensive pad (A Samsung 7" to be exact, with IR blaster) and download HT remote control apps. There is NO REMOTE in the world that comes close to the convenience of having a pad, with it's colorful display and infinitely adjustable layout, control your ENTIRE home theater system - and more. The days of universal remote controls are long gone.

Jimmy
 
JimmyNeutron said:
Yep...no surround / HD audio from TV. As the Green Arrow would say "Ikorman, you have failed your friends."
Click to expand...

Hardly. The setup I just completed has two front speakers and subwoofer. And for the record, the input and output are surround via the optical connection. The receiver is displaying that it gets surround sound incoming.
 
Markw said:
Unless you're sure otherwise, odds are that he's only getting 2.0 sound since most TV's downmix all external inputs to 2.0 for audio outputs. And, at best, he's not getting the best versions of DD/DTS sound that can only be passed from a Blu-Ray player via HDMI directly to the receiver.

So, if all one wants is 2.0 sound, then what you suggest is simply dandy.
Click to expand...

I am see the optical output from the TV is surround and so is the input on the receiver. Besides, this friend only wants 2.1 setup, and it works great.
 
ikorman said:
Hardly. The setup I just completed has two front speakers and subwoofer. And for the record, the input and output are surround via the optical connection. The receiver is displaying that it gets surround sound incoming.
Click to expand...

yep - a 2.1 system is not surround ...

The optical in and out may have surround info,
but if its forced down to 2.1 mode, the surround is "stepped on" and its a flat sound field.
A sub does not make it surround.
 
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ikorman said:
Hardly. The setup I just completed has two front speakers and subwoofer. And for the record, the input and output are surround via the optical connection. The receiver is displaying that it gets surround sound incoming.
Click to expand...

Well then you don't have surround sound with only a 2.1 set up. Most TV's pre-2013 will not output dobly digital / dts on the tv optic out - most. But this is changing as most newer 2014 TV's will output DD/DTS on the fiber optic because of the increased popularity of soundbars. This is how we connect TV's to soundbars in my business > fiber optict out of TV to soundbar. Then again fidelity is not an issue at this point. None will output HD surround from bluray discs, and most all audio is up sampled to 48khz then back to 44.1khz at output. Also, eliminating the HDMI from each source means you can't take advantage of the auto-on/auto-source/auto-off feature. May be nice if you aren't concerned about sound quality, but for those that are this is a major no-no.
But whatev's. There's many ways to skin a cat. Only the installer/owner can make that call.

Jimmy
 
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I run all my HDMIs directly to the TV and digital opticals to the receiver. That way I don't have to turn the receiver on to watch TV if I don't want to and use the a very old Sony SAVA10 speaker system which I use for regular TV watching or any other source. If I want the full Surround experience I turn the receiver on and turn the SAVA10 off. Why run the video signal to the receiver and then to the TV when all the receiver is going to do is be a switcher for the video signal? Also, why run the audio to the TV and then to the receiver? I believe that no matter how good your cables are, there is always some loss, and more cables and connections is more loss. Also more cables and connections means more probability one may go bad. I always try to go with the KISS principle.
 
whoaru99 said:
You will from the internal tuner. The point is pass-through from external sources. Many do, especially the newer TVs. Older ones not so common.
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Sure, that's the only thing I was referring to, was the tuner. You mean some people pass signal THRU the tv??:scratch2:
 
onwardjames said:
Sure, that's the only thing I was referring to, was the tuner. You mean some people pass signal THRU the tv??:scratch2:
Click to expand...

Yup - seen that done too.
I never assume what people mean any more -
its best to let them tell us what they are doing ...
 
optical doesn't have the bandwidth for 5.1 unless it is compressed to DD/DTS

the better way to go is too the receiver then to the TV it just is...
 
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