I have a Toshiba TV which has built in Dolby Digital support.

I have two Dolby Digital sources (DVD and Sky+), but the TV only supports one input.

Also, although the Dolby Digital in the TV is okay it's a bit half-hearted as you would expect.

So I'm thinking of getting an AV amp as this will address both of the above problems in one go. I understand how the DVD and Sky+ would work but I'm not sure about the terrestial.

The TV has three speakers, left and right (which can be switched off) and centre (which can't).

My questions are this:

(i) When I do use the TV in terrestial mode will the sound be routed to the AV unit and out to the external speakers ?

(ii) Assuming it does how would I stop it playing on the TV centre speaker ?

(iii) Will the TV try to apply Dolby Pro-logic (where applicable) and then the AV unit will apply Dolby Pro-Logic again ?

Any advice would be most welcome

Cheers,

Nigel

1) Assuming your TV speakers you speak of are built in, they will remain on as normal. You will need to connect your TV to the amp by either analog phono cables or digital optical/co-ax cables.
2) My TV has an option in the setup menus to state that your using an external amp, and therefore switches off the output to the TVs speakers. Alternatively just turning down the volume to zero does the same - the output to the amp is unaffected. The volume will now be controlled by the amp.
3) Possibly depending on what your viewing, but it wouldn't matter if your TVs speakers are disabled.

Thanks for the response. Some of the A/V units I am looking out have SCART switching aswell. Basically they have

a) SCART for DVD in (also with 5.1 optical/coax)
b) SCART for SAT in (also with 5.1 optical/coax)
c) SCART for Video in/out
d) SCART for TV in/out

I assume that terrestial will be received at the TV, sent to any local TV speakers and out down the SCART to the A/V unit where sound will be processed (ProLogic etc) and out to external speakers.

Only the centre speaker on the TV can't be turned off. I assume that I can turn the TV volume down to zero or physically disconnect the speaker inside the TV (I'm comfortable with Electronics and have had the TV apart to fix problems before so disconnecting the centre internally or adding a switch would be easy).

Am I right in thinking that any SCART feed from the television would be the raw single and not include any sound post processing.

Cheers,

Nigel

I'm getting a bit confused now!

Yes the TV will receive the standard terrestrial signal, but usually the sound would be carried to the amp by phono cables. You can use a SCART to 2 Phono cable if your TV doesn't have a line out.

You should be able to turn the TVs volume to zero and still get the line out output to the amp so you shouldn't need to go hacking up internal speakers!

SCART as far as I'm aware can only carry analog signals, so no Dolby Digital 5.1 but where this stands with Pro-Logic I've no idea. I would imagine its just a raw stereo signal.

What model is the TV?

The TV is a Toshiiba 32ZD98G.

Audio out from the TV is presented on the following

SCART
Phono
Direct speaker drive (4 surround and passive woofer). The centre is fixed to use the internal speaker only.

Now I've been looking at some of the Pioneer A\V units and they provide SCART and SVHS video switching aswell as all types of audio.

So a simple example is playing a DVD using the A\V unit.

DVD is connected to A\V with a SCART and an optical.
TV is connected to the A\V with a SCART

Video flows from the DVD over the SCART to the A\V. The A\V routes these SCART signals to the TV SCART and I guess the TV gets the picture and sound. The picture is seen on the TV, but the sound is not heard because the volume is set to ZERO or the TV speakers are disconnected.

Bitstream audio flows from the DVD over the fibre optic into the A\V. The A\V processes the bitstream as 5.1 and presents it to the speakers connected directly to the A\V.

The Sat box works much the same - the A\V has separate SCART and bitstream inputs for it.

What I'm trying to understand is what happens with terrestial. I assume the following. Video and audio are received from aerial. Picture is displayed on the screen and audio processed (Nicam, ProLogic etc) is fed to the TV speakers but they are set to ZERO volume or disconnected so nothing is heard from them. The video and sound also appears on the TV SCART which flows back down to the amp. The amp takes the audio signal (which I assume is raw and unprocessed) and processes it (Nicam, Prologic etc) and feeds it to the speakers which are directly attached to the A\V.

I apprecaite that I could equally flow the audio from TV to Amp using phono but since there is already a fully wired SCART between the two I don't see why this would be necessary.

Does this make sense?

Cheers,

Nigel

I've just been having a quick look at the Pioneer amps and yes I believe everything you've stated is correct. Its much clearer now you've explained it.

When your watching standard terrestrial the SCART should work as an audio output to the amp, but when watching a DVD it will work as an input for the picture only.

Which amp were you looking at?

[quote=AndyM].... but where this stands with Pro-Logic I've no idea. I would imagine its just a raw stereo signal.....
QUOTE]

The stereo signal from the tv contains prologic surround information, so yes, you will get prologic from your tv's audio output.