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New to Home Cinema setup - a few easy questions
Alien28
26-10-2007
Hi All,

Just wondering if I could trouble someone for a moment please?

Yesterday this tv & home cinema system arrived and was set up.

Firstly, I have a HDMI cable coming in the post to connect the DVD player & TV together. Thought I'd mention this in case it has any implications later. For the moment it's connected via Scart!!

Anyway, the set looks lovely, and dvd's work great with teh surround sound. But as I have read about already, the sound only comes out of the tv speakers when watching virgin media (bog-standard digital not the V+/HD service...yet).

The TV has a socket on the back labelled "Digital Audio Out" and then labels it as "Optical" underneath. The DVD player has an "Optical Input" socket. If I were to buy a digital audio optical cable would that send the normal TV audio to the nice big speakers? (I know I wont get proper surround sound, but would like the sound I do have coming out of better speakers)

Next question, if the above would work, would the DVD player need to be ON rather than in Stand By for the sound to reach the speakers? If so does this mean having the leave the DVD player ON and manually switching back to normal TV?

Also, I'll be getting a PS3 set up next Tuesday (!!!) Am I right in think that needs to use Optical Out to get 5.1 surround sound?

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I want to make sure I get this right and might need to pop to Maplins for a cable at lunch time!

Many thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Alien28
chrisjr
26-10-2007
I'm assuming here that the surround system is an integrated DVD player and amplifier system. ie just a single box that the speakers are connected which incorporates the DVD player.

In which case then you will have to have the DVD unit switched on. It includes the power amps that drive the speakers. Not to mention the digital to analogue converter circuits that interface with the digital out of the TV. So switch it off, or put it into standby and all that circuitry switches off.

Which is a long winded way of saying, off = silence, on = noise

Surround sound is by and large delivered via a digital link. Otherwise you need six analogue leads! If the surround system only has a single optical in all is not lost. To connect the TV and PS3 all you need is an optical switch box such as this one sold by Maplin.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35241

And it gives you a third input for future expansion.
Keefy-boy
26-10-2007
Originally Posted by Alien28:
“The TV has a socket on the back labelled "Digital Audio Out" and then labels it as "Optical" underneath. The DVD player has an "Optical Input" socket. If I were to buy a digital audio optical cable would that send the normal TV audio to the nice big speakers? (I know I wont get proper surround sound, but would like the sound I do have coming out of better speakers)

Alien28”

Nearly all modern TV shows have Dolby surround sound encoded into 2 channels. The sound output of the TV will be stereo (ok there may be scenarious when it isn't) and from that your sound box would be able to decode that into Dolby surround sound so you will get a good surround sound.
Alien28
26-10-2007
Originally Posted by chrisjr:
“I'm assuming here that the surround system is an integrated DVD player and amplifier system. ie just a single box that the speakers are connected which incorporates the DVD player.

In which case then you will have to have the DVD unit switched on. It includes the power amps that drive the speakers. Not to mention the digital to analogue converter circuits that interface with the digital out of the TV. So switch it off, or put it into standby and all that circuitry switches off.

Which is a long winded way of saying, off = silence, on = noise

Surround sound is by and large delivered via a digital link. Otherwise you need six analogue leads! If the surround system only has a single optical in all is not lost. To connect the TV and PS3 all you need is an optical switch box such as this one sold by Maplin.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35241

And it gives you a third input for future expansion.”

Wow, thank you very much for you detailed reply. You are right in assuming the DVD player and amp is in one unit.

Think I'll pop and get an Optical cable from Maplin's for £10 on the way home.

This might be too specific a question but, once the DVD player is turned on the TV automatically turns to that "channel". Will it be a simple case of changing back to normal TV manually, while leaving the DVD player ON?

Also, will the DVD player automatically know to play TV audio when the TV is on and the DVD audio when playing a DVD? Or is it likely that there are some settings to choose on the DVD player to set between DVD audio and the Optical In audio?

Again many thanks, I'm looking forward to trying this out when I get home.
chrisjr
26-10-2007
The TV should only switch to the DVD input when a DVD is playing. Though as you are using HDMI the normal rules may not apply.

Might be worth digging the manuals out of the dustbin and reading up on whether there is a menu option on either TV or DVD to set either to only switch to the HDMI when a DVD is playing.

Similarly you need to look up how to switch to the optical digital input on the DVd system. There may be a dedicated button for it on the remote or maybe a SOURCE or INPUT button that toggles through whatever connection options the kit has. It is unlikely it will be able to switch automatically.
Alien28
26-10-2007
I haven't got the HDMI cable to connect the DVD player yet. But on every DVD player I've ever had connected to ANY TV via Scart. The TV has automatically changed to the AV1 (or which ever one it's connected to) input when the DVD player is switch ON.

I think there might be a dedicated button on the DVD remote (there's two remotes, one for TV one for DVD, both have buttons that controls the other device - which I find quite ammusing) I'll double check when I get home and have a play.

Many thanks for all your help, I'll let you know if I have any problem (or get it working in one go!).

Alien28
broadz
26-10-2007
Originally Posted by chrisjr:
“The TV should only switch to the DVD input when a DVD is playing. Though as you are using HDMI the normal rules may not apply.
”

Not necessarily. A lot of pieces of AV equipment send a "wake-up" signal to the TV when they are first switched on, whether they are actually playing anything or not. Obviously all Sky boxes, STBs and PVRs do, because as soon as they are switched on they are tuned to something, but my last two video recorders, and my last four DVD recorders all did as well. But your TV should quite happily let you select what AV input you want to watch regardless of what piece of kit last took control of it.

Strangely enough, since I replaced one of my Sky+ boxes with a Sky HD box, which is only connected to my TV via HDMI, not scart, it no longer does send a wake-up signal to my TV when it is first switched on. No big deal, I can easily select the HDMI input manually, but it has caught my gf out once or twice.
Alien28
26-10-2007
Hi All,

Got the cable connected and after a bit of reading in the manual I have sound being transfered from the telly via optical cable to the DVD player and out of the speakers. The only thing is it's only playing out of the front speakers (never check front central speaker).

Is this something I'm stuck with - I was hoping that it'd just output the left channel out of both left speakers and the right channel to the right speakers. Is there something I'm missing?

Many thanks again for all your help.
chrisjr
26-10-2007
That could well be all you get. The TV sound will be stereo so it is quite likely the surround system can only feed stereo to left/right front.

Might be worth dragging the manual out of the bin again and seeing what options the system has for processing a stereo signal. If it has Dolby ProLogic then it is possible you may be able to use that to generate a surround sound effect out of the stereo feed.
Keefy-boy
26-10-2007
Originally Posted by Alien28:
“Hi All,

Got the cable connected and after a bit of reading in the manual I have sound being transfered from the telly via optical cable to the DVD player and out of the speakers. The only thing is it's only playing out of the front speakers (never check front central speaker).

Is this something I'm stuck with - I was hoping that it'd just output the left channel out of both left speakers and the right channel to the right speakers. Is there something I'm missing?

Many thanks again for all your help.”

Sounds like maybe you've got the sound system decoding set to some kind of 'direct' or stereo mode. Can you change the decoding to a Dolby Surround option?
stevieboy378
26-10-2007
The LG manuals aren't much good, but have a look through for details about the "Simplink" function . . . if you press the simplink button on the TV remote you'll find a function to swap the audio between the TV speakers and the Home Theatre system . . .
You do need the TV and Home Theatre system to be connected via an optical cable though . . .
stevieboy378
26-10-2007
Originally Posted by Alien28:
“Hi All,

Got the cable connected and after a bit of reading in the manual I have sound being transfered from the telly via optical cable to the DVD player and out of the speakers. The only thing is it's only playing out of the front speakers (never check front central speaker).

Is this something I'm stuck with - I was hoping that it'd just output the left channel out of both left speakers and the right channel to the right speakers. Is there something I'm missing?

Many thanks again for all your help.”

Try scrolling through the sound modes using the "Sound" button on the HT remote - I think PL II MTRX causes stereo sound to be output from both the front and rear speakers . . .

Page 22 of the DVD Receiver manual may be of help here . . .
Alien28
29-10-2007
Hi all,

sorry this is my first chance to reply. Apparently, pressing XTS on my remote scrolls through various options. Only in "XTS ON" mode does it force stereo through all the speakers. Works a charm.

Many thanks for all you help, had a great weekend watching the telly. The quality if the DVDs through scart are good enough already - can't wait until the HDMI cables turn up (which I hope they do today - I'll be wanting to connect my PS3 tomorrow).

Agreed about the poor LG instructions, for such a complex tv and dvd receiver the manuals are only a few page long and are in quite poor english at points (not that mine is great - lol).
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