How do Home Cinema Systems connect to the TV?

Inazuma

Inazuma

Inazuma

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Hi there,
I am planning to get a 5.1 home theatre system, with a budget of around £100. Some recommendations for brands would be appreciated, however I haven't owned anything like this before, so the main point of this thread is to ask a few questions.
Here's a picture of the back of my HDTV (the same model as the 360 kiosks)

I'm currently looking at this model.
I have a DVD player & Chinese cable connected by SCART; a PS3 by HDMI; a 360 by component and Wii by the standard yellow, white and red cables.
My question is, how does the home theatre system connect to the TV? Is it simply through those red and white 'Audio Out' holes? And if so, would I get the HD surround sound audio that the consoles offer?
 
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Generally I wouldn't connect the Home Cinema system to the TV at all; you connect your sources to both the TV and the Home Cinema system for vision and sound accordingly.

I don't have a PS3 so I have no idea what the outputs on that are, but your Wii can use the red & white audio connectors and your DVD can either use the same or an optical connection (if it has the output). I would suggest the same was true of the chinese cable box.

Here's my set up:

Wii - Yellow to TV, RCA Phono (red & white) to amp
Sky+ - Scart to TV, optical to amp
DVD - Scart or Component to TV, Optical to amp
Portable VP - Video only Scart to TV, RCA Phono to amp

With Sky+ and the DVD, because I'm using full scart and RCA I can have sound though either (or both) the TV and the amp, with the Wii and the PVP I can only have it though the amp.
 
I am planning to get a 5.1 home theatre system, with a budget of around £100
Click to expand...

Give me that £100 and I'll throw it down a drain, as that's what you're going to be doing with spending a ton on a HTIB. It'll be rubbish.

As for hookup, connect your sources to the amp, with video (and audio if you just want to have TV speakers for normal TV) routed to the TV

£100 won't get you a half decent stereo system, let alone 5.1. You could pickup something second hand for £100 if you know a mate with spare Hi-Fi bits.
 
For the PS3, since I use a HDMI cable, would I need some kind of splitter that splits the audio and video? So I can plug one into the TV and another into the HTS?
 
SebC said:
For the PS3, since I use a HDMI cable, would I need some kind of splitter that splits the audio and video? So I can plug one into the TV and another into the HTS?
Click to expand...

A quick look on Wikipedia says that the PS3 also has an optical out which you can use for 5.1 audio, although you may have to tell the PS3 you output audio though this connection rather than the HDMI.

However, make sure you plan all your connectivity before you buy anything.
 
SebC said:
For the PS3, since I use a HDMI cable, would I need some kind of splitter that splits the audio and video? So I can plug one into the TV and another into the HTS?
Click to expand...

no

you still use the HDMI for the PS3. but you buy an additional lead for the audio. Ive got a digital optical lead. You then connect this 2nd lead to your AV Receiver and set the audio output in the PS3 to be the optical lead, not the HDMI lead

as for the budget £100 should get you a nice DVD player as a basis for your system. You're looking at another £500 for some basic speakers and a basic receiver

you'll find most £100 home cinema solutions dont provide any way of plugigng in additioanl stuff such as the PS3

my mate at work had just such a problem. Spent a couple of hundread sheets on his home cinema all in one box, then found he couldnt connect any of his stuff to it.
 
SebC said:
Just to clarify - The optical output is a single oddly shaped plug right? I.e. Third one from the left here http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-41727-23.html
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thats the one. Its digital audio out (optical)

you connect one of these to it

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but you'll find a £100 home cineam system wont have a digital optical input for other sources.
 
Most £100-£150 receivers do have 1/2 digital inputs on. Usually optical type.
The standard 2 socket phono connections will only give stereo output.

2nd hand would be your best bet, i picked up a discontinued Yamaha 6.1 receiver a while back, 2nd hand for £40. And it has 2 optical inputs, and 2 digital coax inputs.
So you can get a bargain that can do exactly what you need.
 
Yamaha AV61 package is the min you should look at for HC with enough inputs to be useful, it comes in at £200 and really is the absolute minimum to look at.
 
_Ad_ said:
Most £100-£150 receivers do have 1/2 digital inputs on. Usually optical type.
The standard 2 socket phono connections will only give stereo output.

2nd hand would be your best bet, i picked up a discontinued Yamaha 6.1 receiver a while back, 2nd hand for £40. And it has 2 optical inputs, and 2 digital coax inputs.
So you can get a bargain that can do exactly what you need.
Click to expand...


the OP was asking about the all in one solutions that include DVD player, amp and speakers for £100

some do exist, but they're cheap as chips and dont include extra inputs or any extras. (and the speakers are usually worse than PC speakers)
 
As said, not enough money. Do you have any old bookshelf speakers or anything ? £100 could get ou a cheap amp to connect them to. If not, only option would be pc speakers, though you would to keep changing the leads ( most only have 1 input )

Best to save up a bit more. You could grab a half decent amp and pair of bookshelfs for £250ish, then you wuld be looking at £600+ for an amp and 5.1.
 
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