Questions About My New TV and Sound

[zom247]

I've just purchased a Panasonic TX-50EX750B and need some help in setting it up correctly with my Onkyo amp.

I have a Onkyo HTX-22HDX with 3:1 speakers, a Humax HDR-1000S (Freesat), Fire TV 2nd Gen and Sony BDP-S370. With my old tv they were all connected directly to the Onkyo with the tv connected to the Onkyo. This worked fine with that setup but I don't know if this is the way to go with the new tv (4k etc). I believe the Onkyo is HDMI 1.4 so will I need to upgrade it to get the best from my new tv and other components?

 

[TheVoice]

You can continue to use your current devices in the same way but the Onkyo won't take a 4K signal so if you add a 4K Blu-ray player, SkyQ, BT UHD box etc you'd need to connect it directly to your TV. The problem there is that many (most?) TVs won't output a 5.1 signal back to an AV receiver, sound bar etc. They often will from internal apps (e.g Netflix, Amazon etc) but not from a device connected to it via HDMI. In that case you'd have to run an optical cable from the device to the AVR to get multi-channel audio; it'll be reduced to stereo otherwise.

For now, the way I'd do it is to keep the Freesat box and BD player connected to the Onkyo, use the apps on the TV for Amazon, Netflix etc (assuming that's what the FireTV is for), and look at upgrading your audio to something 4K-ready at some point. If your TV can output a 5.1 signal back to your Onkyo (worth checking the manual or trying for yourself) then I don't see why you can't continue using it.

 

[zom247]

You can continue to use your current devices in the same way but the Onkyo won't take a 4K signal so if you add a 4K Blu-ray player, SkyQ, BT UHD box etc you'd need to connect it directly to your TV. The problem there is that many (most?) TVs won't output a 5.1 signal back to an AV receiver, sound bar etc. They often will from internal apps (e.g Netflix, Amazon etc) but not from a device connected to it via HDMI. In that case you'd have to run an optical cable from the device to the AVR to get multi-channel audio; it'll be reduced to stereo otherwise.

For now, the way I'd do it is to keep the Freesat box and BD player connected to the Onkyo, use the apps on the TV for Amazon, Netflix etc (assuming that's what the FireTV is for), and look at upgrading your audio to something 4K-ready at some point. If your TV can output a 5.1 signal back to your Onkyo worth checking the manual or trying for yourself then I don't see why you can't continue using it.

Thanks for this. I've tried the freesat on the tv but I don't think it has series link like the humax does so I'll be keeping that box for now. You can record using the tv but I don't have a usb drive to test it out. I use the fire tv mainly for Kodi as I have all my movies etc on my NAS. I've tried the Netflix and Amazon apps on the tv and they are both fine. I rarely use the BD player as I put everything onto my NAS, my wife is the only one who uses it for her keep fit dvd's!

I've been looking at getting a soundbar, especially now I've got a new tv. Due to hearing loss I no longer get the benefit of surround sound so it would be nice to get rid of the Onkyo and that would save some space. As long as the sound is better than the tv sound I'll be happy.