Right now my set-up consists of a 42" plasma TV with a high-definiton cable reciever connected to it with component cables. I only have 2 component outlets on my TV, so right now I have to switch out the Xbox and DVD everytime I want to use either of them. So, I have been looking at HDMI connections for my cable box. The thing I dont understand is that since the HDMI cable has both digital video and audio... why would I want the audio to go to my TV? Right now I have an optical cable going from my cable box to the reciever, so that I get dolby sound on some shows, but if I go HDMI... wouldnt the digital sound be going to the TV? Is it possible to have the optical cable still connected to from the cable box to the reciever, while having HDMI to the TV? I guess I just dont understand the best way to go about this...
I have HDMI to the tv but the TV has an optical out to my receiver. I rather like it that way; I don't have to use my receiver all the time but rather when audio is important which it isn't like 90% of the time (for me, anyway).
Ok thats good news, I just wanted to make sure the audio going from the HDMI didn't overright the audio coming from the optical... also, is the video quality noticeably better when using HDMI compared to component? Its just hard deciding to go with it, since the price is quite high. The HDMI will only be used for the cable box, but more quality is always nice.
Yes the picture is much better with an HDMI or DVI connection. I wouldn't run the audio from the tv to the receiver because all the tvs I have seen only accept uncompressed (PCM) 2 channel audio streams not Multi-Channel (surround sound) Doby Digital or DTS audio streams. The best way to do it would be to run the HDMI to your tv and optical or digital Coax to your audio receiver. That way, the audio doesn't have to be converted to 2 channel audio before it is sent to your receiver. If you still want to use your tv speakers occasionally, then use a pair of stereo cables aswell. Ced
