Newbie question!

[ajackett]

Hey guys, pretty basic question I'm putting forward here.

Just bought myself a receiver with 5 speakers and a sub. Also bought myself am LG dvd player to connect up to it. When I connect the dvd player up the receiver, there are only 2 audio inputs on the dvd player. Sound only comes through 2 speakers thru the amp. Would I be right in saying this is a 2 channel dvd player and to get 5.1 channel i'd need one with 6 audio inputs in the back of the player???

Also, i was told to get a coaxial/optical cord to connect the 2 appliances - which one is better and how much difference does it make the sound? Oh, and do I need to still have the 6 audio plugs plugged in?

Thanks, Andrew

[scalpel]

Firstly, what are you playing - I presume it is a 5.1 channel DVD, and not a CD or 2channel DVD. I also presume that you mean "two audio OUTPUTS" on the DVD player?

Does the DVD player decode the Dolby digital (5.1) audio signal. If it does, there should be 6 audio outs on the back. These then input to similar 6 channel inputs on the receiver. If not, does the receiver decode the 5.1 signal. If not for both, you are stuffed.

If the receiver does decode, the audio can be sent by either optical or co-ax from the dvd player to the receiver. You may have to set the output to 5.1 on the reciever - most would be able to play the sound in either stereo or surround modes.

J.

[frank@m]

[QUOTE=ajackett]Hey guys, pretty basic question I'm putting forward here.

Just bought myself a receiver with 5 speakers and a sub. Also bought myself am LG dvd player to connect up to it. When I connect the dvd player up the receiver, there are only 2 audio inputs on the dvd player. Sound only comes through 2 speakers thru the amp. Would I be right in saying this is a 2 channel dvd player and to get 5.1 channel i'd need one with 6 audio inputs in the back of the player???

The DVD player is fine! connect the Red & White outputs to the INPUTS on your receiver. The Receiver is the brains which converts everything to 5.1 Surround. (Assuming your receiever has 5 channels and is Dolby Digital/DTS capable which 99% on the market are) Your speakers are then connected through your receiver.

Also, i was told to get a coaxial/optical cord to connect the 2 appliances - which one is better and how much difference does it make the sound? Oh, and do I need to still have the 6 audio plugs plugged in?

Generally, coaxial is best suited (my opinion), just connect this from DVD coaxial out into Digital Coaxial in on receiver. Oh make sure you connect from your receiver "subwoofer out" to your Subwoofer for the real low stuff! Goodluck!

[scalpel]

If you only have 2 channel output ( Red/White L+R) for audio, and no other outputs, then this is a 2 channel (cheapo) DVD player. Most players will have more connectors (See below) - even $100-$200 players these days.


As mentioned above, the first question you will have to determine is whether the receiver can decode surround sound. Almost all modern ones can, but a few of the older receivers were "dolby digital ready" which meant that they could accept already decoded audio info from a DVD player, but not decode it itself. These "digital ready" receivers had the 5 (or 6) RCA jacks to input the individual sound channels - Front L+R, Rear L+R, Center, (SubWoofer), and then they sent the signal out to the various speakers.

Assuming that the receiver can decode the surround sound there is no point in buying a player that has an inbuilt dolby digitial (or DTS - a second format) decoder - you are just paying for unneccesary features. Just send the audio via optical or coax output. Also, it will save you from having to send the (decocded) audio via 6 cables to the receiver. If BOTH devices can decode the signal, let the receiver do it (because you use less cables) and ignore the 6 audio channel output connectors from the dvd. (they may be useful for other formats - eg if the DVD player will play SACD audio CD's - but that is another story).

A modern DVD player will have:

Various video outputs (Composite (single RCA "video" connector - S-Video (funny looking multi-pin connector) - Component (3 connectors- Scart (big ?25pin connector) - RGB (3 connectors) and the newer digital video outs (DVI and HDMI ) for plasma screens). Use the best ouput that you monitor will display. They are listed in ascending order of quality in the above list.YOU NEED TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT MAKING SURE WHETHER THE MONITOR SUPPORTS RGB or COMPONENT, as often the DVD player will have one or the other, and not both. European devices will often have SCART connectors that support RGB, but not component. They are not cross compatible without some sort of converting box which is unnecessarily expensive.


Audio outs - optical (better quality) or Co-Ax Digital audio out. Whilst the optical out is better, it really doesnt matter unless you have a great set of speakers / expensive receiver and fussy tastes (do you go and see a movie and listen to the faults in the soundtrack, or do you just watch the movie)

If the player has dolby (and DTS) decoding capacity, then the back might look something like this

Xensonic - somewhat messy connectors (http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~wweb/z300/z300connections.jpg)

In general, you would have:

Video: Minimum s-video connection from DVD->Monitor (for CRT displays, component or RGB is better).

Audio: Optical out DVD-> Receiver (but see above notes on quality)

The other thing to think about is that some receivers also have the capacity for "video switching". This is a great feature that allows you to send the video signal (usually component or S-Video or Composite - in decreasing order of quality) into the receiver from each of your devices (DVD / Set top Box / Foxtel / Computer etc) and the receiver will cross convert it to a single output (typically the best that the monitor will support), This simplifies connecting (you only need 1 cable from receiver to Monitor), and stops problems associated with your monitor not having enough inputs. Also it stops the user having to switch between AV1 -> AV2 -> AV3 etc on the monitor to find the various inputs correlating with the device that you are watching.

J.