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Home Theater Dilemma

B

brshoemak

Member
I have a home theater system on the way that will work with every component I have, except the most important one: my wife. She likes the idea of a home theater system but would rather keep it simple and also be able to use the components how they are currently setup (Tivo and DVD player connected to HDMI switch, connected to HDMI input on TV).

Basically I need the ability to use the components I have either through the receiver or ‘standalone’

The receiver (Harman Kardon AVR 1700) does not support HDMI standby bypass, so you cannot use components that are connected to the receiver unless the receiver is turned on. This would annoy the wife to no end if she just wants to watch something on the Tivo. Also, this new receiver doesn’t have Component inputs, it’s almost all HDMI, so I can’t just use a secondary connection method directly to the TV.

The only thing I can think of is to use a combination of HDMI splitters and switches as seen below. Basically, the only two items that would be added would be 2 HDMI splitters (not switches) to the current configuration that would split the signal of each component. One path would go to the HDMI switch that is in place and the other would go to an input on the AVR 1700. I am obviously skeptical about this setup but I'm not sure of a better way at this point.

Does anyone think this clusterfluck will actually work or is there a better way that I am overlooking? My wife would like things to be as seemless as possible. The current HDMI switch will switch automatically between sources when one is powered on – it would be ideal if that would be the case even though it would be connected to the HDMI splitters instead of directly to the components. In case you’re already thinking it, a Harmony remote is not in the cards, she hates those more than anything. 🙂

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Why not just buy a receiver with HDMI pass-through or whatever? Seems easier.

Better question is, why does it need to be "kept simple". Buy a Harmony, set it up, problem solved.
 
I don't have a solution for you, but what would the splitters do if your receiver isn't pass-through/standby, and they are still hooked up to the receiver? If the receiver has to be on, how would the splitter work if it's off?

EDIT: NVMD, I see what you're thinking now...
 
Honestly, i'm not understanding what "the wife's" problem is here. Are we trying to avoid her having to press the extra button to change the receiver to the proper source when changing devices?

In that case, your best bet isn't some complicated switching, just buy a decent universal home theatre remote and configure it properly. Hit the TV button and it automatically turns on the cable box, swaps the receiver to whatever input the cable box is plugged into, and turns on the tv. Hit the DVD button and it turns the dvd player on and swaps the receiver to the right input.

I've heard nothing but good things about the Logitech Harmony line of remotes as NutBucket suggested.
 
I was about the say get the harmony then I just saw your last sentence.

Get the harmony anyway 😉
 
Does your TV support HDMI 1.4 ARC? If so, you should be able to connect the components directly to one of the TV's inputs through the HDMI switch, and use the ARC functionality to pass the audio back to the receiver over the other HDMI port.

Also, Harmony.
 
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