Plasma arriving next week - HDMI - Toslink questions

[boomerang]

My SS Receiver is older and has no HDMI inputs or outputs. In my current configuration every video output device funnels through the SS Receiver with a single output to my TV.

My new HD Sat Receiver has an HDMI output port. I'm figuring to output from there to my TV. No problems there I can see.

Audio is what I'm uncertain how to deal with. I can Toslink out to my SS Receiver, or I suppose I could Toslink out from the TV to the SS Receiver. Is there the potential for syncing issues?

Which is better? Which will work or won't work? Any issues I should be aware of?

I can experiment when the TV arrives, but in the meantime, I'm just thinking things through.

The plan is eventually to go to components that all have HDMI, (SS Receiver and whatever flavor of DVD) but in the meantime, I need to work with what I have. Hopefully that's possible.

I'll throw in another question. Is HDMI the way to go, or is Component and Toslink better? From my research, I get the impression that it may be a subjective thing with both hardware and the individual viewer factoring in.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I would try HDMI from the Sat Receiver to TV and toslink from Sat Receiver to SS Receiver.

 

[Muadib]

HDMI is the way to go, if only for the convenience factor. Being able to use one cable for both video & sound, is nice.

If you plan on going to Blu-ray, HDMI is the only way to get the new HD audio codecs. They won't work over Toslink.

 

[boomerang]

Thanks to you both for the advice!

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I would try HDMI from the Sat Receiver to TV and toslink from Sat Receiver to SS Receiver.

That's what I've done for the past 9 months, and it's worked great. I doubt you'd notice much of a difference between HDMI audio and toslink audio with the sat receiver, because it's unlikely that it uses the new formats. With BD or HD-DVD and a decent audio system, you'd notice the difference.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I would try HDMI from the Sat Receiver to TV and toslink from Sat Receiver to SS Receiver.

That's what I've done for the past 9 months, and it's worked great. I doubt you'd notice much of a difference between HDMI audio and toslink audio with the sat receiver, because it's unlikely that it uses the new formats. With BD or HD-DVD and a decent audio system, you'd notice the difference.

You are correct, with sat, or any other tv broadcast, Dolby Digital is the best audio you will get. I don't know if that's the case with the new VOD service that Dish is offering now. If there are any Dish subscribers lurking, feel free to chime in.

 

[pennylane]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I would try HDMI from the Sat Receiver to TV and toslink from Sat Receiver to SS Receiver.

That's what I do. It works great. Cable TV isn't going to have surround sound lossless audio anyway so you're losing absolutely nothing.

 

[boomerang]

Plasma's not here yet, but I'm hooked up to the old TV with the new 722 receiver. I was surprised to see that all the HD is also in 5.1. (Probably ignorance on my part) I can't believe how much better it sounds than the 5.1 I was getting with my old receiver. It's shockingly better. I know their new line of receivers are mpeg4 vs. mpeg2. Must be the reason.

They had a VOD of I am Legend that was transmitted in 1080p last month. I missed out on that, although I thought I read that they are offering another movie in the same format this month. I guess the receiver runs a test to make sure your setup is 1080p compatible and you go from there.

You can tell I'm not well versed in A/V equipment, but I sure appreciate all the support and advice.

 

[RedRooster]

I was going to start a similar thread, but thought I'd save space.

Similar situation for me, just wondering what the advantage is to plugging everything into the reciever(via HDMI or component) and then running one output to the TV, instead of everything into the TV and running TOSLINK(optical?) to the reciever? I know very little about home theatre, except that my new LCD sounds much worse than my old rear projection with the big speakers in the base.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: RedRooster
I was going to start a similar thread, but thought I'd save space.

Similar situation for me, just wondering what the advantage is to plugging everything into the reciever(via HDMI or component) and then running one output to the TV, instead of everything into the TV and running TOSLINK(optical?) to the reciever? I know very little about home theatre, except that my new LCD sounds much worse than my old rear projection with the big speakers in the base.

The biggest advantage (to me) is that you won't need to buy twice as many cables. HDMI can handle both the video and the audio, so there's no need for toslink cables. If you have a receiver that has HDMI, it's the way to go.