Will home theater in a box work?

[JayrodTremonki]

Okay, so I'm pretty knowledgeable on most subjects regarding electronics but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to anything audio. My girlfriend has been looking to buy a surround sound system to go in the bedroom to go with our Sony 40V2500, PS3, X-box 360, and HD Cable box.

Right now they're all hooked up to the TV, PS3 by HDMI, Cable box and 360 through component. We were looking for a system that had a receiver with multiple inputs, but after a day of shopping around we discovered that most units falling in to our price range are home theater in a box units with only an optical input and a coax input. After salespeople at Bestbuy, RC Willy's and Costco tried to drive us in to the $500 range for a system with lots of inputs, the salesman at Frys told us that we should be able to set everything up with a home theater in a box by running everything through the TV first and then running an optical cable from the output on the TV to the input on the receiver.

Now, we have a LGDVT418 home theater in a box set up in the living room connected by component to a Sony 55WF655. DVDs of course run fine on it with surround sound, and I can get the cable box to have surround sound if I run an optical cable directly from the cable box to the receiver. But if I try to just hook up the component cables to the TV and then run the optical cable from the TV to the receiver I get nothing. I've tried every setting on both the receiver and the TV that I can think of, but I get absolutely nothing out of the speakers.

I understand that in that case the TV would have to convert the audio in some way and that some TVs are limited by what they can convert, and what's in 5.1, etc...

My question is will my 40V2500 fair any better? The system she seems to prefer right now is the Sony DAV-HDX589W mostly because of the wireless rear speakers and the ipod dock.

If that's not an option, is the Sony HT-SS360 an alternative without the wireless rear speakers and ipod dock? I know there's a lot of Sony products here, but I'm open to any big brands.

 

[Slick5150]

What the dude at Frys told you was probably bunk. I don't think TVs will pass audio over the optical out other than audio coming from its own tuner. (though I've never tried this to be honest, so I'm not 100% sure of that, but even if it did the solution would be totally wonky at best). You go components->Receiver->TV/Speakers, not the other way around.

What budget are you shooting for?

 

[JayrodTremonki]

She would like to get something for ~$300, but she'll go up to $350 or slightly more if it's worth it.

Since he told me about it I've looked it up and found a few people who say that it's worked...and a lot of people looking for how to do it. Don't know if it's a rare feature, or one that not many people even try.

 

[ZetaEpyon]

I can't speak for the Sony TV, but on my Samsung, the TV will only pass 2.0 audio from other sources on to the optical output. I have my cable box and PS3 hooked up this way, because my receiver only has 2 digital inputs, and I only have front speakers right now anyway.

It might work, but there may be additional limitations like that to be aware of.

 

[s44]

Very, very few TVs will do this.

Non-ES Sony audio is crap, as you probably know. Sigh.

This Onkyo 4100 is cheaper, has three digital inputs, an Ipod dock, and a much better amp section. (And a free DVD player, but you have a PS3 anyway.) Unfortunately the black version is OOS at the moment.

 

[JayrodTremonki]

Thanks, the only problem with that system is the lack of HDMI inputs..but that can be circumvented if need be. I'll look in to it a little more.

 

[Slick5150]

You might be better off buying a decent receiver and a couple of bookshelf speakers first, and upgrading the speaker setup to 5.1 as you can.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: JayrodTremonki
Thanks, the only problem with that system is the lack of HDMI inputs..but that can be circumvented if need be. I'll look in to it a little more.

At this price range, HDMI audio either won't be possible or won't matter. You can just keep your video inputs connected to the TV and run audio to the receiver. If you want to clean up your cables, just spend a little bit on an HDMI switch.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
You might be better off buying a decent receiver and a couple of bookshelf speakers first, and upgrading the speaker setup to 5.1 as you can.

That would definitely give you the best sound. A $300 HTIB will be a step up from TV speakers and give you surround sound, but the quality of sound just isn't there. You'd be much better served with a $100 receiver and a pair of $200 bookshelf speakers. That would, of course, assume you'd be willing to spend more money on speakers in the future. I initially spent $415 on a 2.0 system (receiver and 2 mains), and it cost me an additional ~$280 over the next year or two to make it into a 5.1 system. If I had bought a $415 HTIB initially, I would've had a 5.1 immediately, but my quality would've been much lower.

 

[PJABBER]

If you have audiophile tendencies be careful about buying any HTIB. At the lowest price ranges you are really apt to get poor quality for the sake of convenience. A decent receiver matched with quality speakers will serve you for years.

I just posted a Hot Deal that might be of some interest to you. You can check it out here:

Mordaunt-Short Home Theater Speaker Hot Deal

Here is an example of a very good deal on a refurbished Onkyo TX-SR304 receiver for $109.99

AccessoriesForLess Refurb Onkyo TX-SR304

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: JayrodTremonki
Thanks, the only problem with that system is the lack of HDMI inputs..but that can be circumvented if need be. I'll look in to it a little more.

At this price range, HDMI audio either won't be possible or won't matter. You can just keep your video inputs connected to the TV and run audio to the receiver. If you want to clean up your cables, just spend a little bit on an HDMI switch.

I run an audio/video switch for everything I have. It cleans up a lot of clutter.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: JayrodTremonki
Thanks, the only problem with that system is the lack of HDMI inputs..but that can be circumvented if need be. I'll look in to it a little more.

At this price range, HDMI audio either won't be possible or won't matter. You can just keep your video inputs connected to the TV and run audio to the receiver. If you want to clean up your cables, just spend a little bit on an HDMI switch.

I run an audio/video switch for everything I have. It cleans up a lot of clutter.

Too many people just assume that if their TV or receiver doesn't have enough ports for their equipment, then it's not going to work for them, but that's where switches come into play. The only time I would recommend against switches is if you want the ability to individually calibrate each video input on your TV, but I don't think most people do that, especially since you can't do that and get HDMI sound to the receiver (not applicable to this thread but applicable to anyone with a receiver that can receive lossless audio over HDMI).

OP, they even have switches that work with remotes, so if you spent $40+ on a Logitech Harmony remote, you could set that remote to do all the work for you and switch all the settings on the TV, receiver, and switch by just pressing one button. I know I sound like an advertisement, but anyone who has multiple input devices and has used a universal remote will tell you that they'll never go back to juggling 4+ remotes.

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
What the dude at Frys told you was probably bunk. I don't think TVs will pass audio over the optical out other than audio coming from its own tuner. (though I've never tried this to be honest, so I'm not 100% sure of that, but even if it did the solution would be totally wonky at best)

I have, and the results are mixed. Some TVs pass everything, some pass only what enters through the TV's analog input jacks (weird, eh?), and some pass nothing at all.

Originally posted by: PJABBER
If you have audiophile tendencies be careful about buying any HTIB. At the lowest price ranges you are really apt to get poor quality for the sake of convenience. A decent receiver matched with quality speakers will serve you for years.

I just posted a Hot Deal that might be of some interest to you. You can check it out here:

Mordaunt-Short Home Theater Speaker Hot Deal

Mordaunt-Short is, in my experience, far and away better than anything you'll ever find in a HTIB.

 

[Howard]

Sure you can. It'll just be a really, really big box.