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Question

Help hooking up cable box with DVD Home theater system & TV

by May 30, 2013 10:14AM PDT

I have an Emerson TV, a Comcast (non-HD) digital cable box & an Naxa DVD Home theater system. My first problem is I can't get ANY sound out of the home theater system through regular TV. I tried to insert disc and I keep getting disc error (tried 3 that play in an old player fine) (oh and the home theater is BRAND NEW) Now the TV has HDMI connectors but the theater system does not. The Naxa is strange for the reason all the speakers plug into the sub and then component cables connect it to... whatever!! My main question is: Shouldn't I be able to hook the darn thing up to get surround sound through whatever the TV is playing? All I have for cables are HDMI, Red, white, yellow & red & yellows, and the coax cable coming from the wall to cable box and them to TV. HELP! Please.....

Discussion is locked

12 Posts
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Clarification Request
*Which* Naxa & which Emerson do you have?
by Pepe7 May 30, 2013 12:14PM PDT

All model numbers please so can be 110% certain which ports/connections you have available to you on your system. Otherwise, what I recommend might only apply to different TVs/HT systems, etc. Thanks.

Is it by chance one of the old Comcast Pace SD DVR boxes? If so, I am familiar with it. We still have one in a guest room at home.

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Models
by Caligurly May 30, 2013 12:58PM PDT

Well the Comcast isn't even a DVR. Not available where I am. The Emerson is LC320EMX, Nava is ND-855, and the Cable box is Motorola (OLD SCHOOL). LOL
Your help is so greatly appreciated. Wink

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What connections are in back of your Moto box?
by Pepe7 May 30, 2013 3:04PM PDT

Are there only red/white/yellow & coaxial cable (75 ohms), or are there others on the Moto?

I took a peek at the Naxa manual online. That system is definitely on the odd side. It appears as though it doesn't even ship with the 5.1 cables you may need to run from the DVD/CD player unit to the rogue subwoofer unit w/ inputs as such. See link here, and look at p.12:

http://www.naxa.com/supportcenter/downloads/downloadFile/id/424

If I have your system correct, and want to use surround from the DVD player, and 2.0 stereo sound from the cable box, you should be able to at the very least hook it up as follows:

---------------------------------------------------------------
Moto box (yellow video out) --> (yellow video in) Emerson
OR
Moto box (*S-Video out) --> (*S-Video in) Emerson
*preferred connection type of these three options

(notes: Using your current RF connection bypasses sound that should go to the Naxa surround unit)
--------------------------------------------------------
AND

Moto box (red/white out) --> (red/white TV in) Naxa subwoofer module
Naxa DVD unit (**5.1 multichannel audio cables out) -->(5.1 multichannel audio cables in) Naxa subwoofer module
**not supplied- this is what you need (example)-
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/6channel/index.htm
somewhat cheaper here:
<div>

http://www.amazon.com/ATLONA-6-CHANNEL-MULTI-CHANNEL-AUDIO/dp/B000M8O060</div>
Naxa DVD unit (component video RGB out) --> (component video RGB in) Emerson

With these connections you will have to use the switch in back of the Naxa sub unit to change sound from TV (stereo) to DVD (5.1 surround). This would all be easier if you bought a more traditional system(!) Wink
In all reality, I don't know what you paid for it but for a little more the headaches would go away.

Regarding certain discs that will not play, this is not at all uncommon for discounted brands such as this one unfortunately. Hook up a secondary DVD player or use a PC to play back such content, and connect to your TV via HDMI. You would lose surround though.

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

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Answer
hellp hooking up cable box
by May 30, 2013 10:40AM PDT

I think what you want to do is possible but it is hard for me to help without actually being in front of the components. I would first suggest that since you are using a cable box is make sure your yellow, red and white are connected to the output of your cable box. Some cable boxes have RCA jacks for inputs and outputs. Double checks your connections to make sure they are all seated and good. Good luck.

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Understandable
by Caligurly May 30, 2013 12:59PM PDT

I totally understand. Thank you. Wink

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Answer
Very common problem
by Jun 1, 2013 10:02AM PDT

This has become a nightmare for those with pre-eisting home theater systems that are analog and have delayed getting a new A/V unit to come up to the newer HDMI standard. Mixing analog/composite signals from the cable box (does it have an HDMI jack?) and inputting into both an analog amplifier and the TV too. Conversion can be expensive and often doesn't pass along all the decode info for the different formats. Pay close attention to any optical connections as they offer all the decoding and are more full spectrum and may be pressent on some older A/V units. This would provide the audio without a sync problem with converters.

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Answer
I get lost in all these posts, but here's what works for me
by Jun 1, 2013 12:40PM PDT

I have an LG HDTV with a optical digital output for sound and an older external analog speaker system which uses RCA plugs for input. It sounds like your setup may be different from mine, but in case it's similar, here's what I use to convert the digital audio to analog for my speakers:
http://www.amazon.com/Gefen-GTV-DD-2-AA-Digital-Audio-Decoder/dp/B0021QBIBQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370140257&sr=1-2&keywords=gefen .
It's a Gefen box with input from the TV and two RCA plug outputs for the speakers. It's expensive, but it has been working flawlessly for me for the last 2.5 years.
By the way I tried using the audio output from the cable box using RCA plugs. It gets the sound to the speakers, but totally out of sync with the video on the TV, so I had to use the only audio output from the TV which was the optical digital one.
`
Good luck.

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But this doesn't apply to the OP's situation
by Pepe7 Jun 2, 2013 11:23AM PDT

It's somewhat akin to saying, "I don't own a lawnmower, but I do own a Chevy Sedan. Let me tell you how to fix that anyway Wink"

cheers

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Answer
The short answer is...
by Jun 2, 2013 4:24PM PDT

sorry, you are out of luck. It seems the Naxa is designed more for karaoke than home theater. This thing has lots of output connections ... but no INPUT connection (strange design to say the less).

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He's NOT SOL ;)
by Pepe7 Jun 3, 2013 2:55AM PDT

While the DVD player module clearly lacks inputs, the subwoofer module OTOH does accept ample inputs, based on what he needs to achieve. Take a quick peek at the online manual I posted above in the thread.

cheers

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The only possible connection that I see is...
by Oldartq Jun 3, 2013 2:21PM PDT

the composite input connection on the dvd. Since the Emerson does have a coaxial audio output so maybe with an adapter/converter then OP can use that. Don't know what kind of quality you can get out of that...is it worth it?

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You missed part of the connections, amigo
by Pepe7 Jun 4, 2013 1:25AM PDT

The OP has a cable box, hence, it's not necessary to utilize any sort of audio output from the Emerson back to the Naxa equipment. See my schematics above.

cheers

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