Marantz A/V receiver, how can I update new stereo formats?

For the other posts you see that there are several ways that you can hook every thing up and still use your current AV receiver. John

gqmagic thanks very much for the reply. I'm really dense on these matters so please bear with me.

I take it you mean by analog inputs the left & right channel analog cables that are red and white. Connect those from the BluRay box to a set of the analog input terminals on the Marantz, does it matters witch set of input terminals on the Marantz?

What about the new DirecTV HD satellite box can I connect it the same way?
I don't have that yet, I still have the old kind and am contemplating on changing over to "DishTV".

You are really right about the sound from the 8000, it's awesome!

Lola

Connect your satellite box to the TV with the HDMI cable or Component Video Cables (red,blue,green)

Then get a digital optical cable to connect the satellite box to your 8000, digital input #2 is for the Satelite (dss/vcr on the 8000 remote)

Then you connect the bluray analog outs to the 8000 6ch inputs, they're labeled on the bluray and 8000 left, right, surrounds, center and sub.
You can use the red and white cables or any extra component cables you have.

I have Dish also.

How in the world did you figure all these things out!

I need to back up here a little. Right now, the only thing I have is a DirecTV bill coming in and no TV, I had a CRT type but it died completely on the morning of June 13 2009, I mean it wouldn't even come on, coincidence I know!

I have been trying to figure out witch way to really go, Plasma/LCD/LED. Cnet really seems to like the new Panasonic V10 series but they want a fortune for them at this point in time. I can get the last model (58 800U) in a 58" set for $2,000.00 but everyone keeps talking about the 24P problem it has that has been corrected in the new V10 series. I have no idea what that is (24P problem) or how it would affect me. I have a strong feeling a lot of other people don't know ether but don't want to admit it. So, here I am sort of stuck on what to do.

I really appreciate the help you are giving me. Now if they don't erase your answers to my post I might get this thing going.
I think I told you I bought the Bello AVSC-2061E TV stand, if Best Buy ever delivers it. i just about had to get it so my center channel speaker would fit and the rest of the equipment in a nice setting.

Any advice, just fire away!

If you don't know what 24p is yet, don't worry about it so much. For a good value on an HDTV that's close in size to the 58" you mentioned, I'd opt for the Panasonic 54" TC-54G10, for the same $2K. It's a really wonderful plasma. Some folks have grabbed theirs online for less, FWIW.

-Pedro

I'm not going to spend that much money when I don't know the answer to a problem that a lot of people talk about but never explain. That wouldn't be a very intelligent thing to do.
I'm sure hope you understand.

I can say I have only watched a couple of 24p movies on an TH-58PZ800U as that is the TV my neighbor had when I made my final choice to go with Panasonic and in the movies I did see I could notice no "flicker", that said there is enough traffic (messages) on it to make it hard to igore the topic, so I agree that it is worth investigating.

I have the TH-58PZ850U so my and have never noticed anything but a stunning picture at 24p or 30p.

For reference 24p just means 24fps (frames per second), many Blu-Ray movies are now released at 24p as it is supposed to be more theater like or some such artsy craftys thing as 30 frames per second which is/was the standard NTSC frame rate. I have Blu-Ray discs in 24p and 30p and can't tell the difference but I guess I am not a videophile, they both look great to me. That said, if the picture flickered it would drive me nuts.

For further reference I have seen a lot say that after burn-in or running at 48Hz they have no flicker, I have seen posts that say they notice the flicker no matter what and before and after calibration. So the most I can gather is one message I read where the guy said it could mostly be the sensitivity of the viewer, distance from the TV, ambient lighting, the kinds of movies they watch, etc...

First some perspective on cost, consider most people keep their primary TV for 5 years (60 months) or more, the difference in cost in a 3,000 set and a 2,000 set is 50/mo @ 3,000 or 33/mo @ 2,000, a 22 buck difference for something you are going to get a lot of use of.

Everyones economics are differnt but there are places to look for that best price possible and places not to, and for me TV's are not one of them, it is a long term investment that you will want to be happy with for 5+ years, and forget about selling it used even the next day if you don't like it, you will take a BIG hit.

OK, putting money aside for the moment, I almost always suggest that people with the latest available when it comes to electronics, saving even a grand on a TV you are unhappy with seems like a no brainer to me, it is no save at all, just 1000 bucks less to be frustrated...

So I would be looking at the latest Panasonic's, read the professional reviews as well as the consumer reviews at places like BestBuy, Amazon, here, anywhere you can find them.

I have noticed for example the highend Panasonic's just one model year later than my have 10,000 higher contrast ratio 40,000:1 as mine is 30,000:1 native, they have nearly twice the moving picture rate, now at 1080.

I do not regret for a second the set I have and will have for at least 5 or more years, but if I was buying today I would be getting the latest with the top specs and reviews I could, knowing that each year they are going to likely just get better, so start with the most you can get and/or afford.

The last thing on perspsective is just how much these things are important to you, personally I would not buy a TV if I read a number of reviews (professional or personal) that noted a consistent flaw or issue, on the "where there is smoke there is fire" theory.

Last note, the last 10 or so Blu-Ray discs I got were all 24fps so it seems clear that 24p is here to stay. I know this was not a detailed technical review, it was just to put your overall decision in a broader context, or pun intended, to say look at the big picture in how you decide as well as the detail.

I would be very unhappy if I didn't investigate the purposed 24p problem. There must be something to it because so many people refer to it.

Any way, from what you say it is a problem when viewing BluRay disks directly through a player and then evidently for some people only, and not for others.
Most of my viewing is done via DirecTV or the Dish network if I change over to them. So if I understand correctly this 24p thing isn't something one would encounter watching either of these sources, just the bluRay movies on a Blu Ray machine. Is this the way it is?

I just received my Bellow TV stand today (Bellow 2016), I picked it up from Best Buy. However now I'm stuck with it sitting in my truck because it weighs close to 200 lbs and my back is messed up from a rear end collision. The guys that were supposed to help me haven't showed up and it's now 8:30 EST. Lucky for me they aren't calling for rain tonight!

Thanks very much for your explanation, this is the first time anyone has made an attempt to answer this question for me after posting it about 6 times in different forums. I've been able to find out more here on CNET than anywhere else.

Once I get the stand in the house with all my components switched over I can get serious about the TV that will occupy my setup.

Unless price is your only driver it sounds like you pretty much know you are not getting the 800U unless you get some really qualified answer that all this traffic is bunk...

As far as I know and I am no expert on the matter, we will not be seeing 24p via cable or Dish or ATSC broadcast HD anytime soon, plus I think you can actually set many Blu-Ray to not do 24fps.

Now if I get jumped on here you will know I was wrong, but I think the answer to your question is no, you will have no issue with 24p watching regular SD or HD TV from a provider, only on Blu-Ray and then only on Blu-Ray Discs that are 24fps.

The only thing to keep in mind is you are going to have this set for 5 years, a lot can change in 5 years and you don't want to be in position of having to get a new set because someone decided to change the rules again, on the flip side, no one changed the rules for like 30+ years until this year on TV in general, so it is not something that will happen on a whim.

As for your helpers, you did make sure they knew there was a 12 pack of cold ones waiting for them I hope

My wife is not much help on these kinds of things so when friends don't work out I have found an nice trick for dealing with heavy, "some assembly required" stuff. Just open the end of the box or the point you have best access to and take the parts out one at a time, takes a while but I have not found any one panel too heavy to lift or that should stress any but the worst of backs.

Last year I re-did my computer room and put a 9' wide x 6' high x 18" deep file/shelf/cubbard DIY set against the back wall of the room, I was tired of the eclectic collection of book shelves and file cabinets I had collected over the years. It was in the sections, each 3' wide and came in 3 boxes I found on my front porch when I came home, so much for the "we'll" bring in the house delivery...

So I just opened them up, and over the next couple of hours lugged in everything a piece or couple peices at a time. It was a real work out since it was all solid wood with a few exceptions from a place that makes custom (to a degree) systems. Then I spent the next week putting it together, thankfully my computer room was big enough to assemble each section in the room and all I had to do at the end was stand them up and slide them in.

Your other option is to whip out to Home Depot and get a roll of painters plastic, it is very cheap and just cover it in case of rain and then shame your friends tomorrow.

Good luck on your stand and your TV choice, over the years there are not many things that really made a big impact on me, but that TV and unlike you I mostly just watch movies or the news on TV, it was one of the coolest things I have got, my new 7.1 HT receiver, and my 2010 Camaro. Love the TV, the new HT receiver with DTS Master and all of the other decoders, and finally a computer room that does not look like a Salvation Army funiture area...

I don't envy any one making a TV buying choice, took me over a year to finally decide, I loved my old Sony CRT TV which is now in a spare bedroom I just could not part with it yet, it's a 300 pound monster that still has a great picture, but just SD.

First off one of the things I really hate about the Internet and forums is there is usually some real GUHIJF*H persons trying to answer you with pure BS.

Posting here has been a real pleasure, it seems everyone is really concerned about the posters problem, not so on a lot/most forums.

WildClay, that was a really great reply from an intelligent person, thank you. And the other information given on "hook-up", try finding that somewhere else!

I am still up in the air on what I'm going to get. Unfortunately I looked at a Panasonic 50" V10 today at a friend/person's house that invited me over to see it. It had an extraordinarily beautiful picture (somewhat dark) that I thought wow this is it, then his wife opened the blinds/curtains and everything went "South" fast! I couldn't handle that, but of course I didn't say anything!

So now it appears I'm doing a 180 and looking for a LCD/LED. The LED is just plain to new (not to mention price) so I just might get a LCD till the air clears a little more on what is going on with the LED systems.


Whatever I do I will always come back to this forum and explain what and why I did what I did.

OH, one BIG thing CNET should take into consideration what "SIDE" of the TV the cables are on. I haven't ordered cables from there sponsor yet because I don't know what set I'm getting yet, BUT, rarely does anyway say witch side the "inputs" are on, not a small point unless you want a cable that is to short or a pile of useless cable lengths.

Thanks to all, I really mean it!

Before you throw in the towl on Plasma make sure to see the same movie on a LCD, one of equal quality and view it in different lighting conditions. I almost did the same thing when I saw the glare even with an anti-glare filter, but after a little more time I saw where someone had specificifically calibrated their set for a brighter room on a Plasma it is made a lot of difference. I do that on mine, I have 4 "modes" or settings, they were labled like warm, game, cinima, normal, and THX. I left the THX teh same but the warm, I calibrated to a bright room for 1080p, the cinima for low light 1080p, the game for bright SD, and the normal for low light SD (480i) and found it to be great. I used Top Gun as my reference movie and looked at it on different sets at different friends.

After seeing what Plasma gave me for what I watch the most, low light 1080p Blu-Ray there was just no way I could live with a LCD, a friend or tends to watch in a well lite room and in the day a lot could not go with anything but LCD, shame like with CRT you can't have the best of both worlds, but my calibration compromise made a BIG difference.

As for the position of the connectors, great observation, I noted that right off the bat, and made sure the set I was getting had all the connections I needed on the back, forget about side connections, while wants wires sticking out of the side of their TV... They are for at best temp hook-ups, all of mine were on the back.

With HDMI the shorter you can get them the better and make sure to consider routing paths so you can route cables out of site. Once I have all of my stuff working well I "dressed" the cables, making sure not to have sharp bends, but taking your time and using either cable coil (its like a plastic sprial) and wire ties you can dress the wires where you will actually want to show people who are into thinging like that, you can make them look very NASA cool looking but still all hidden. The last thing you want is a rats nest, also lable each end so you know what goes to what if and when you make changes, I actually used Visio to draw out all my connections and have that for a reference. Just don't dress them before you are sure you are done, it takes a lot of patience and time to dress cables so they look good.

Thanks for the feedback, I think folks here really try to help out as much as possible, most have been at one time where you are now.

Again good luck in your adventure and a really good LCD is still going to look darn good, just for your own benefit make sure to see one of them in different light and from different viewing angles, then the choice will likely be clear as it was for me. I am not a bigot on either side of the LCD/Plasma debate, Plasma just happened to be the best for my viewing.

One last note, you really need to pay close attention to the details, for example I found some HT receivers that will not up-convert or up-scale is the source is HDMI, so you need component to get it to 1080p, and lots of other little gotcha's like that.

You can Download manuals for just about any thing you thing you want to buy, I strongly suggest getting the manual (PDF) for each thing and make sure it will all work together first, at least that is what I did and was very glad I did or would have made some costly mistakes, like too few inputs of the kind I needed and things.

Again,
Best of Luck and I hope you really enjoy your new system as much as I do mine and as much as many here do. You are already one step ahead of many, you started asking questions before you bought instead of trying to figure your way out of a jam after the fact.

I'd like to keep my SR8000 and wondering if it will work with the new Samsung 55 LCD. I have a Scientific Atlanta cable/DVR box. The SR8000 has great sound and I'd like to keep it if I can. Does anyone know what connections I need to make.

-dan

Don't let the fact that shades can be opened ruin an otherwise stellar experience viewing content with a newer plasma HDTV. I've yet to see a backlit/LED LCD hold a candle to content viewed on the V10. It's really that impressive. Fanbois aside, LCD also has the potential to look as equally washed out in a similarly bright viewing space. Anyone who declares otherwise should have their eyes tested and head back to physics class.

Just make a compromise with the wife. She doesn't open certain blinds/shades when you are enjoying your new HDTV and something shiny and small of a few carats might mysteriously show up under her pillow later in the year .

cheers,
Pedro

The #2 digital output on the Marantz 8000 is an RCA jack. A Digital Optical cable won't fit in #2, confused.

By digital optical cable you did mean a "Toslink" cable, is this correct?

TosLink connections are typically fiber optic, alhtough I have see the term used for other forms on digital audio, the safe bet is a Toslink is a fiber to fiber cable.

On the other hand your RCA jack, especially if it is colored Orange or labeled digital audio out is likely a SPDIF Digital Audio coax connection, these are terminated with an RCA connection and sometimes a BNC, you should not use a regular red/white audio line cable for this, they make a SPDIF cable that is designed for the job.

One other note, for under 30 bucks usually you can get a TosLink to SPDIF or SPDIF to Toslink converter box that will let you mix and match as needed in case you need to.

Here is a place and there are a lot of them where you can get anything to anything just about http://www.lashen.com/vendors/calrad/Toslink_Cables.asp

also look at www.cablestogo.com

Good Luck!

Thanks Wildclay. In another link I told you about ordering a TV today. The Marantz has digital coax and toslink inputs and outputs so I am probably OK there. I'll wait till I get the TV and satellite box before I get anymore things.
Take care and thanks.

Sounds like you are well on your way. BTW -- If they do not give you a full manual with your cable box, as my cable provider didn't with mine, you can usually find them on line in PDF format.

I was really glad I got the full manual, there were a number of hidden gems in it.

i have been hearing that a lot of the companies are not supplying manuals any more! You have to download one in PDF, now that is taking "CHEAP" just a little to far.

Forgot to tell you I went by costco an SAMs, they raised the price of ther TVs around 10% it looks like. I know one that i was looking at for $1800. is now at $1999.00. If the greed keeps up the economy will fold again like last time only worse. Everyone thinks they can just raise prices and lower wages.

This country's in some big trouble.

I have found that the sales cycles are very short these days, prices moving 10% or better inside a week. I am not sure of the drivers but I suspect they are looking at patterns and jack the prices until sales slow to a point and then lower them until they get the volume they want. Just a guess...