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General discussion

Need Help connecting my HD DVR

Mar 12, 2009 11:31AM PDT

I need some help as far as connecting my HD DVR to my HD Samsung 52" TV & my Home Theater System. I'm basically wanting to know what I have to do in order to hear the TV sound come thru the HTS speakers & not just the tv speakers. I want to hear everything in surround sound. So far, the stereo & my DVD's all are in surround sound but not the TV. I have 2 HDMI cables, an Opitcal cable & component cables etc. Can you give me some pointers??

Dish Network Dual DVR622
LN-T5265 TV
HT-Z512 Home Theater System

Discussion is locked

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Need Help connecting my HD DVR
Mar 12, 2009 3:38PM PDT

wildchyld,

I would hook the DVR up to the TV with HDMI, and then run the optical from the DVR to the Home Theater System.

Keep me posted.

--HDTech

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use all HDMI cables - easy!
Mar 13, 2009 4:28AM PDT

I hooked my DVR to my A/V receiver via HDMI.
My A/V receiver feeds my plasma display via HDMI.

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Try connecting the HD box to the HDMI on the HTS
Mar 13, 2009 1:52PM PDT

I am going off of how the my A550 works, but I am sure yours is the same. The A550 will only output 5.1 sound from the optical output when the TV's internal tuner is being used. If any sound is being sent through the HDMI cables, the TV will down convert the audio to 2 channel sound.

Option 1)Looking at the HT-Z512 online, it has a HDMI pass-through on it. You could connect the HDMI from the Dish box to the HTS, then, connect the HTS to the TV. This should work, and would save a optical cable. But, some devices do not like any kind of switch between it and the TV. So if it fails to work, you will have to go with my second option.

Option 2)Connect the Dish box directly to the TV with an HDMI cable. Then use an optical cable to connect the Dish box to the receiver. This is the way I would actually connect up your system. Connected this way, you will get 5.1 surround from your Dish box, and you will leave the HDMI port open on your receiver if (when) you decide to get a Blu-ray. When you do, I would connect the Blu-ray to the receiver using the HDMI in on the receiver. That way, you can here the HD audio formats available on Blu-ray without having to use 6 or 8 RCA cables.

Also, make sure you set the audio digital out format on your Dish box. I do not have the box you have, but, when I had Dish, my box had an option for "PCM" or "Dolby" digital out. If you have your Dish box set for PCM, you will only get 2 channel audio.