Hi Tim Try this Url below http://shopping.yahoo.com/s:Cables:3326-AV%20Cable%20Type=Digital%20Audio%20Cable%20(Optical):4168-Brand=RCA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Timothy Ford" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 3:39 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Setting Up Your first Home Theatre Surround System
> Thanks so much for sending this. My old receiver just gave up the ghost, > and I need to buy a modern receiver, and thus all those new available ways > to connect devices. I actually have a quite new DVD deck. > > What is the best place to buy these new types of cables at a good price? > I understand they can be quite expensive, but maybe my information is bad. > Thanks again for all your time in providing these excellent articles. > > Tim Ford > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Boyce, Ray > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 2:24 PM > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Setting Up Your first Home Theatre Surround > System > > > Do find the digital output on the back of your DVD player before you > connect any other cables to your equipment. It will be labeled "Optical" > or "Coaxial" > (your DVD player may have both or just one). An optical digital output > uses a fiber-optic cable with a square plastic connector ( > Toslink) > on each end. A coaxial digital output uses a standard shielded RCA cable > that plugs into the female RCA jack labeled "Coaxial Digital". Both > sound the same. > Use only one. An optical cable sometimes helps to avoid "ground loops" > (see below). This single digital cable, optical or coaxial, carries all > six channels > of sound from a Dolby Digital 5.1 or dts movie soundtrack. It will also > carry 2-channel digital PCM stereo (that's what the data stream from a > CD is called, > should you use your DVD player to play your CDs). This digital cable > does NOT carry video, only audio. Connect it to a digital audio input on > the rear > of your receiver. > > Next, connect the video. > > Decide at the outset if you want to route your video cables through the > A/V receiver and then to the TV. Doing it this way has two advantages: > convenience > when you switch the receiver to watch a DVD, as well as the ability to > see the on-screen menu for your AV receiver on your TV screen. If you > route your > video cables directly to the TV display, it's initially easier to > connect, but you won't be able to see the receiver's on-screen menu for > setup purposes, > and you'll have to switch your TV display from the cable or satellite > source to the "DVD Input", which might be called "Video 1". In > well-designed AV receivers, > routing the video through the receiver does not degrade picture quality > so long as the component video inputs are "wideband" to 37 Megahertz > (MHz) or greater, > which will carry HDTV signals with no losses. > > In any case, you must connect separate cables to your DVD player to > carry the video signal to your TV display or AV/ receiver and then to > your TV display. > In most cases, your DVD player will have three different types of video > outputs. If your TV and/or AV receiver handles > Component Video, > use those connections. This will deliver the highest image clarity > possible from DVDs. There will be three RCA cables required, color-coded > Red, Green and > Blue and they are sometimes bundled together. If you have an older TV > that lacks component video inputs, use the DVD player's > S-Video > output (it's a single cable with a multi-pin plug). It's the next best. > Finally, your TV may only have a Composite Video input, color-coded > Yellow. That > will yield a decent picture but not the maximum quality available from a > DVD. > > Your new HDTV and DVD player may also have HDMI or DVI connectors, > single multi-pin cables that keep the video in its digital form, rather > than converting > it to analog, which is what Component Video connections carry. You can > try the HDMI or DVI connectors but you may or may not see any difference > in video > quality over the component video connections. Use whichever connection > yields the best picture on your TV display. Note, however, that some new > receivers > that offer HDMI switching may not process the HDMI signal correctly so > that it will display on your TV. > > Don't turn the levels of your surround speakers up too high because you > can't "hear" them. You aren't supposed to hear them in the conventional > sense; that > is, if they're set at the correct levels, the surrounds should not call > attention to themselves. Surround speakers are primarily used to deliver > ambient > effects for the on-screen action or to enhance the musical experience by > adding the third dimension of space. Their purpose is to provide subtle > envelopment > of you, the listener/viewer, in the "sound field" or spatial experience > of the place or scene occurring on-screen and to immerse you in the > delayed secondary > reflections of the space where the musical recording was made. > > The surround isn't intended to blast you with precise directional cues > except for certain hard-mixed sounds that happen off-screen during gun > battles, fights, > chase sequences and the like. Much of the time, you may wonder if the > surrounds are even on-until say, a rainstorm or outdoor sequence or > perhaps a phone > ringing off-screen suddenly reminds you of how much realism a surround > system is capable of. > > Note also that surrounds may not be used for long sequences during a > movie. Low-budget independent feature films may have few or no surround > effects at > all. Big-budget action spectaculars, by contrast, will often make > remarkable use of the surrounds to involve you in the action. > > Don't run your new HDTV (rear- or front-projection), plasma, or LCD > panel at its brightest setting and shorten the life of the set (or the > projector bulb). > In the A/V business, that's called "torching" the set. The brighter you > run them, the shorter the longevity of the plasma panel or the DLP/LCD > projector > bulb. Besides, you'll generally get much-improved highlight and shadow > detail and smoother, more natural skin tones when you scale down the > brightness > and contrast. And that applies to older CRT (picture tube) sets as well. > > Try this simple visual test to determine if you have your video image > too bright or contrasty. Look at any white area on the screen during > scenes from live > TV or a movie. It could be the white shirt or blouse on an actor or TV > host. Are you able to see detail within the white areas? If you can't, > then you > are likely running the brightness too high, which washes out fine detail > in bright areas. So lower the brightness and/or contrast. There's a > reason why > control rooms for TV productions and telecasts are always dimly lit: > it's because video images on the monitors look best in a dim or darker > room and the > greatest range of colors and tones can be displayed. > > Don't just plunk down that subwoofer in the nearest corner and leave it > there, making rash judgments on its performance before you've taken time > to experiment > with different subwoofer locations in the room. Subwoofer performance is > so dependent on individual room dimensions and placement, as well as the > relative > position of chairs and couches, that you must experiment. A corner sub > location will give you the greatest bass output at the risk of boomy or > thumpy deep > bass. You can always try a corner first; if the bass is too boomy, > gradually reposition the sub away from the corner along one wall or the > other. Try the > "crawl" test, which you can read about > here. > It works quite well to determine the optimal placement for your > subwoofer in any room. > > Don't turn up the subwoofer volume too high so you can "hear" it when > you've first connected it. Start with the subwoofer turned all the way > down while > you play a selection of music (not a movie), then gradually increase the > subwoofer volume until you detect the foundation of deep bass. Gradually > increase > the subwoofer level until it's nicely in balance with the midrange and > treble. If you've set it correctly, test it with a movie noted for its > low-frequency > content and you'll likely find that the subwoofer level is ideal. You > may still want to make slight adjustments of the subwoofer level using > the A/V receiver's > remote control during movies or TV shows. Some directors or sound mixers > get bass-obsessed and mix the bass levels too loud, which may be > distracting and > inhibit dialog clarity. > > Look at the controls on the back panel of your subwoofer. There should > be a control labeled "Crossover" and nearby it may have a switch labeled > "Bypass". > In most home theater setups that use an A/V receiver, you will set the > crossover control inside the receiver (a default setting of 80 Hz works > very well > in most installations) so the subwoofer's internal crossover won't be > needed. Nor do you want to use it together with the crossover in the > receiver. That's > called "cascading" crossovers and it's not desirable. So if your > subwoofer has a "Bypass," then set it to that position. If the sub does > not have a bypass > setting, turn the crossover control to the highest frequency setting, > usually around 150 Hz. That will effectively remove the subwoofer's > internal crossover > from the circuit. > > With all AV receivers and subwoofers, you'll only need a single shielded > RCA coaxial cable from the receiver's Subwoofer Out connection > (color-coded purple) > to the subwoofers "line-level" or "low-level" female RCA input jack. > Don't use speaker cable to connect the subwoofer to an AV receiver. That > would only > be required for a receiver or amplifier that lacks a subwoofer output > jack, e.g., an older stereo receiver or integrated stereo amplifier or a > stereo "separates" > installation. In those cases, you run two speaker cables from the stereo > receiver's left and right speaker outputs to the subwoofer's left and > right speaker > inputs (they will be labeled "Speaker Level Inputs" or "High-Level > Inputs") and then from the subwoofer to your main speakers. For that > installation, you > would set the subwoofer's own internal crossover. Try about 80 Hz as a > crossover frequency. > > Don't get too fixated on perfectly "calibrating" the level of each > channel so they are identical in a 5.1 or 7.1 system. Balancing the > relative channel > levels is an excellent starting point, but be prepared to make > individual channel adjustments until you get a smooth, seamless blend of > front channel music > and effects, dialog clarity, and surround effects when they're needed, > and just the right amount of subwoofer bass. Note that dialog recording > quality > may vary quite a lot from one movie to the next, or even from scene to > scene in the same movie. Some foreign or independent movies are poorly > done, with > dialog levels that vary constantly from scene to scene. The regional > accents may make matters worse. So don't be afraid to make > center-channel level adjustments > while you're watching if you have trouble hearing the dialog. That's > what the center-channel level control is there for. > > Do experiment with the location of your center-channel speaker and its > sound quality before you drill holes or string wires. Human hearing is > especially > acute in the midrange where human voices (spoken and sung) reside, and > it's where we notice tiny discrepancies and tonal variations most. > Moving the center > channel speaker either below the TV or above it or even mounted to the > wall may dramatically change the tonal balance of the speaker and > greatly influence > how well it blends with your front left and right speakers. So play a > movie as you try different locations and listen to any tonal changes in > the male > or female voices of the actors. Pick the location that sounds best and > works well with your setup. Some compromises are unavoidable, but a > little experimentation > always pays off in more natural-sounding dialog and better clarity. > > Do set your center channel speaker and surround speakers to the "Small" > setting. This will route the deep bass to the subwoofer and/or the main > left and > right front speakers (if they are set to "Large") which is where the > bass belongs. Setting a center to "Large" will inhibit dialog clarity > and often add > some tonal anomalies that you do not want. The vast majority of center > channel and surround speakers do not have deep bass capabilities, nor > are they intended > to because soundtracks mix the bass to the ".1" subwoofer channel. > > Do consider getting a test or setup DVD that will help you calibrate and > adjust the surround sound levels as well as the video display. After > all, you'll > likely spend thousands for the HDTV and home theater system. Spending > from $20 to $40 for a test DVD and $40 for a > Sound Level Meter > will help you get the best out of your entire system. Here are several > popular test discs, listed in ascending order of ease of use and > complexity of test > signals: > Sound & Vision Magazine Home Theater Tune-Up > (DVDI 0790); > Avia Guide to Home Theater > (Ovation Software); > Digital Video Essentials > (DVDI 0712). These test DVDs are mostly sold on-line. Try a Google > search for outlets. > > Don't panic if you hear a loud deep bass hum when you first turn on your > AV receiver, speakers and powered subwoofer together with your TV > display. The > hum is called a "ground loop" and it's a very common side effect of > linking audio, video, subwoofers and cable or satellite TV equipment > together. There > are specific ways to > get rid of the hum > and often it's as simple as installing a ground-isolating transformer > between the incoming cable-TV feed and your set-top box or TV display. > Some cable > TV system guys even know what a ground loop is and will install an > isolation transformer for you. Occasionally just plugging the powered > subwoofer into > a different AC outlet in the room will eliminate the problem. In every > case, however, all ground-loop hum problems are fixable. > > ********************************************************************** > This message and its attachments may contain legally > privileged or confidential information. If you are not the > intended recipient, you must not disclose or use the > information contained in it. 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