Thread: Best way to conect new plasma TV using old HT amplifier

TV hasn't been delivered yet and this display has no digital in cable just a TOSLINK connection and HDMI
my old Pioneer amplifier is 5.1 and has no HDMI

At the moment I am using the DVD player I have direct to the old TV
We just bought a really cheap Panasonic Blue-ray player as well

Has TOSLINK improved to the point where it is worth using?? and what about a HDMI to RCA adapter?

Run all of your devices direct to the TV and run an optical output from the tv to the amp.

Nothing wrong with Toslink if you have to use it. Of course a HDMI amp would be preferrable, but Toslink from the TV will work fine.

So run the optical from the TV to the amp and not from the player??

Yes thats correct....run all devices direct to the TV then feed the audio back from the tv to the amp.

Do new TVs output 5.1? The best you may get out of the TV is stereo, but still a step up from the in-built TV speakers.

FWIW I run all my devices into the TV on component video (via a component video switch) and then stereo-out to a dinosaur stereo amp.

They output in Digital so up to 7.2

This has reminded me of the limitation I was thinking of, which is that it will output 5.1 on optical for the integrated digital TV tuner, but not for other directly connected devices.

This link is recent (Feb) but still may have changed since... http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1635612

Well I just assembled it and turned it on So I'll give an opinion tomorrow but the truth is that while I'd like a 7.2 system 5.1 with 7 paralleled subwoofers is almost enough

As a general comment, without top (and recent) gear from end to end, you usually need to make a compromise somewhere, choosing between best audio versus best video. If your preference is in favour of audio, I would run all devices into the amp to be able to output 5.1 for everything (that is capable of it) and run component video (rather than HDMI) for video, which gives the best analogue video quality IMO. If your preference is for digital HDMI video, the compromise will be on the audio side. I see the cheap Pana blu-ray players do component video.

Its all going to be a comprise.

Be careful of 7.2 as it only works for certain films , as a former studio boss and Dolby Licensee the sound is only mastered in specific places for 5.1, so 7.2 is an interpretation of where the extra sounds should be in relation to the film. Music just sounds plain weird in 5.1 unless again its been orchestrated for such, very few are. But if like 99% of the population you have 50 quid ears don't worry about anything I have said.

Usually music we listen to in stereo, but some music video does sound better in 5.1
DSotM sounds much better in 5.1 almost as good as the original quadrophonic 4 channel

If you run the audio from all of your devices through the TV then into your amp, will that not mean you need the TV to be turned on for everything? So if I want to listen to a CD, for which I use my DVD player, I'd need to have the tele blazing away?

yep, that would happen. And using a DVD player as a CD player is just another of the many compromises we make these days...

Compromise on audio and music?? Never
Compromise on video first. DVD players do seem to need the tele on to read the damn menu tho, I spose the B'Ray player will be similar

Well it looks like we can't use both the blue-ray and the DVD player in this amplifier, at the moment we are gettin only the sound from the TV
Cecile says we can't afford a new amplifier

ROTFM
Only ONE (1) of the HDMI ports has a pass through for Audio, but that information is in very small letters on the last page of the manual; we finally have theatre grade sound again