I have a system that includes a dish 301 receiver, a dvd player, a vcr, and a onkyo txsr601 with five speakers. I have it all wired so that all video outs are going to the TV and all the audio is going to the onkyo. the problem is I can't just watch the tv without using the surround sound. there is no audio coming out of the tv speakers. I have a samsung 507. I was thinking I could run the audio to the tv but then I couldn't use my surround sound. and there is no audio out on the tv. how is this supposed to work.

Just use the CH3/4 Output of the Dish receiver to the TV.

the 3/4 output? is that the rg-6 connection? the only connection there is the red,white,yellow connections and svideo and then a coax connection. so you are saying run the red and white to onkyo and then svideo and coax to tv?

Sort of.... There really is no reason to run the Yellow COmposite video anywhere if your running the S-Video directly to the TV.

So RG-6 to the TV's Antenna Input, and S-Video to the TV's Video-x input and Audio to the Receiver.

Can you clarify a little more... are you saying you're not getting audio from the dish, dvd, and vhs unless you go through the surround amp? Or is the problem listening to OTA signals?

SamG

i'm not getting audio from tv speakers from dish, dvd, and vcr because all audio cables are going to onkyo receiver. so i want t know how to get audio for dish to both so i have a choice on using surround sound or just turning on TV and watching normal tv without turning on all the equipment.

To be able to watch and hear all sources without turning on the receiver, every source would need either audio (red & white) and video (yellow or S-video) connections, OR the RF (RG-6) connection.

This requires using the TV as your source selector, and the TV must have enough inputs to do this. One exception is that the VCR can be used as a 'feed-through' for one other source (not DVD).

Also, this requires that each source has two outputs, either dual connections, or that you use different output types, one type to the TV and the other type to the receiver. Thus, you need to turn off (or down) the TV volume during receiver use.

Most HT owners (including me) use the TV (CRT PJ in my case) strictly as a monitor (as you're doing now), and understand that this requires using the receiver at all times. But then, we don't use the same TV for both casual TV watching and movies.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

I think what your asking for is the ability to listen to any source through either the TV or the receiver. There are no easy ways to do this. Most people (from my experience) are just looking for the ability to watch TV (SAT) without messing with the hi-fi system. That is easy enough to solve by just running the coax out of the SAT box to the ANT input of the TV. When you wish to just watch SAT through the TV you would switch the TV to Channel 3(or 4). Just remember to switch it back when you watch all of your higher resolution sources.
Another option would be to purchase a high quality, programmable remote (I'm thinking Pronto or an MXxxx series from Universal) and paying a professional to program it for you. This would make operating the whole system so easy (Just hit the button labled "watch TV" or "watch DVD" or such and everything works) that you'd never bother to listen to the crappy speakers in your TV again.

Jeff

use the recording output of your receiver to the audio input of your tv. you will then have the audio signal at both the tv and the receiver. It would be awkward to control the sound from both at the same time (i hope this is not what you are trying to accomplish).
you will still use your receiver to do source switching, just mute the volume on the receiver if you choose to only listen to the tv speakers and vise-versa.

its amazing how different things are in the UK for This guy in the uk it wouldnt be much of a problem all uk modern TV sets have scart sockets and seperate audio outputs and most components also have scart sockets and audio outputs so you could either scart your DVD/VCR or SAT up to your tv and seperatly wire up audio or use the monitor out from the tv.. dead easy although not the best design SCART Sockets have a lot going for it, one conection for composite ,s-vhs, RGB, stereo audio and video switching is quite a good idea. because of scart on most good DVD players you have four audio outputs Scart analogue,RCA jack stereo analogue ,optical and coax digital so wiring up isnt too much of a problem

Get a distribution amp, make the lone audio output on the 301 sat, 2 or 3. Add one audio patch cord to the unused audio input on the TV.

newdawg, I understand your desire to use your system "TV only". I have customers who want this as well. I just don't understand why you need to do this. Does the Dish 301 have dual audio or digital audio outs. What about the DVD player. You can just use Y connectors out for the VCR audio outs. Some DVD players and Sat receivers have dual audio outs. You can use digital outs to the receiver and analogue to the TV if your components are so equipped.

So "bob griffiths" what is your point?

This message was edited by Shoe on 09/30/03 08:17.

Newdawg,
if your TV has enough inputs for you to run all the video signals to it, then it has enough inputs to run all the audio inputs to it as well. It then is your switching center.

Next it gets messy.

If your TV has a line level audio output, you can run that to your amp for stereo or Prologic on all the things plugged into the TV. Note that on some TVs, the TV volume control affects the level of the audio coming out of the TV, and the only way to get full level audio on the line outs is to turn off the speakers, which is often about ten buttons pushes through the TV menu. Digital audio outputs would go directly to the amp and you would have to switch the amp to them when appropriate.

Next possibility is what geraldb suggests, leaving the audio still connected to the amp but taking its record out to the TV...whoops, just realized that when you switch video inputs on the TV, you will switch audio inputs as well, so this will not work.

So, next is to use audio Y connectors at the output of each device. This can be a problem as some amps, when turned off, cause audio going to the other leg of the "Y" to be distorted. The cure is to turn on the amp.

Of course, if you have to turn on the amp..... etc etc.

I think this whole controversy plus the fact that you always have to switch both TV and amp inputs with this kind of layout is the reason that multi-input receivers exist. Then you just have to make a selection on the amp.

And then, if you buy a Pronto and program the whole mess, it will not be a burden to turn the whole system on to do anything.

point taken shoe i'm trying to validate my existence

Bob, you post, therefore you are.