Home cinema system

sidhubs · Post by **sidhubs** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:41 pm

I purchased a Phillips DVD player home cinema system which only has one scart. My TV , satellite box and VCR all have scarts. How can I connect them so I get sound through my 5.1 Dolby speakers and not the TV speakers. At the moment I get only sound from DVD and CDs played through the 5.1 Dolby speakers. My TV and VCR are still coming through the TV speakers. I watch TV through my satellite dish. I hope this makes sense can anyone help please as it is doing my head in.
Thanks for any comments.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:09 pm

You can get specific 4 to 1 scart boxes and then switch to the input you want with a control on there.

What other connectors do you have on the DVD? any RCA/Phono plugs - often they come in groups of 3 for Home Cinema - colour-coded red and white for audio and yellow for video.

sidhubs · Post by **sidhubs** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:48 pm

it does have red and white audio sockets, also CVBS and S-Video

Slugster · Post by **Slugster** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:59 pm

OK, don't worry about SCART for Audio leave that for Video (any of this Hi-Def?)

And is possible avoid the yellow video connector for video if possible as the quality tends to be crap.

You TV should have enough SCART and HDMI connectors to allow you to connect each video source directly to the TV. So DVD, Vid and Satellite should go straight into the TV with SCART

There is no point in hooking your TV audio output up to your Amp as the TV gets it's signal from either the DVD or the Satellite box etc.

You want to connect these directly to the Amp

Your Amp should as Hoovie says have Red and White audio connectors which take the Audio output from devices, but this only gives you stereo and what's the point if you have a 5.1 amp

Your Satellite box should have digital out for Audio. Get some fibre optic cables with the right ends and plug them into the Amp. If it doesn't get one that does.

The video will probably just be Stereo so the Red and White leads are fine.

Then all you do is select the source on the Amp i.e. DVD or Sat (the TV should auto select when you turn on the DVD or Sat box) and you will get 5.1 out your system.

If you are not into Home Cinema in a big way, just leave the Amp in the default settings.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:08 pm

Slugs, you sound like a Home Cinema buff?

Is there any value still in the original Dolby Pro Logic kit, or have all the home theatre DVD type systems kicked them into touch?

I have a Pioneer VSA-901 Pro-Logic Processor in the loft - been packed away for years now (I bought it in '95 I think) and wondering if it is worth resurrecting it?

Slugster · Post by **Slugster** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:49 pm

Not really Hoovie,

I know how to cable them up and what they do but I'm not up to date with the latest and greatest.

I've damaged my hearing to the point that I can't tell the difference between the mid range and top range systems.

I probably spent £2,000 on my Amp (Sony STRDB1080) and Speakers (B&W 600's)

It's OK and seriously loud with bucket loads of bass, but that's down to having full size speakers not those crap little matchbox jobs

I do know that your 4 channel Dolby system is a bit past it now.

You'll struggle to get any DVD's encoded with 4.0 nowadays.

The bare minimum now is 5.1 with Dolby 2 (with or without EX) or DTS.

If anybody tells you you can tell the difference they are probably wearing an anorak and still live with their mum.

IMHO buy the biggest (in size) reasonable quality speakers you can and always get a seperate Amp - not an all together player and amp.

Simple reason is disk technology is out pacing the audio side and you will need to change your player twice before you change your amp.

Speakers make noise by moving air, bigger speakers move more air.

Just nick the speakers from some 18 year old ass-hats Vauxhall Corsa and they should do the job

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:27 pm

Think you are right on the Amp front.

Got some nice speakers (well, were at the time) also boxed up and put away

Used the Jamo 300 Sub-Woofer and Satellite Speakers for Front,
Canon S-30 downfacing cone speakers for rear
Jamo 100 Centre Speaker for - well - centre

Ended up stopping using the kit when the wife reckoned she liked the sounds directly from the TV instead

Also boxed up and put away due to buying this Pro-Logic kit is a Rotel Pre-Amp and a Rotel Power-Amp which wasn't cheap either - too much kit and not enough space to use it