Digital optical cable hook up?

Question

For good surround sound,Do I run the cable from my satelite to tv,reciever to sat or reciever to tv or dvd to tv, ect?Also it seems as though I cant get it to work without having the rca's hooked up as well so Im assuming Im actually running of the rca's.In addition however all the different ways Ive hooked it up I tend to get different volume response to all the above.I have sat,cable,dvd,and reciever hooked into my 62 Toshiba dlp whats the best hook up?I do not have an HD sat reciever so there is no hdmi hook up right now but I do get hd on my antenna and it seems as though I have to turn the volume way up to get decent audio,same with the dvd.But if I just listen to the stereo its alot louder.

Answer 1

For surround sound I would do this ...

Hook up the DVD player to the surround sound receiver via digital optical cable.

Hook up the TV to the surround sound receiver via optical cable ( I only recommend this because you get HD via antenna and the only way to get surround sound if you get HD via antenna is to hook up optical cable from your TV to your receiver)

Hook up your satellite box to your receiver via digital optical if it is available or use red and white rca if not.

As for the volume difference, I too notice different sources have big differences in sound levels.  That isn't unusual but it is a pain in the *** when you are set to one source and change sources and the volume changes too.

Answer 2

You need to connect everything to the device you use to "switch" between sources.  E.g. if you use the HT receiver to switch between satellite, DVD, etc, then run the cables there.  Likewise, if you switch inputs on the DTV to change sources, then run the cables there and an audio output back to your amplifier.

Most HT receivers I've seen need to be programmed to select the optical input.  If you need to have the RCA audio cables connected, you probably are listening to the RCAs instead of the optical.