Do I need HDMI cables to hook up surround sound and HD DVD player to my HDTV?

Question

1080i / 720p / 480i / 480p digital compatibility

Progressive scan

Built-in speakers (10 watts x 2)

Stereo sound with simulated surround sound

HDMI input

VGA (D-sub) input

Two component inputs (YPbPr / YCbCr)

S-video input

Composite video input

Two TV / CATV coaxial RF inputs (1 digital ATSC, 1 analog NTSC)

Five audio inputs

Audio output (RCA)

Coaxial digital audio output 1

These are some of the specifics of my HDTV. It only has 1 HDMI input and I have an HD DVD player that only has 1 HDMI ouput. I planned on connecting them. The HD DVD player has Dolby True HD and DDplus. However, I really want to purchase surround sound, but I don't know anything about it or cables. Is there a way to have an HDMI cable hooked up to a surround sound system even though I only have the one output that I plan on using for the player? Is it necessary? Any advice on what I should do and what cables to use to hook everything up would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

that's what I would do.  I would find a receiver that has multiple inputs and an output so that you could hook many HDMI components to the receiver, then connect the receiver to the tv.

that would accomplish whats called video switching, or HDMI switching.  depending upon the components, you could also use component cables for some items.

cabling which supports HD content includes:

HDMI, VGA, Component, and DVI.  

some formats, however, such as blu-ray and HD-DVD can employ schemes which only allow full HD output when using HDMI cables, for example.  So, it's probably best to try and stick with HDMI inputs/outputs.  there are some options, though!

Answer 2

You can buy an AV receiver with MULTIPLE HDMI  inputs. Then you connect all your HD equipment to the receiver (via HDMI cables) and use a single HDMI cable to connect the receiver to your TV.