Help hooking up my home theatre?

Question

i have a playstation 3

a high definition digital cable receiver

and a hitachi 50 inch high definition tv

i want to buy surround sound and hook up BOTH the ps3 and the digital cable receiver to the surround sound at the same time

how can i do this?

do i need specific surround sound speakers?

Answer 1

If you mean you want to have both hooked up so you can play your PS3 with the sound coming from the surround sound and the video going to the TV, you can buy any receiver that supports HDMI; it will have multiple inputs and outputs (if you want to connect both the TV and PS3 via HDMI you will need to make sure it has an HDMI input and an HDMI output...shouldn't have much trouble with that these days). You don't really need anything specific, but do your research to make sure you spend your money right. Look at different sets of speakers and different receivers that meet your needs and your budget, look for online reviews and make your decision. It may take some more time than just going to the store and buying something but trust me it'll pay off in the end to look stuff up first. Just make sure you get a receiver with at least one HDMI input and one HDMI output on it if that's what you want, and you'll be good (as long as you buy enough speakers for surround sound).

Also you could go with a home theater in a box; they have advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include being simple, being stylish (matter of opinion), usually sounding decent and not needing very much setup. Disadvantages include not being upgradable (if you ever decide you want something better you have to replace all of it; you can't just replace the speakers), they may not have all the inputs/outputs you need, unless you spend a fair bit of money on one you may end up disappointed both in design and sound quality as the cheaper ones are made with cheapo parts.

Answer 2

Most audio receivers will have multiple inputs for several sources. Any speakers will do also.