AV setup
 

So which setup do you guys prefer:

Xbox 360 --> TV --> Reciever

or

Xbox 360 --> Reciever --> TV

I currently have mine set up the first way. What I don't like is that if I just want to play a CD on the Xbox, I have to have the TV screen on.

I considered switching to the second way, but then every time I use the Xbox for anything I'd have to have the receiver on and mess with another remote to adjust sound level. Moreover, my receiver is a Denon 2802 which does not handle HD video, so I'd either be passing SD video through the receiver, or trying to arrange things so that I could have VGA going directly to the TV and audio directly to the receiver.

Or should I just watch craigslist for a cheap CD changer that I could hook up independently to the receiver?

Always device > amp/receiver > tv. If you go tv > amp your audio out from the tv is compressed and converted to 2.0. You lose all surround sound and a lot of quality.

why would you go tv first?!

this is why I like HDMI. On my bluray player, I can use just the TV or the (optical) reciever or both...

Because my receiver doesn't have HD video input/output. And I like my receiver except for that.

Also, why do I care about surround if I'm only working with a 2.1 speaker setup anyway?

Stop being a communist and go buy a all in one 5.1 with hdmi in out. And even with 2.1 you should care. tv to amp is losing your sub signal and it's just playing audio like a normal speaker.

I had two things going directly into my TV through HDMI, and both units then would output audio seperatly with optical to my reciever....not sure how the Xbox works.

Anyone want to buy a Denon 2802?

You know, I've been thinking about that...I have a VGA cable for the Xbox, which has regular L/R RCA outputs for audio. So I could theoretically run VGA to the TV directly and audio to the receiver. But the cable is an integrated unit with a collar near the end with the VGA/audio plugs...I've got about a maximum of 12" between the VGA and audio plugs, and there's no way to position the TV and receiver so both can reach.

But...if I broke that plastic collar and split the cable further back, maybe I could make it work...

you do realize that hdmi has audio too right? so what im saying is I could use tv audio only or reciever audio only or both.

Yeah...I think I'm screwed on HDMI though, because of my 2nd-tier TV. From everything I read online, my Olevia 232T will not display HDMI from an XBox 360 without a firmware reflash...which is no longer available for download because Olevia no longer supports the previous line of HDTV's.

CD's? Are serious?
1st... rip your favorite CD's to XBOX harddrive instead of actually playing them.
2nd... what 2.1 speakers?

You actually do care about 2.1 through a receiver for movies. If you have a set of bookshelf speakers and a standalone sub, the receiver should still pass the LFE signal to the sub while playing stereo track through speakers. It's way better than passing full-spectrum signal to the sub and having the subs onboard low-pass filter have to do all the work like what will happen when playing a CD.

I'd just grab a new cheap Blu-Ray player to make things really easy. You can pick up a Panasonic BDT-210 on Amazon for $130... considered best b4b in 3D Wifi BR players.

You'll get the sweetness of onboard Wifi and all the online services, a BluRay player which you probably don't have... which is also a great DVD and CD player.

CD's are handy, and my goal is to play music without having to have the TV on.

Speakers are Acoustic Research AR-215PS's, don't recall what brand/model the sub is offhand.

Okay, I don't know why this didn't occur to me earlier, but rather than trying to split the VGA/RCA cable further back, I can just use some RCA extensions to get the audio straight into the receiver, right?

This thread confuses me.

The video output of my Xbox360 is connected to my TV. The audio output is connected to my receiver.

The answer to everything is a AV receiver with HDMI in/out

Is this always the case? I run HDMI to TV, then optical audio from TV to receiver. I've always figured that audio would be much simpler to pass through than video...

I do have a pretty kickass LG tv with optical out, I also have a Harman receiver with 4 in, 1 out HDMI

Some of the new stuff maybe, would have to read the manual.

The problem was that my XBox cable was constructed such that I couldn't physically run the AV end of the cable to separate A and V locations. The VGA connector and the RCA connectors weren't separated far enough back on the cable.

But!

I realized the XBox and my receiver both had optical connections, so now I'm running VGA straight to the TV, and optical audio straight to the receiver.

And yes, the sound is much, much better when it's not being passed through the TV (unless you have a digital pass through). Actual separation, not just a muddle of sound.

Well, yeah.

Same deal on this end. I have a component cable instead of a VGA cable (I never even knew that the Xbox360 was capable of speaking VGA), but I have the video portion of the component cable plugged into the TV with the left/right connectors dangling uselessly, while an optical cable runs from the XBox to a converter that takes it to coax and then into the receiver.

(Well, it's slightly more complex than this, as I have two passive RCA switchboxes in series with both the audio and video wiring, as neither my TV nor my receiver have a sufficiently large number of inputs to accommodate all of the additional sources that I never even use anymore and question why I continue to drag around with me, but that's essentially the gist of it.)

For Xbox, I used to use the first route since it can get annoying controlling devices on multiple remotes ...and if you have guests over, none of them can figure out how to use everything. I used to do the switchbox thing like Joe.

I got a brand new Sony soundbar and woofer from the holidays, which replaces a 5-10 year old hand-me-down Sony 5.1 stereo system. At least between these units in comparison, it's obvious from the layout on the receiver & clearly stated in the instructions that the soundbar/woofer unit should have all inputs pass through it before going to the TV. In fact, with compatible devices, the soundbar receiver will turn the TV/DVD/Blu-ray players ON & OFF once you shut off the input feed. It's a PITA still because you still need multiple remotes, but at least the cable routing is clean.

I like the hookup you used, mgeoffriau. RCA to TV : Optical to Receiver. Being able to use the TV volume instead of the full stereo system to reduce the volume or reverberating sound...say at nighttime while others are sleeping...is a great thing.