Surround sound

[Johno6]

Just got my surround sound
I have no idea how to get normal tv and foxtel to play through it.
Can only get DVDs to play through it sound and picture
Annoying as hell

[Sky Pilot]

Just got my surround sound
I have no idea how to get normal tv and foxtel to play through it.
Can only get DVDs to play through it sound and picture
Annoying as hell

The very thing that prevents me from buying a spiffy surround sound system is I have no f.....g idea how to link it up with my set top box, dvd / cd player and Austar box. Salesmen eager to flog me a system use the generic spiel - which I don't comprendez.

[kickinit]

depends what you have is it 3D?

If it isn't just go optical cable out of your TV to Optical in on the amp. And just leave everything else the way you had it.

[Interceptor]

Just got my surround sound
I have no idea how to get normal tv and foxtel to play through it.
Can only get DVDs to play through it sound and picture
Annoying as hell

A bit difficult to help without knowing what your "surround sound" actually is.
Is it an standalone AV Receiver?
There are a lot of instructional videos on youtube like this that might help a bit.
Quick tip, don't get sucked into buying Monster/expensive cables, cheap ones will be fine.

[Johno6]

Bought a lg one with all the speakers etc. I'll try get a photo of the model up
What's one of those cables worth
I'm on phone ATM. At work tomorro I'll get more info

[Johno6]

+



=

[kickinit]

all you need is a optical cable jay car have them starting at $20 for 1mtr and go up from there.

Just got my surround sound
I have no idea how to get normal tv and foxtel to play through it.
Can only get DVDs to play through it sound and picture
Annoying as hell

A bit difficult to help without knowing what your "surround sound" actually is.
Is it an standalone AV Receiver?
There are a lot of instructional videos on youtube like this that might help a bit.
Quick tip, don't get sucked into buying Monster/expensive cables, cheap ones will be fine.

Quick tip monster cables would be one of the best cable manufactures, yes they are expensive because you pay for what you get.

[Johno6]

ill head to jay car on main north rd on way home tonight n grab one

thanks mate

[Interceptor]

Quick tip monster cables would be one of the best cable manufactures, yes they are expensive because you pay for what you get.

Monster Cable and similar "boutique" cables are a substantial source of revenue for retailers of electronics such as DVD players and TVs. While the profit margins of DVD players and TVs may be low, the profit margins of Monster Cables and similar products provide supplemental revenue for these retailers. Employees of such retailers are trained to market and bundle Monster Cable and similar products so as to increase profitability.[5]

Nevertheless, various reviews have reported that listeners and viewers are unable to tell a difference between substantially higher-priced Monster cables and inexpensive cables.[6][7][8] In addition, some opinions differ as to whether cable quality makes a difference for short runs of digital cables, such as using HDMI cables to connect a set-top box to one's television.[9] In one experiment conducted by a customer, audiophile listeners could not distinguish between short Monster cables and ordinary coat hangers.[10] Another reviewer concluded that "16-gauge lamp cord and Monster [speaker] cable are indistinguishable from each other with music."[11]

Monster has even produced cables where their advertised premium features cannot even affect the cable quality. These items include gold-plated optical cables, where the plating has literally no use in the proper function of the cable.[12]

You can say "it's from wikipedia blah blah", but there's plenty of references there.
Just had a look on the HN site and they have a 1 m HDMI Monster cable for $199, compare that with Dick Smith that have a 1.5 m HDMI cable for $59. Both cables will do exactly the same job.
It's only when you get to longer lengths that quality can become an issue, even then I have a 10 m HDMI cable (originally for a projector setup) that I got for $100 at Dick Smith's and works fine. I'd hate to see what a Monster cable that length goes for.

[Psyber]

Just in case it helps at all:

I got into building amplifiers and speaker boxes in the the mid-1960's and on into the 1970s.
Over the years various friends have spent a lot of money on big name cables - some of them have actually made the sound worse and eventually been thrown away.
One guy found that was the case with very expensive gold cabling and plugs that were once heavily hyped around the specialist HiFi scene.

I've never gotten into surround sound as my interest is in sound quality rather than the movie theatre effect.
However, I do have eight 25cm diameter SEAS bass speakers and ten 12.5cm square Janszen electrostatic speaker panels in my lounge - in a specialised speaker box design.
http://www.seas.no/
http://www.janszenloudspeaker.com/

I use moderately priced low oxygen copper cables I got from JB Hifi - it was IIRC $3.40 a metre.
My TV and TV recorder system in another room is on HDMI cables that cost me $25 for a pack of 5 from a local computer wholesaler.

Ignore the hype!

[kickinit]

so your comparing a dicksmith cable that doesn't provide how many Gbps it can transfer, to a cable that can transfer at 17.8Gbps and also has a lifetime warranty and will also upgrade your cable for free in the future if it can't handle new technology. I have blown 4 dick smith hdmi cables with my playstation. I leave it running while I go to work as I have play tv which records free to air tv. Now my surround was off and my tv was off but as soon as I tunr on the amp or tv the cable would be gone. I ended up getting a $10 cable from jaycar that worked everytime and never went. I now have a full HD 3d TV and a lot better surround system and I don't use Monster cable, I have a crest 2mtr 1.4 HDMI. I was going to get Monster but as harvey norman didn't have my TV I had to go to The Good Guys and got a pretty good deal paid $40 for a $100 cable.

Also have a look at this 2012 HDMI cables review.
http://hdmi-cables-review.toptenreviews.com/

[Psyber]

so your comparing a dicksmith cable that doesn't provide how many Gbps it can transfer, to a cable that can transfer at 17.8Gbps and also has a lifetime warranty and will also upgrade your cable for free in the future if it can't handle new technology....

My HDMI cables are unbranded ones from Anyware - a computer equipment wholesaler - and they do the job beautifully, but I'm not driving a huge array of tiny speakers.

In general, an efficient speaker system design doesn't need huge wattage and huge currents through the cables.
That comes from trying to force the bass out of tiny little speakers in tiny enclosures at very low efficiency - they are pretty but ineffective.
(Bass efficiency depends on adequate speaker cone area.)

My main system with the 18 speaker components is driven by a valve amplifier set to deliver only 50 watts RMS.
You couldn't stay in the room with it on the full 50 watts - it could be adjusted to deliver 100 watts RMS if needed.
The speaker boxes would be a bit large and heavy for one man to lift though.

One of my old enthusiast mates designed an exponential horn loaded speaker system for a pop group.
They could fill a hall with sound from a 10 watt RMS amplifier - the boxes were about 1.5 metres by 1 metre x about 60cm each though..

[dedja]

Copper is copper, the properties don't change with a higher retail price.

There is absolutely no advantage of using a hyper-price inflated HDMI cable over a much cheaper one ... they perform exactly the same over distances of up to 3m or so.

If you wish to burn your money on a $200 cable when a $20 one does the same thing then that's up to you.

[Westsider]

Yes, monster cables are good, however value for money they are a complete ripoff.

You can buy cables which are as good as monster cables for over half the price.

Don't believe their propaganda.

http://gizmodo.com/358246/are-monster-c ... y-worth-it
http://gizmodo.com/282725/the-truth-abo ... battlemodo

http://gizmodo.com/266616/the-truth-about-monster-cable

So listen, you've heard it from me: there are differences in cable, but there are also differences in technical requirements. We don't all need $120 cables for our components.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38731070/ns ... -upgrades/

To summarize, buying a more expensive HDMI "High Speed" cable — regardless of labeling or what a salesman tells you — will not give you any improvement in picture quality. Use the money you save from not falling victim to misleading HDMI packaging towards the purchase of products or services that will increase your enjoyment of HDTV, such as a Blu-ray player, professional set-up and calibration or a surround-sound audio system.

http://consumerist.com/2008/02/monster- ... rkups.html

Here's the thing: digital cables, by definition, have no signal loss. A cable is either digital or it's not. As long as its built to HDMI standards, the only difference between a "fancy" digital cable and a no-name one is the price.

[Johno6]

surround sound is up and about.
bloody good
played cod last night with it crankin, insane.

bring on teh footy tonight

[Mr Beefy]

You need to crank with a movie like Black Hawk Down or even Pearl Harbor

[Johno6]

i chucked the espendables in on blue ray that was pretty good
but def need to chuck on a good action movie n watch it all

[kickinit]

They use to give out parts from mission impossible as a demo disk. If this is your first blu ray have a look at back to the future, it's not as good as latest release blu rays but for the age of the movie it's pretty impressive

[Kahuna]

Saving Private Ryan gets a bit hairy too!

[smac]

Star Wars goes ok when you're testing the system.