Setting up a home theater system with my AT&T U-verse Cisco IPN 4320 [ Edited ]

[benbourgeois1]

I've had AT&T U-verse HD television and Internet for a few months now, but I just bought a surround-sound home theater system: a Sony BDV-E280 that has a Blu-ray player and apps like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Since I'd only been using the built-in speakers on my LG 42LD520, I've always just connected the two using the HDMI out on the U-verse receiver.

But I wanted to ask how to get Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound out of the home theater system across all my devices. I use one of the television's HDMI ports for the U-verse receiver, another for my MacBook Pro via HDMI and the RCA component output for an Xbox 360. I'd like to get all five discrete surround-sound channels out of each of the devices, so how should I configure everything?

I read an old post on this forum that actually recommended using the analog component RCA video outs  to connect the U-verse receiver to the television  — because of AT&T's known compression/artifacts issues via HDMI — and then connecting the audio separately via an optical cable. But would an optical cable from the U-verse receiver to the television carry Dolby Digital audio?

He then suggests connecting my Sony Blu-ray/home theater receiver directly to the U-verse receiver via HDMI to get Dolby Digital audio while watching cable. But this leads me to believe I'd only get Dolby Digital audio out of my U-verse receiver (and the Blu-ray player/streaming apps, of course, because it's built into the home theater system) and not out of my MacBook HDMI and Xbox 360 connected to the television. Does anybody know the best way to configure everything? Thanks!

[americangame ACE - Warrior]

First if you don't have a Harmony remote, get one. This will make changing from watching a movie to playing a xbox game very simple.

I noticed that the Sony BD player has 2 HDMI inputs and 1 optical input so this should allow for you to have 3 additional sources for audio to be brought into the player and use the surround sound

Here's some options on how you should have everything connected to get 5.1 surround sound:

Option A

U-Verse HDMI to the back of the Sony player

Macbook HDMI to the back of the Sony player

Xbox Component (red/blue/green cables) to TV

Xbox Optical to back of the Sony player

HDMI from the Sony player to the TV

Option B

Xbox HDMI to the back of the Sony player

Macbook HDMI to the back of the Sony player

U-Verse Component to TV

U-Verse Optical to back of the Sony player

HDMI from the Sony player to the TV

Option C (once avaliable from AT&T)

Xbox with U-Verse TV HDMI to the back of the Sony player

Macbook HDMI to the back of the Sony player

HDMI from the Sony player to the TV

Option D (once avaliable from AT&T)

Macbook HDMI to the back of the Sony player

Xbox with U-Verse TV Component to TV

Xbox with U-Verse TV Optical to back of the Sony player

HDMI from the Sony player to the TV

[benbourgeois1]

Thanks for the reply. I'll probably go with your second option because it connects the U-verse receiver to the Sony player via component video and optical audio cables — hopefully eliminating any artifacts or compression from AT&T. I don't believe the Xbox has an HDMI out, though, so I may have to connect that via components to the Sony player as well. Would Xbox games have 5.1. digital surround sound if I used components to connect it to the Sony?

I've heard several people recommend the Harmony remote, but I may try to will through how cumbersome switching among all the devices is before spending the money. As long as I can control my DVR que via AT&T's U-verse remote once I switch inputs on the Sony, I'll be fine. 

I'm also going to have to look at how the MacBook HDMI input is going to work with the receiver. It should be fine since I can edit the resolution output and color space on the laptop when I connect it to an external display, so hopefully the Sony player has a "just scan" option like my television, so the image doesn't get overscanned or cropped in any way. 

[americangame ACE - Warrior]

Unless you got your Xbox before 2007, it should have a HDMI output for the system. You can find it right under the connection for other inputs on the back of the Xbox.  To have surround sound on the Xbox enabled, you'll have to go under settings and change your digital output to include Dolby Digital 5.1 output on it but yes your Xbox should be able to do surround sound and you are connected to the Sony BD player via HDMI or optical.  The component connection should be going to your TV only.

If your Xbox doesn't have HDMI I would go with option A.  I have all of my U-Verse STBs connected via HDMI and I don't notice any major fragmenting compared to the Xboxs I use as STB.

As for the Harmony, you can get them for as little as $30, but I would suggest the 650 (MSRP is $69.99, but you can find it cheaper if you look around)

[benbourgeois1]

It's my roommate's Xbox, but it's from before 2007 and doesn't have an HDMI output on the back. He's been connecting it straight to the television via the six-connector RCA component cables, which only carries stereo — not Dolby Digital 5.1. I'm pretty sure it has an optical audio out, so I should be able to get DD5.1 out of it that way. 

I may continue using an HDMI cable to connect the U-verse set-top box to the Sony player considering I already have a cable and I don't expect the quality to be much better. But I got confused when you said the RCA component connection is going only to the television. The Sony has an HDMI out, and I was going to connect it to the TV via HDMI. I was only using component video and optical audio to connect the U-verse STB to the Sony and maybe the Xbox to the Sony. From the options you mentioned, it looked like I'd be connecting everything to the Sony either via component or HDMI and connecting the Sony to the television via HDMI out.

[americangame ACE - Warrior]

The Sony blu ray system didn't appear to have a component input or output, that's why I was saying that it would go directly into the TV.  The Sony player would still be connected to the TV via HDMI for the Blu Ray player, UVerse STB, and Macbook

[benbourgeois1]

Ok, you're right. I just bought the receiver last night and was just fielding a few questions before I went home tonight to start looking at it. I'd just figured it would have more than one type of audio/video in. I see it does have the optical audio input, though.

But would using components straight to the television still have Dolby Digital 5.1 considering they're not passing through the receiver? I'd read on a forum that even though the surround-sound receiver is outputted to the television via HDMI, your devices have to be connected to the actual stereo receiver to have DD5.1.

I guess I'll connect my MacBook HDMI and U-verse STB to the receiver via HDMI and use the HDMI out to connect the Sony to the television. Thanks again for your help.

[americangame ACE - Warrior]

The optical cable from the back of the Xbox would be supplying the audio to the Sony player. When you connect the component cables to your TV, you can disconnect the audio (red/white) cables from the back of your TV since the audio would be going through the sound system.

If you haven't purchased your cables yet and don't mind waiting a few days to save a few bucks, I would suggest you get your extra HDMI and optical cables from monoprice.com. A 6ft optical cable costs $2 and a 6ft HDMI cable costs $3.50 on monoprice where buying these at Best Buy or Walmart would cost about $30 a cable.

Let me know how your setup works out.

[benbourgeois1]

Thanks for the advice, I'll be sure to get back to the forum once I mess with it a bit tonight. Like I said, the Xbox is my roommate's, so I'm going to leave it up to him whether he wants to buy the optical cable to get surround sound out of his games.

I'll have to check out Monoprice. I purchased both my HDMI cables and some wiring for MIDI recording from Amazon and found it's pretty reasonable. A six-foot HDMI cable ran me under $8. You're right, the markup at the retail stores is insane, and you're not paying for anything except for a name and some excessive packaging.

[jimgfitzgerald]

This is too complicated for me to want to dig into right now.  However, I have just a couple points.  First of all, definitely get a Harmony remote right away.  I have a Harmony 880 and it is great.  You go on-line and program each and every device so that you push one button to control every device for each viewing scenerio. 

Next, decide which viewing scenerios you want to use your sound system and which you don't.  For instance, I like to watch tv without the sound system except for watching sports and concerts, when I want the sound system.  Therefore, I have HDMI from the U-Verse DVR to the tv to carry video and audio.  I also have optical from the U-Verse DVR to the sound system for 5.1 surround when I want it.

My blu-ray DVD is a separate unit and I always use surround sound with it.  Therefore, I have HDMI from the DVD to the surround system and HDMI from the surround system to the tv.

I would sketch out all your devices and think through each and every viewing scenerio and make sure you wire everything to give you the options you want.