best cables???? svideo/optical/coaxil

[jasond]

What is the best cables to hook up our TV/Surround sound/DVD together? right now we have analog audio cables and Svideo cable and the guy at the audiostore when we got our newest dvd player(hitachi dvp415u) said that we are wasting out surround sound by having analog cables hooked up and tried selling us the optical cable, but that is $75 for 6ft of it?? and then he tried to sell us the coaxil cable.

We have a 500 watt RCA dolby digital surround,sattelite system,hooked up to a RCA 32" tv with the tv sound disabled,and using only the surround sound system for audio.. We hear surround sound when we do the tests.

what is the best cables and would we notice that much of a difference?


thanks

[djvirus]

Hey there. The difference is huge. But do yourself a favor. Go to best buy to get the optical. Way cheaper. See right now with the analog cables you are running just dolby sorround. If you get that cable then the sub will get it's own channel the the rear speakers will run on seperate channels to. Instead of being mono. Plus the sound clarity itself is a big difference. So yes the Digital cables are worth the money!!!! especially if you have a dolby 5.1 or DTS setup. Get it and you will thank me!!!!!

[jasond]

Thanks just the info we needed

[patrickm]

and almost any decent optical cable will do - you don't need to pay $75 or even $40 for it. monster optical cable is the biggest waste of money i've ever seen. you might want to check out ebay, or pricewatch, they may have something cheaper.

[vhelp]

jasond,

Morning. (late) - just my two cents worth.

Also, IME, I if your signal is NOT sending you the soround sound signal, then even
though you have the SSS, you're not gonna get SS, ...well, unless you turn on the
simulation mode (don't really want to less you must have something)

I have satalette, and even though they claim its 5.1, its really dependign on some
factors:
* the movie - is it DolbyProLogic or DTS, etc. OR, is it just plain Stero
* the channel/station broadcasting the SS materials.
* and, the provider themself. . . are then turning it off (hence, stereo)

Note, satalette will say, of we have Dolby 5.1, etc... and bla, bla, bla, BUT
again, it depends on the station and whats being broadcasted w/ what
kind of signal (stereo/dts/dd/5.1,etc)
They say that the movie channel(s) all have the 5.1 Well, I don't have em
because I dont' want to pay the $10 for HBO, etc. But, I'll take there
word for it.

When I did have it connected to my Sat and PC, the sound was good, but
not really DPL. But, when I played my DVD movies through PowerDVD, the
sound came out of EVERY spkrs and sounded GREAT!
I used to have my "Simply Cenima SUB300" by JBL connected to my satalette
(till naibours downstairs complained) and the sound was GREAT! I only had
the Dolby Pro Logic circuit, they have the, in additio to, DTS and what's that
other one? Anyway, I didn't use any gold-plated wires. That's subjective
to each individual. And, I don't have the Digital Coax cable feature, just the
DPL, but it was GREAT while it lasted, he, he.... BOOM! . . .downstairs! he, he...

I'll say this much, believe it or not. I have my Santa Cruz and my pretty cheap
"Labtec LCS 2514" SS spkrs attached (a year old) and during certain commercials,
I'll hear the REAR spkrs come up in what seems like SS sound in higher amplitude.
But, I could be hearing myself, he, he... but it does seem like it is, even though
I don't have my SS Card setup for SS audio - yes, really. I can hear. And, I have
them (4 sat spkrs) sound equals almost - fronts @ 5% and rears @ 4%

I've ben noticing that some commercials are broadcasting in 5.1/pro logic, ie
* Nintendo and those PS2 games are doing this.
* ect.

I guess you can use 5.1 / pro logic interchangebly, but this could be in error - I don't
know the tech. details / difference. I'll leave that for someone else here to clarify.
But in the end, they pretty much sound the same anyways, he, he.....

Later - coffee time!

[jasond]

thanks again for the info guys. My cables will do until I can locate a good price on them. That guy was just interested in bringing up his multiple item sales I think