VIP722K + surround sound

[6t7gto]

Good morning.
equipment i have:
VIP722K sat. rcvr.
Kenwood VR357 receiver.
LG 60PK540 tv.
Sat.rcvr. is hooked to tv with hdmi cable. works fine.
Now what cables do i need and how do I connect my surround sound system?
Thank you,
David

 

[KAB]

Found very little info on that Kenwood receiver, but appears to have an optical input.
If so, optical cable (Toslink) from 722K digital audio out to AV receiver optical input.

 

[6t7gto]

KAB,
thank you for the reply.
I'm off to get a cable.
david

 

[mdavej]

Monoprice.com has toslink cables for less than $2, so don't pay 10 times that at best buy. May as well get a few spare HDMI cables for $3 a pop while you're at it.

 

[6t7gto]

mdavej,
good idea!
TY,
david

 

[navychop]

When you've got the spare bucks lying around, get a 5.1 AV receiver with at least 3, preferably 4, HDMI 1.4 inputs. One or two HDMI outputs. 1.4 is better than 1.3, as it will support 3D & other things. Even if you don't plan on 3D, just future proof yourself. Then you can run the sat box, BD player, game box and holosuite to the AV receiver via HDMI cables. And all feed the TV thru 1 cable from the AV receiver. You can control the sources via remote. With a remote such as the Harmony (see review post 18) you just select "Watch Dish," "Play BD" or "Take me to Vic Fontaine's place."

I run 12 AWG to my speakers, and use banana plugs.

When buying HDMI cables, make sure they are flexible. I got a couple cheap that were too stiff to be of any practical use.

 

[6t7gto]

navychop,
TY for the info.
david

 

[dwarren2]

I went with an Onyko AVR. The technophobe wife even figured out how to use the system. Switch between the Blu-ray and the sat tuner, if she's happy, I'm happy.

Seriously, with the modern AVR's they can set the balance between all the speakers automatically. The Onyko automatically detected that I had a 5.1 and not a 7.1 set up. You will surround sound from all sources.

 

[TG2]

I went with an Onyko AVR. The technophobe wife even figured out how to use the system. Switch between the Blu-ray and the sat tuner, if she's happy, I'm happy.

Seriously, with the modern AVR's they can set the balance between all the speakers automatically. The Onyko automatically detected that I had a 5.1 and not a 7.1 set up. You will surround sound from all sources.

For me one of the bonuses of the Onkyo (maybe others doing it too) was the remote setup ... like on the 722k ... when you want to "save" your program timers into the remote for use with the replacement receiver ... you aim the remote (Onkyo TX-NR808) roughly at the receiver.. and on screen can select the model of device you're going to have there... and it programs the codes *back* to the remote to control the other device!!

Onkyo receiver & remote, codes for Samsung Bluray, Proscan TV, Panasonic 5 disk dvd changer... etc... using the real names and model numbers for many ofthe devices.. really cool..

To OP/David ... that optical.. looks like it only goes with the "Video 3" devices, rather than assignable to another.. but then again SVideo is pretty much dead anyway...

Kenwood - Home Electronics Owner's Manuals
(Vr-357 actually models 309+) .... digital connections on page 9 of 27 ... & pg 10 input selectors

 

[6t7gto]

TG2,
Yes, it is for video 3.
I have it working with rca cables. Disconnected the hdmi until I get the optical from monoprice.
TY for the info.
David

p.s sounds much better with my speakers than the tv speakers.

 

[navychop]

I went with an Onyko AVR. The technophobe wife even figured out how to use the system. Switch between the Blu-ray and the sat tuner, if she's happy, I'm happy.

Seriously, with the modern AVR's they can set the balance between all the speakers automatically. The Onyko automatically detected that I had a 5.1 and not a 7.1 set up. You will surround sound from all sources.

Yes, that's a nice touch. So little is 7.1. It's nice to have even stereo pumped out of all speakers.