[Bradders22]

Hi all

I'm in the process of upgrading my AV equipment and have recently ordered a 42" Panasonic G10 (Buy Panasonic Viera TX-P42G10B Plasma HD 1080p Digital Television, 42 Inch with Built-in freesat online at JohnLewis.com) and a Pioneer DCS-FS30 home cinema system (Pioneer DCS-FS30 - Support & Media)

My set-up will be quite simple (i.e. the above two items plus Sky+ and a Wii) .. and I was hoping somebody may be able to give me some pointers on the best way to connect these components so that:

a) I can watch Sky through the TV, without the surround sound, and
b) If I then switch the FS30 on the sound will play through the surround sound speakers

If possible I'd also like to be able have the Wii sound through either the TV or HC.

Any help or suggestions gratefully received

Many thanks in advance

Bradders

[davepuma]

Unfortunately the Pioneer only has a single optical input, so to enjoy sound from the Pioneer from both Sky+ and Freesat, you would need a 3 way manual optical switch. Connect the Sky+ via SCART direct to the TV and the optical output to the switch (set to DOLBY D under Optical Output in the sound settings menu) and the TV's optical output to the switch. Then run a third optical cable from the switch to the Pioneer system's optical input.

Sky+ outputs audio over SCART and optical at the same time, so you always have the option of either TV speakers or surround sound speakers.

As it's 2.1 and not a true surround sound system, you could probably get away with routing the audio from the TV from whatever is on at the time i.e. connect Sky+ to the TV via SCART (set to RGB/16:9/SCART Control ON in the picture settings menu). Connect the wii to the TV via the supplied cable (inc red/white for audio). Hopefully the TV will pass audio from all of the sources connected via the optical output. If you haven't invested in the Nintendo component video cable (green/blue/red), I would recommend you do as it offers a significantly better picture than the composite video one that comes as standard.

[Bradders22]

Davepuma

... thanks very much for your reply (I'd seen your responses to other peoples questions and was secretly hoping you may be online and able to help out!)

I'm not too fussed about Freesat ... we don't have a TV aerial so only really watch TV through Sky+. In this case, would I be right in thinking I need:

Sky+ to TV = Scart
Sky+ to FS30 = Optical
FS30 to TV = Hdmi
... and I think from what you've said i'm best off just sticking to RGB for the Wii and using the TV speakers for sound.


Again, any help and guidance much appreciated. My main priority is being able to watch Sky / Dvds in surround sound.

Thanks, Bradders

[davepuma]

You should be able to route the wii's analogue audio output to the FS30 RCA audio input to get pseudo surround sound from the wii. However, you might have to extend the cables, if the cables will not reach to both the TV's video input and the FS30's audio input. You could extend them using RCA couplers, which shouldn't degrade the signal.

The wii doesn't output RGB (different signal). It outputs CVBS (composite video) over the standard yellow RCA supplied cable or YpBpR (component video) over green/blue/red connectors on the optional component video cable. It's well worth buying though. This is why I always list them as g/b/r and not r/g/b!

[Bradders22]

Thanks again Dave ...

... I meant RCA (not RGB), apologies for the confusion! Will look into the component video option though as sounds like a good investment.

Does the rest of the lead 'configuration' above look right? Would anything else be needed to connect the FS30 to the TV for the purposes of watching dvd's besides HDMI (presume HDMI carries audio and video signal?).

I'm guessing all I'll need to buy is the optical cable as I understand these aren't typically supplied!?

Apologies for all the questions, and thanks again for your advice.

Bradders

[davepuma]

HDMI does carry both audio and video but as it's from a home cinema system, the sound will probably only be output from the attached speakers only. I'm afraid the only cables you'll probably get are some speaker cables, the cables required to connect your sources will be optional. They might chuck in some freebie analogue (red/white) cheapies though.