Connect Home cinema, PS3 and Sky+

[mikel75]

Hi,

I have a Philips Home cinema system, and LG 42 inch HD TV with 1 HDMI port and PS3.

Currently I have the red, white and yellow audio cables going into the Sky + box from the Home cinema dvd , and the HDMI from the home cinema dvd player to the TV. The surround works fine with this setup, but have to take out the HDMI if I want to use the PS3 and dont have surround sound when the PS3 in use.

Can anyone help? Do I need an HDMI switch?
Thanks

 

[StevieBuck]

It would help if you could provide us with more information on your equipment, as there may be better ways of connecting it than with a switch.

What is the model number of your Philips home cinema system?

Can you confirm that you are using a standard Sky+ box, and not an HD version?

The red, white and yellow cables you refer to are known as ‘RCA’ or ‘phono’ cables and are typically used to transfer audio + video. The yellow RCA cable transfers ‘composite’ video signals, and the red & white connectors transfer stereo audio. Therefore, the yellow cable doesn’t need to be used. To be honest, I don’t recall any of the Sky boxes having a dedicated composite out where you could have this connected.

Assuming you do have just a standard Sky+ box, the scart connection will give you the best video quality. Can you confirm that you are using that to send video to the TV? The scart video output can be set to either PAL or RGB in the Sky setup menu. Set it to RGB get the best quality (assuming the scart input on the TV is RGB compatible).

 

[mikel75]

It is a Philips HTS3530 home theatre. yes it is just a standard Sky plus, not Sky HD.

I have been looking into this more and it seems like this is the only option I have

Sky+ to DVD/Amp via RCA (picture to TV via Scart)
PS3 to TV via HDMI splitter (relying upon TV speakers)
DVD/Amp to TV via HDMI splitter

So basically I wont be able to get the PS3 through the surround, unless there are any other options?

 

[StevieBuck]

Rather than skip connecting the PS3 to the home cinema system altogether, you could add a RCA switch so you can swap between the PS3 and Sky+ box as your audio source.

Other than that, your proposed connections are fine. Remember that it’s a HDMI switch you need though, not a splitter.

 

[mikel75]

Sorry, yeah meant HDMI switch.
Thanks a lot, yeah i will look into the RCA switch option.