Connecting new TV/Blu-ray to old AVR best way for Audio/Video

PeakyPaul

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Hello,

I have purchased a new TV and Blu-ray but currently can't afford to upgrade the rest of my system.

So I am looking for help in connecting the sources together to best use what I have (Appreciate that the AVR will limit what I can get, I.E no atmos but should get Dolby digital 5.1)

So my setup will be,

Old items,
Front speakers - Scandyna Blueroom Minipods
Center speaker - KEF 3001SE
Rear speakers - Scandyna Blueroom Micropods
Subwoofer - KEF E2
AV Amp - Sony STR-DN860

New items
Philips 55OLED806
Sony UPB-X700
Sky Q UHD

I am looking at the best way to connect my Sky Q box (with UHD subscription) Blu-ray player and TV to my AVR while getting the best picture/Video

I suppose the first and maybe only question is will plugging everything in to the TV and outputting it to the amp mean I get the best audio?

Would I benefit from better audio by connecting the blu-ray to the TV and AVR (the blu-ray has two HDMI outputs one audio only and one audio/video) thus video goes to the TV meaning I get the 4K picture and audio goes to the AVR as I'm not sure if outputting the audio from the TV will mean that I don't get Dolby digital?

Next will be the Sky Q box, this hasn't got two HDMI's so I've either got to run it through the TV or use the optical output from the Sky box to the AVR?

Also I am presuming I will need Ultra fast 2.1 HDMI cables between blu-ray/Sky and TV to get the 4k picture but not between the TV/Blu-ray and AVR as the AVR doesn't have HDMI 2.1 so standard HDMI cables would be ok?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Connections on AVR
str-dn860.JPG


Connections on blu-ray
upb-x700.JPG


Connections on Sky
skyq.JPG


Connections on TV
55oled806 connections.JPG
 
Hello,

I have purchased a new TV and Blu-ray but currently can't afford to upgrade the rest of my system.

So I am looking for help in connecting the sources together to best use what I have (Appreciate that the AVR will limit what I can get, I.E no atmos but should get Dolby digital 5.1)

So my setup will be,

Old items,
Front speakers - Scandyna Blueroom Minipods
Center speaker - KEF 3001SE
Rear speakers - Scandyna Blueroom Micropods
Subwoofer - KEF E2
AV Amp - Sony STR-DN860

New items
Philips 55OLED806
Sony UPB-X700
Sky Q UHD

I am looking at the best way to connect my Sky Q box (with UHD subscription) Blu-ray player and TV to my AVR while getting the best picture/Video

I suppose the first and maybe only question is will plugging everything in to the TV and outputting it to the amp mean I get the best audio?

Would I benefit from better audio by connecting the blu-ray to the TV and AVR (the blu-ray has two HDMI outputs one audio only and one audio/video) thus video goes to the TV meaning I get the 4K picture and audio goes to the AVR as I'm not sure if outputting the audio from the TV will mean that I don't get Dolby digital?

Next will be the Sky Q box, this hasn't got two HDMI's so I've either got to run it through the TV or use the optical output from the Sky box to the AVR?

Also I am presuming I will need Ultra fast 2.1 HDMI cables between blu-ray/Sky and TV to get the 4k picture but not between the TV/Blu-ray and AVR as the AVR doesn't have HDMI 2.1 so standard HDMI cables would be ok?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Connections on AVR
View attachment 1710337

Connections on blu-ray
View attachment 1710338

Connections on Sky
View attachment 1710339

Connections on TV
View attachment 1710340
For simplicity you could route all the audio from TV to AVR using ARC except you should use the X700 2nd HDMI port (audio out) connected to the AVR to get the better sound from discs that the AVR is capable of processing (and that ARC wouldn't be able to carry). AVR specs show
  • DTS HD/DolbyTruHD/Dolby Digital+​

    YES/YES/YES
You don't need an 8K ultrafast cable for X700 to AVR audio connection.
 
I'm using the HDMI cable supplied with SkyQ for UHD viewing with no problems at all. I'm unclear as to whether your Sony can pass 4K video, or just upscale to 4K. If it cannot pass 4K then connect the SkyQ direct to the TV and use the digital optical connection to the Sony for 5.1 surround from those programmes that support it. The SkyQ box only supports lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 as a maximum via optical and Dolby DIgital Plus via HDMI, basically the same so you'll lose no quality with an optical connection.

Connect the player as outlined above.
 
Without eARC (your AV receiver isn't eARC enabled) then your best option is to connect external sources directly to the AV receiver bia HDMI. THis will allow you to access HD formatted audio that cannoy otherwise be conveyed via optical or via conventional ARC. THe SKY box wouldn't strictly be effected by this though given that SKY don't provide access to anything that would be encoded with HD audio. Conventional ARC would still be required to access Dolby Digital Plus encoded audio though, but this is still SD in nature and you'd not really benefit that much if you've not an Atmos setup. I'd still suggest you connect the SKY box directly to the AV receiver via HDMI though.

Connect your SKY box and Blu-ray player to the AV receiver's HDMI inputs. Connect the AV receiver's HDMI output to an HDMI input on your TV, preferably to an ARC enable input on that TV.

You'd pass the video through the AV receiver and out to the TV while access the audio from sources directly via HDMI.

I believe that your AVR will passthrough 4K up to 60Hz, but cannot handle or passthrough HDR? This means that you'd lose HDR if passing the signal through the AV receiver. Your player should however have 2 HDMI outputs? One will be marked audio while the other is labelled video. Connect the one labelled video directly to a TV input and the other audio output to an HDMI input on the AV receiver. Configure the player accordingly so that both these outputs are used. THis will allow you to simultaneously output HDR encoded video directly yo the TV while simultaneously conveying HD encoded audio directly to the AV receiver.
 
Last edited:
@two2midnight thanks for your reply and clarity.

I was thinking that I would need to connect the X700 directly to the AVR.

@gibbsy Thank you,

So would I be right in saying if I connect the SkyQ box to the TV and then the TV to the AVR I wouldn't get Dolby Digital plus as ARC can't support that?

But from what I gather your saying that Dolby Digital plus and Dolby Digital 5.1 from the Sky box would be very similar in sound anyway?

Thanks
 
@dante01 thank you, just seen your reply as I was typing out my previous reply.

I'm I interpreting what you are say correctly that if I connect the SkyQ box to the HDMI on my AVR labeled HDCP 2.2 it would pass through the 4K signal and I would be able to watch Sky UHD content on my TV?

Sorry if I'm being really dumb!
 
ARC supports DD+ and it is just the HD formats that would not be able to be conveyed via conventional ARC. You'd not get any HD fotmatted audio via SKY or any streaming service. The benefits of being able to access DD+ via your SKY box are negligable in your case bacause you've not an Atmos setup. I doubt you'd notice the difference between DD+ and conventional DD?

As far as I'm aware, your AVR is able to handle 4K60Hz video. What it cannot do it passthrough HDR. Your BD player should have 2 HDMI outputs and this would provide a solution that would give you both HDR video and HD audio.
 
Last edited:
Great thank you.

I will be wiring all this together on Monday.....so will probably be back on here with more questions lol,

So for now the answer is,

Blu-ray HDMI video output to TV via standard 4K HDMI cable
Blu-ray HDMI audio output to AVR via standard 4K HDMI cable
SkyQ HDMI to TV via standard 4K HDMI cable
Sky Q Optical out to AVR optical in

Presumably if the AVR is turned off then both sound and picture from Sky will go to the TV but when I turn on the AVR will it swop the sound from the TV to the AVR or will I have to change something manually each time?
 
Great thank you.

I will be wiring all this together on Monday.....so will probably be back on here with more questions lol,

So for now the answer is,

Blu-ray HDMI video output to TV via standard 4K HDMI cable
Blu-ray HDMI audio output to AVR via standard 4K HDMI cable
SkyQ HDMI to TV via standard 4K HDMI cable
Sky Q Optical out to AVR optical in

Presumably if the AVR is turned off then both sound and picture from Sky will go to the TV but when I turn on the AVR will it swop the sound from the TV to the AVR or will I have to change something manually each time?
You don't need to have an Optical cable between the Sky Q box and AVR if you have a High Speed HDMI cable between your tvs and AVRs Arc sockets.
 
You don't need to have an Optical cable between the Sky Q box and AVR if you have a High Speed HDMI cable between your tvs and AVRs Arc sockets.
@Pulse1

So if I connect the sky box to the TV via high speed HDMI and then connect the AVR and TV together using ARC the AVR will process the sound as Dolby 5.1?

Sorry these are probably questions that got asked like 5 years ago! I will upgrade the amp at some point but just blew all my money on the TV and blu-ray :p
 
Great thank you.

I will be wiring all this together on Monday.....so will probably be back on here with more questions lol,

So for now the answer is,

Blu-ray HDMI video output to TV via standard 4K HDMI cable
Blu-ray HDMI audio output to AVR via standard 4K HDMI cable
SkyQ HDMI to TV via standard 4K HDMI cable
Sky Q Optical out to AVR optical in

Presumably if the AVR is turned off then both sound and picture from Sky will go to the TV but when I turn on the AVR will it swop the sound from the TV to the AVR or will I have to change something manually each time?


Don't bother with the optical connection from the SKY box to the AV receiver. All you need do is enable ARC onboard the TV and the AV receiver and pass the SKY box's audio through the TV and out via ARC. As I said earlier, ARC can and will convey DD+ and ypu'd be no better using optical than you would if using ARC. OPtical cannot convey DD+.


ARC can and will convey both Dolby Digital and or DD+. Yes, you'll get 5.1 is using the ARC capabilities of your TV and AVR. Don't set the TV to PCM though!
 
Don't bother with the optical connection from the SKY box to the AV receiver. All you need do is enable ARC onboard the TV and the AV receiver and pass the SKY box's audio through the TV and out via ARC. As I said earlier, ARC can and will convey DD+ and ypu'd be no better using optical than you would if using ARC. OPtical cannot convey DD+.


ARC can and will convey both Dolby Digital and or DD+. Yes, you'll get 5.1 is using the ARC capabilities of your TV and AVR. Don't set the TV to PCM though!

Great, thanks for your help.... really appreciate it!

Hopefully I wont be back on here Monday.

Going to order some new HDMI cables would getting ultra fast ones be overkill and cause backwards compatibility?

Or would it be good to go with them now to future proof that side of things for when I do upgrade the AVR and speakers to dolby atmos?
 
You only need cables rated HIGH SPEED (18Gbps) in your case and with your setup. These would be fine:

Amazon product ASIN B014I8SIJY

They are both reliable and affordable. You'd only need something more than this if wanting to convey 4K120Hz or 8K video.
 
There's no need to spend a fortune on HDMI cables, all you need are certified high speed, these will usually have a QR code printed on the label. The supplied cable with SkyQ works perfectly between my box and Denon AV amp. There will be no backward compatibility issues with any cables.
 
There's no need to spend a fortune on HDMI cables, all you need are certified high speed, these will usually have a QR code printed on the label. The supplied cable with SkyQ works perfectly between my box and Denon AV amp. There will be no backward compatibility issues with any cables.


certification isn't even a requirement. The Amazon cables aren't certified, but are some of the most affordable and reliable HIGH SPEED cables on the market.
 

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