churchill
Novice Member
Hi guys,
I recently purchased my first house and am looking to get started with a decent AV set up. I've never done a proper AV set up before and I'm a bit clueless on the sheer amount of products and technology available these days, so am hoping someone can provide me with a bit of a starting block! Apologies for the number of questions!
In the living room I'm envisaging a smart TV mounted on the wall, with a 5.1 surround sound system. The cabling from the TV and the 6 speakers will come back to a common location where I can put all of the gear. As well as watching regular Freeview TV, there'll be a Blu-ray/DVD player and games console. As well as that, I'd also like to be able to plug in other random HDMI devices (like a laptop), and 1 or 2 axillary audio devices (by means of a 3.5mm jack), to make use of the surround sound speakers. On top of that still, I'd like to be able to connect my smartphone/tablet to the TV and surround sound to be able to output video/audio from the smartphone/tablet through them (by means of screen mirroring or similar). Lastly, I've also got a server/NAS that has offline audio and video on it, that I'd like to be able to play through the TV and speakers.
1. Am I right in thinking that all of these various devices would/should all plug back into one common receiver? How would the server/NAS connect? Would Plesk/Chromecast or similar be of any use here?
2. Would the smartphone connect to the receiver in some way? Or would the smartphone typically just connect point-to-point to the smart TV?
3. Would an amplifier need to sit in between the receiver and the speakers? Or do most receivers these days come with speaker level outputs?
4. What wiring would you suggest goes out to the surround sound speakers? Currently the previous home-owner had run 18/20 AWG bell wire to each corner, would this suffice for most scenarios? Or does it really depend on the power that I'll be giving to the speakers?
5. Say I'm watching Freeview TV using the smart TV's built in tuner. If I want to be able to listen to Freeview through the surround sound system I obviously need to get the audio signal back to the receiver. I guess this is as simple as connecting the TOSLINK or other 'audio out' method back to the receiver and then choosing that said connection as the source on the receiver?
6. Is it true to say that when I plug in, for example, a PS3 into one of the HDMI inputs on the receiver, that the receiver strips off the audio and routes the audio to the surround sound, and sends just the video to the HDMI out (i.e. the TV?). I'm just thinking with respect to question number 5...
7. Are most TV shows on TV these days broadcast with surround sound? I'm just wondering how much TV away from the films, etc. would be broadcast in it?
8. Some of the receivers that I've seen have Ethernet ports on, what are these used for? What services can receivers offer over Ethernet?
9. At some point, I'm considering extrapolating the AV setup in the living room into the adjoining dining room (probably just the addition of a couple of ancillary speakers) and then maybe into the adjoining kitchen at some point (with maybe another 5.1 set up and screen). Could this/how would this be approached given the existing hardware for the living room?
10. I've read about products like Plesk, Sonos, Chromecast, etc. Would any of these be of any benefit to me given my requirements do you think?
Apologies for the open-endedness and simplicity of some of the questions! I'm a pretty technical guy so don't be afraid to hold back; AV is just one of those fields I never properly got into!
I recently purchased my first house and am looking to get started with a decent AV set up. I've never done a proper AV set up before and I'm a bit clueless on the sheer amount of products and technology available these days, so am hoping someone can provide me with a bit of a starting block! Apologies for the number of questions!
In the living room I'm envisaging a smart TV mounted on the wall, with a 5.1 surround sound system. The cabling from the TV and the 6 speakers will come back to a common location where I can put all of the gear. As well as watching regular Freeview TV, there'll be a Blu-ray/DVD player and games console. As well as that, I'd also like to be able to plug in other random HDMI devices (like a laptop), and 1 or 2 axillary audio devices (by means of a 3.5mm jack), to make use of the surround sound speakers. On top of that still, I'd like to be able to connect my smartphone/tablet to the TV and surround sound to be able to output video/audio from the smartphone/tablet through them (by means of screen mirroring or similar). Lastly, I've also got a server/NAS that has offline audio and video on it, that I'd like to be able to play through the TV and speakers.
1. Am I right in thinking that all of these various devices would/should all plug back into one common receiver? How would the server/NAS connect? Would Plesk/Chromecast or similar be of any use here?
2. Would the smartphone connect to the receiver in some way? Or would the smartphone typically just connect point-to-point to the smart TV?
3. Would an amplifier need to sit in between the receiver and the speakers? Or do most receivers these days come with speaker level outputs?
4. What wiring would you suggest goes out to the surround sound speakers? Currently the previous home-owner had run 18/20 AWG bell wire to each corner, would this suffice for most scenarios? Or does it really depend on the power that I'll be giving to the speakers?
5. Say I'm watching Freeview TV using the smart TV's built in tuner. If I want to be able to listen to Freeview through the surround sound system I obviously need to get the audio signal back to the receiver. I guess this is as simple as connecting the TOSLINK or other 'audio out' method back to the receiver and then choosing that said connection as the source on the receiver?
6. Is it true to say that when I plug in, for example, a PS3 into one of the HDMI inputs on the receiver, that the receiver strips off the audio and routes the audio to the surround sound, and sends just the video to the HDMI out (i.e. the TV?). I'm just thinking with respect to question number 5...
7. Are most TV shows on TV these days broadcast with surround sound? I'm just wondering how much TV away from the films, etc. would be broadcast in it?
8. Some of the receivers that I've seen have Ethernet ports on, what are these used for? What services can receivers offer over Ethernet?
9. At some point, I'm considering extrapolating the AV setup in the living room into the adjoining dining room (probably just the addition of a couple of ancillary speakers) and then maybe into the adjoining kitchen at some point (with maybe another 5.1 set up and screen). Could this/how would this be approached given the existing hardware for the living room?
10. I've read about products like Plesk, Sonos, Chromecast, etc. Would any of these be of any benefit to me given my requirements do you think?
Apologies for the open-endedness and simplicity of some of the questions! I'm a pretty technical guy so don't be afraid to hold back; AV is just one of those fields I never properly got into!