New here and need advice re: Samsung TV and Surround setup

[Donna3939]

Hi everyone!!

I've just recently become the proud owner of a Samsung D8000 3Dtv and Samsung HT-D6500 3D BluRay surround sound system and I need help with regards to how to set it up *properly*.

Along with the tv and surround I add into the mix :
a Sky+ box (NOT HD)
a PS3
a wii, and
Sennheiser RS130 headphones.

Problems:
- I can only use the PS3 if I connect it through the surround system, I can't connect it directly to the tv. If I do I don't get any video or audio.
- I can't get any sound through the surround (either 5.1 or stereo) when watching Sky or Freeview, I only get audio from the tv.
- When I plug the Sennheiser headphones in to the tv, as I used to do on my old tv, it cuts out the sound completely as opposed to allowing me to simply turn the tv down.
- When using the BluRay player and/or the PS3, I don't get any sound coming from the tv, and I would like to be able to alter it independently.
- I can't seem to figure a way at all to connect the wii to the whole thing!

I REALLY need advice as to the best set up/which cables to use. With the Sky I'm having to use the scart adapters as it doesn't have a HDMI socket to be able to use one. Also what do the DVI and ARC mean on the HDMI sockets on the tv? Haven't got a clue

Another problem is that today we are having the tv installed to the wall using an Omnimount system and obviously that makes the tv very close to the wall, which is going to cause problems with the chunky scart adapter that is in place.

If any of you experienced peeps out there are willing to help I'd be ever so grateful.

With regards to how to connect it all together in the best way, something along the lines of : BluRay -> TV (HDMI cable) HDMI2 socket,
PS3 -> BluRay etc etc would be GREAT!!!

Crikey, I've just re-read what I've written and I sound like a complete thicket!!! Normally I'm ok with things like this but the tv we've just got rid of is 10 years old and I guess I'm out of touch with new-fangled technologies (and I sound about 80, I'm only 30 lol!!!)

Really hope you can help.

Donna. x

 

[Broadz]

I can only use the PS3 if I connect it through the surround system, I can't connect it directly to the tv. If I do I don't get any video or audio.

PS3s work quite happily when connected directly to televisions. HDMI out from PS3 to HDMI in on TV.

I can't get any sound through the surround (either 5.1 or stereo) when watching Sky or Freeview, I only get audio from the tv.

Freeview is through the TV. To get Sky through the surround sound system you need to connect the Sky box to the surround system - using optical if you want DD5.1.

When I plug the Sennheiser headphones in to the tv, as I used to do on my old tv, it cuts out the sound completely as opposed to allowing me to simply turn the tv down.

Your new TV is behaving correctly - it is your old TV which was working wrongly. Connecting headphones should cut out the audio to the TV's speakers. If you want the headphones to work as well as the TV speakers, connect the headphones to the surround sound system, not the TV. Then you can have the audio from the TV coming through its own speakers, plus being sent to the surround sound system which can then feed the audio to the headphones rather than through its own speakers.

When using the BluRay player and/or the PS3, I don't get any sound coming from the tv, and I would like to be able to alter it independently.

Disable Anynet+ on the TV, the Blu Ray or both. At the moment, whenever the surround sound is switched on the TV is assuming you will be using the surround sound system for audio, so the speakers are being muted automatically. If you want them to work independently of each other, you must break the connection between the two which is currently forcing them to work in sync.

I can't seem to figure a way at all to connect the wii to the whole thing!

Scart from Wii to TV would be the simplest method. And audio from TV to home cinema if you want to hear the Wii through the speaker system and not just through the TV speakers.

Also what do the DVI and ARC mean on the HDMI sockets on the tv? Haven't got a clue

DVI is an alternative source of high definition to HDMI. If you had a piece of kit which output high definition via DVI, you could use a DVI to HDMI converter and feed the HD signal - via the converter - to the TV's HDMI socket. ARC is a means of sending the audio from the TV to the home cinema using the HDMI cable connecting the two together, rather than using an alternative method such as optical or RCA stereo to feed the audio from the TV to the home cinema. This will normally only work for the TV's own internal tuner though - not for sending the audio from anything connected to the TV via an auxiliary source (scart or HDMI). So, if you want to hear the audio from the TV through the surround sound system when watching Sky or playing with the Wii, you will still have to connect the TV to the surround sound system using an alternative method as well as HDMI.

Another problem is that today we are having the tv installed to the wall using an Omnimount system and obviously that makes the tv very close to the wall, which is going to cause problems with the chunky scart adapter that is in place.

Various options - don't mount the TV on the wall, don't mount it until you have replaced all your scart connections, use a slim scart connector in conjunction with a scart switch multiblock, get a Sky HD box instead of Sky+ and replace the Wii with an alternative games console which uses HDMI (i.e. a PS3), get some kind of AV amp/receiver which accepts scart inputs and converts these into a HDMI output, run your Sky box and Wii into the AV receiver and just use HDMI out to connect to TV.

 

[Donna3939]

Thanks for your indepth reply.

Right, I have connected the PS3 to the tv directly, however now I can't get sound from my surround setup. Any sound at all. Any advice??

Also, I don't think the surround has a headphone socket so I'm stuck there.

Donna. x

 

[Broadz]

Right, I have connected the PS3 to the tv directly, however now I can't get sound from my surround setup. Any sound at all. Any advice??

Same as with Wii - you need audio out from TV connected to audio in on surround sound system (then turn TV volume down and surround sound system volume up), or you need to connect the audio out from the PS3 (optical) directly to surround sound system. Then use TV for viewing PS3 display, but use surround sound system for listening to PS3 audio output.

Also, I don't think the surround has a headphone socket so I'm stuck there.

Why would you want headphones as well as TV speakers? The idea of headphones is so that one person can hear the TV without disturbing anybody else - once more than one person wants to hear the TV, you don't need headphones. You could always use headphones plus the surround sound system speakers - you listen via the headphones, everybody else listens via the surround speakers. It is only the TV's own speakers that are disabled by the headphones.

 

[Donna3939]

The reason I want to use the headphones is so that my hubby can sit up and watch the tv at night without disturbing everyone else in the house. He works nights so frequently stays up on a weekend (while we're asleep) watching his films with his headphones on and no one else can hear a thing. Bliss!! The reason I want to be able to have sound is so that headphones can be connected the whole time so that we wouldn't have to connect/disconnect them all the time, especially since the tv is so close to the wall and this would entail us having to take the tv down everytime we wanted to connect the headphones - with our old tv we used to just turn the headphones on and off when we were using/not using them and that did the trick.

***

Right, we've come to the conclusion that we're gonna have to invest in a AV receiver to get surround sound from our other AV components. This brings a new question....... in which way could I connect everything so that we can hear it through the receiver???

To explain my question properly: the 3D BluRay surround system has player-specific speaker cables with their unique connections in the player, not just exposed wire ends like I'm used to. I know I can connect the BluRay player to the receiver but how will I get surround from everything else??

Going into the receiver I will have:
Sky+ box via AV cable,
PS3 via HDMI
BluRay via HDMI
TV via HDMI
DVD recorder via HDMI.

Would I have the HDMI out on the receiver on the HDMI in on the surround system?? And if that is the case does that I mean I will have to have the BluRay player on all the time, regardless of what piece of equipment we are using in order to get a signal to be able to watch sky etc?? If I was to connect everything to the AV receiver and then connect that to the HDMI in on the TV, I would have to set the receiver to the BluRay player and then I wouldn't get surround from other sources would I???

Would I be better off scrapping the speaker cables and rendering the BluRay player useless in terms of surround sound, using merely as a 3D BluRay player and connecting the surround speakers to the AV receiver instead via standard speaker wires (this would have to be a last-ditch effort as the surround system was too expensive to be used merely as a separate entity, it was purchased to be a complete system)

OR, is it possible that by using optical cables I could get surround from my other separates WITHOUT the need for an AV receiver? And if that is the case, which separates would need to be connected to which??

Sorry for all the questions but its really got my head done in