The Easiest Way to Hook Up a High Definition Home Theater.
HDMI connections and cables make it possible to connect your whole home theater in minutes.
Before you start hookup:
1. Be sure all of your home theater components have an HDMI connection. It looks like this:
2. Measure the distances between your components (i.e. DVD player, cable box) and the AV receiver.
3 . Measure the distance between your AV receiver and your TV.
4. Buy HDMI cables in those lengths. (NOTE: cables typically come in 3 foot, 6 foot and 10 foot lengths. Be sure to get one that is a little longer than your meaurement. NOTE TOO: buying quality cables will ensure that you don't have problems now or later with picture or sound cutting out and will yield the best possible picture and sound for your home theater.)
1-2-3 for HDMI home theater hookup.
1. Be sure your home theater is unplugged from electricity for safety.
2. Put one end of an HDMI cable into your component (i.e., DVD player or cable box).
3.Put the other end into your AV receiver. (if the AV receiver has labels --like "DVD," "TV," etc.--next to the HDMI connections, use the label for that device to make it easier later)
4. Put one end of another HDMI cable into the connection on your AV receiver that is marked "OUT to TV" or "HDMI out" (or something with "out" or "to TV/Monitor").
5. Plug your home theater in to the electrical outlets (you want to use a surge protector!)
Turn it on and go! (Want to see these instructions with photos? Go to my article at Digital Trends.)
TIPS & NOTES:
IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE HD component (a DVD plus an HD cable box or TiVo or HD satellite receiver, etc.) Repeat step 2 and step 3 for each component. Be sure you bought an HDMI cable for each component you are hooking up, and be sure that the AV receiver has enough HDMI input connections for all the components you want to connect.
IF YOUR AV Receiver DOES NOT have enough HDMI inputs, you can hook up your extra components directly to the TV. However, you will not automatically get surround sound. To get surround sound from the TV, you will have to take one more step. You will have to use an "optical digital audio" (aka "Toslink" cable) to the "digital audio out" from your TV and then to an optical digital audio input on your AV receiver. NOTE: This will change in the future with HDMI version 1.4.
By definition, a home theater includes an AV receiver with surround sound. If you have only High Definition components and a TV, simply connect the HDMI cables from each component directly to the TV.
For how to hook up your surround sound, see the Easiest Way to Connect for Best Surround Sound.
HDMI is an all-in-one cable/connection that sends BOTH video AND audio over one cable. It is also the cable/connection to use for the best quality high definition sound and picture.