I use separates and have never owned a HT Receiver, although I have hooked up an older ht receiver for a friend's ht system. But, unless I'm missing something, the answer seems obvious to me. Gtjdorris wants to watch tv while listening to music. Wouldn't this be accomplished simply by using the tv as the video switching device and the receiver as the audio switching device?
To accomplish this, assuming he is going to bypass the tv's speakers by setting them to the 'off' setting on the tv, he should do the following:
1. Run an HDMI cable from his satellite box to his tv for the video signal. He should also connect any other video sources, like a dvd player etc., to the tv. Do not connect any video signals to the ht receiver.
2. Run rca cables from his satellite box (audio out left and right) to whatever audio input on his ht receiver he chooses to use for tv sound. He should also connect all other audio signals, like tt, cd player, computer, dac etc., to the ht receiver.
Once setup this way, Rtjdorris should have complete control over what he's viewing via the tv controls and what he's listening to via the ht receiver controls. Any decent ht receiver, including the Yamahas, should work for this. I think users become a bit confused because many of the newer ht receivers have HMDI connections for audio/video inputs as well as the regular rca audio inputs.
Using the ht receiver as a video switching device, while it may increase ease of use in general, will also cause degradation of the video signal. I think my description of a solution above is just a simplified version of what Chadnliz and others have already posted. The only negative of this setup is training others on how to synch the audio with the video. Hope this helps.
To accomplish this, assuming he is going to bypass the tv's speakers by setting them to the 'off' setting on the tv, he should do the following:
1. Run an HDMI cable from his satellite box to his tv for the video signal. He should also connect any other video sources, like a dvd player etc., to the tv. Do not connect any video signals to the ht receiver.
2. Run rca cables from his satellite box (audio out left and right) to whatever audio input on his ht receiver he chooses to use for tv sound. He should also connect all other audio signals, like tt, cd player, computer, dac etc., to the ht receiver.
Once setup this way, Rtjdorris should have complete control over what he's viewing via the tv controls and what he's listening to via the ht receiver controls. Any decent ht receiver, including the Yamahas, should work for this. I think users become a bit confused because many of the newer ht receivers have HMDI connections for audio/video inputs as well as the regular rca audio inputs.
Using the ht receiver as a video switching device, while it may increase ease of use in general, will also cause degradation of the video signal. I think my description of a solution above is just a simplified version of what Chadnliz and others have already posted. The only negative of this setup is training others on how to synch the audio with the video. Hope this helps.