Surround Sound and Wiring

[Gustave]

I did a quick search of surround sound and could not find what I was looking for so here goes.

I'm going to purchase a new surround sound system with blu-ray player but I wanted to make sure I have the wiring correct. I think I read somewhere that it is only emulated the way I have it setup now. Maybe someone can recommend something to me. Right now I have everything going into my TV through HDMI and a digital audio out going to my surround sound. Is this the correct way to wire it?

Also how well do the sound bars work? Can they replace the 5 speaker setup?

[Isiolia]

I'm going to purchase a new surround sound system with blu-ray player but I wanted to make sure I have the wiring correct. I think I read somewhere that it is only emulated the way I have it setup now. Maybe someone can recommend something to me. Right now I have everything going into my TV through HDMI and a digital audio out going to my surround sound. Is this the correct way to wire it?

My experience wiring things up this way is that you end up with 2 channel audio - sufficient for Dolby Pro Logic, but not true 5.1 (or higher) digital surround sound. Which is to say, you get VHS-era surround capability.

What you'd want to do will depend on what type of hardware you possess or intend to buy.

The optimal thing to do is to have an HDMI capable receiver (or preamp), connect your Blu-Ray player to that via HDMI, and connect the HDMI video out to your TV. If you are wanting to get the HD audio codecs, this is the only way to do it (unless you have a Blu-Ray player with per-channel outputs and internal decoding, I suppose, but I don't know one offhand).

A middle ground would be to use not-HDMI digital audio output (optical or coaxial) to a 5.1 capable receiver/etc. If you have an older receiver, this is likely what you'd have to do. By doing this, you could get the older style Dolby Digital and DTS, like what you'd get from a DVD...but you couldn't get the newer HD audio codecs.

Also how well do the sound bars work? Can they replace the 5 speaker setup?

They are not going to replace the experience of a good system, no. They basically exist to augment weak built-in speakers with something more substantial, without taking up much space.

[Gustave]

Yea I was afraid that was the case. I guess I need to have all the video feed going to my tv and audio to my receiver.

Do you know if many receivers are setup where you can just run the video and audio (HDMI) through the receiver before going to the television? This would keep everything neat. I guess I'm going to look for home theater system with 3-4 hdmi inputs (probably hard to find if any?) I don't know if this is a common feature or not. Then I will buy the blu-ray player separate.

Meh Thanks for the feedback. I will shop around before making a decision.

[Isiolia]

Do you know if many receivers are setup where you can just run the video and audio (HDMI) through the receiver before going to the television? This would keep everything neat. I guess I'm going to look for home theater system with 3-4 hdmi inputs (probably hard to find if any?) I don't know if this is a common feature or not. Then I will buy the blu-ray player separate.

As it's the standard thing for Blu-ray (and available from a number of other devices), HDMI is becoming rather common on anything past a very low end receiver. Most will have several inputs, and an HDMI-out to pass the video signal on to the TV.
For lower end, the video signal will go straight to the TV, and anything not-HDMI will also need an output of that type going from the receiver - IE, if you have some older consoles hooked up with S-video, you'd need to have an S-video out from the receiver to the TV as well, and swap the TV source when you use something over that. Receivers with the ability to process HDMI video, not just pass it through, may be able to upscan other and output them over HDMI as well. Check the feature list to be sure.

[Kerberoz]

Any system that comes in one box from one manufacturer = shit.
Anything from Bose = shit.
Anything the Best Buy salesman recommends = shit with a high profit margin.
Anything with a subwoofer/receiver combo = shit.
Any slim speakers or soundbars = shit.

Carry on.