Onkyo 3500 ; Set up for beginners

[virtueso]

Hi guys, i just bought the onkyo 3500 for 26k from the delhi cr park showroom. I bought it as it was highly recommended as an entry level HTiB and i did stretch my budget to get it, but because of the reviews here and elsewhere,and the demo i got there, i think the choice was decent.
Few small things i needed to know,one is that since my lcd does not have ARC capability, i bought and optical cable to send the tv's output to the ht, but i have a ps3 and an xbox, which i thought i'd route directly to the ht for audio.
For this,if i understood correctly, i should put an hdmi from my ps to the ht,and another hdmi cable from hdmi out of the avr to the tv's input for display?
If i do this and also have the optical cable connected (for usb play) will it send two signals to the ht? also,i could just connect one hdmi each from the x360 and ps3 to the tv,and one optical out from tv to the ht. in the other case i would need 4 hdmi cables.
Please suggest how i should go about it. I have 2hdmi cables and one optic cable currently.
Also i know nothing about pcm, linear, channels and all other technical terms which i read on this forum,which can help me get the best sound out of all my connected appliances. i will get started and learn more when i get a bit comfortable with the system. for now, need advice on setting up the sound from tv,ps,xbox etc as mentioned above.
Thanks in advance

 

[baijuxavior]

Connect PS3 and XBOX directly to AVR using HDMI.
Connect HDMI out of AVR to TV
Connect optical out of TV to AVR
Assign the optical input to one of the HDMI or analog input of the AVR. When you want to hear optical audio, switch to this input.

When AVR receives audio through both hdmi and optical, hdmi is given preference. You can change this behaviour if you wish. Check the avr manual.

Your avr will show pcm, if the decoding is done by the player itself. It will show DD or DTS if the player sends the signal to AVR for decoding. This is usually known as bitstreaming. It all depends on the source video and the player's capability to decode the audio.

 

[virtueso]

Connect PS3 and XBOX directly to AVR using HDMI.

Assign the optical input to one of the HDMI or analog input of the AVR. When you want to hear optical audio, switch to this input.

Your avr will show pcm, if the decoding is done by the player itself. It will show DD or DTS if the player sends the signal to AVR for decoding. This is usually known as bitstreaming. It all depends on the source video and the player's capability to decode the audio.

how do i assign input to hdmi? and the display on the avr only shows the volume (as of now), how do i check to see if it shows pcm etc? in my tv's menu i saw that it said pcm,and the dts and was not highlighted, could not change it from pcm to dd/dts

 

[baijuxavior]

You need to check the manual for assigning digital audio as the setting may vary between models. In denon avr it is under Input settings.

There should be an option to display other features in the front panel display. Usually DTS and DD symbol will light on receiving these type of signals.

 

[virtueso]

yes, when i played 720 p content it automatically switched to dd. on my iptv of course the sound output is pcm.
new question ; if i connect my iptv via component to the avr , will the single hdmi out,which is currently going into my tv handle both ps3 and iptv? i know via hdmi also the image quality will be poor for iptv, as it only supports sd, my question is if i have it connected this way, and have both my ps3 and iptv on, what will happen? the avr's remote has tv/bd/component etc all buttons, will it switch between those by these? i dont want to try it before knowing what to expect..

edit; nevermind, got it. component in has to be component out not hdmi out noob question

 

[baijuxavior]

This avr has no analog upconversion feature and so the avr will not output component or composite input video through hdmi out. You will need to connect component or composite cable from avr to TV.

 

[virtueso]

Urgent help ; Im playing some bhajans via usb on the 3500, and the surround left and right speakers are not working. I am unable to select 'all channel sterio' option from among the presets which i was able to do @ audio from my stb..even mono output tp each speaker will do, as i need speakers for 2 rooms, all 5 need to work.
The only presets i able to switch between are mono, direct and theater. Its going down in 7 hours, need help fast !

 

[prosenjit]

very easy..toggle(press repeatedly) the movie/music/game buttons....one at a time..for all ch stereo..
pl2 etc will also work..

 

[virtueso]

i had accidentally put both A and B output on, while nothing was connected in B, so only 3 speakers were working. Disabled B, then i was able to change the preset to All channel stereo

Does anyone feel that the front 2 and the center speakers overpower and dominate significantly more than the surround speakers? on all channel stereo preset at least? Seemed like these 3 are doing all the work..
(DTS audio)

 

[prosenjit]

its perfectly okay..there is no sound/very little sound of total sound percentage in a 6 ch authentic recording...
it is not that surrounds boom boom all the time

 

[virtueso]

its perfectly okay..there is no sound/very little sound of total sound percentage in a 6 ch authentic recording...
it is not that surrounds boom boom all the time

lol 'boom boom' it seems .. i may me be an avr noob but i understand bass at least! anyway, thought it might have something to do with the settings from my tv etc

New question, how can i get a wired mic to work on my avr? i used it recently but had to use mic on laptop,and laptop out to avr via hdmi to get the sound on the speakers but there was a lot of echo and i think about .5 second lag as well. was quite unusable

 

[virtueso]

You need to check the manual for assigning digital audio as the setting may vary between models. In denon avr it is under Input settings.

There should be an option to display other features in the front panel display. Usually DTS and DD symbol will light on receiving these type of signals.

if i play same content on my tv (optical out to onkyo) ,it plays dd. content is 720p. But if i play the same content form my laptop, which is connected directly to avr by hdmi, it doesnt play it in dd. laptop is HP pavillopn G series ,intel i5 win 7. Why is this and can i fix it?

 

[prosenjit]

you have to set bitstream from laptop...check audio setting in the player/laptop settings

 

[baijuxavior]

Connect the laptop to avr using hdmi. Then right click the volume icon in the taskbar and select Playback devices> Select hdmi audio and configure it to 5.1. Then in your player set DD and DTS to passthrough. Otherwise the player will decode the signal and so the avr will see lpcm. XBMC is very easy to configure passthrough settings. Which is your media player?

 

[virtueso]

ok im using vlc. Right now, in playback devices, it is showing 3 devices, 1.speakers and headphones
2. communication headphones
(these two are always there,)
and 3.HT-R391 intel display audio)
when i configure this, in the test menu it doesnt even play a single sound when i select 5.1 :/

my tv is connected to avr bu audio out, my laptop to avr through hdmi in and my avr to tv(for display) through avr out to tv again. (my tv does not support audio return channel)

 

[virtueso]

Connect the laptop to avr using hdmi. Then right click the volume icon in the taskbar and select Playback devices> Select hdmi audio and configure it to 5.1. Then in your player set DD and DTS to passthrough. Otherwise the player will decode the signal and so the avr will see lpcm. XBMC is very easy to configure passthrough settings. Which is your media player?

the sound is really terrible right now please help


edit ; got the sound to switch to dd while playing HD media on vlc. even now though, in my 'playback devices' when i test 5.1, only one or two speakers are working

 

[virtueso]

Connect the laptop to avr using hdmi. Then right click the volume icon in the taskbar and select Playback devices> Select hdmi audio and configure it to 5.1. Then in your player set DD and DTS to passthrough. Otherwise the player will decode the signal and so the avr will see lpcm. XBMC is very easy to configure passthrough settings. Which is your media player?

I gots it
In vlc , its under audio-audio devices -52/pass /spdif or something. clicked on it, and my avr's display showed DD there is so much difference in the sound its amazing. thanks for the help

edit; the preview sound and the test sound in the playback devices is still not working on the 5 speakers

 

[prosenjit]

what is prevw sound and test sound in players...

 

[virtueso]

what is prevw sound and test sound in players...

Under the sound icon-playback devices, it shows the three sound outputs yes? Currently it shows two devices,1. Speakers and headphones
2. communication headphones.
When i connect it to the avr, it shows the third device, to configure this device i click on the configure button, under which the varios Audio Channels are displayed (2.1, 5.1,sterio ) .

To see which one works,i click on 5.1 and press the 'test' button, which should produce sound in all my speakers.
It does not !

 

[prosenjit]

toggle pl2 from movie button in remote and then see...if still no sound leave it..
enjoy your system..