Connecting a STB with a Home Theatre bluray/combo System and ARC

[gsjames21]

This is not an easy thing to find. Imagine it's 2010. That's when I purchased the Panasonic 50" with the bluray home theatre system. There's a lot about connecting tvs and blurays online. There's a lot about blu rays and connecting to a/v receivers. But I can't find anything that tells me if I've got a TV aith ARC on it, how to set up the cable box (STB), the ROKU and the bluray av receiver.

So, currently, the ARC HTMI out of the tv goes to the bluray home theatre. HTMI in
The HTMI out on the STB is going into HTMI 2 on the TV. There is only one HTMI in on the A/V.
The ROKU is going into the HTMI 3 on the TV.
I can sort of use the VIERA on the TV, but I still have to manually change inputs from "Cable" to "ROKU" and back after watching ROKU. Not a big whoop, Have never gotten it to work.

I thought I needed an optical out from the cable to the A/V so I would get better sound, but I can disconnect that and nothing changes.

When clicking thru the choices for sound, 5.5, 7.1, 2.1, "music" "movie" the only differences is whether sound comes from all the surround speakers are just three... the quality of the center is always lower... And I can only "fix" by going into the bluray setup. ... Does that affect the sound when watching Cable? We do get surround... but it just doesn't seem "right"

I know this wasn't an expensive system ... so is that it? Does it look like I've got this set up correctly? BTW, the Coaxial cable comes into the STB and the HTMI goes out to the TV.

 

[americanaudiophile]

1. If your TV has an HDMI input labeled ARC then you have ARC. The HTS also needs to support ARC. You need to set up ARC in the HTS and the TV. Check the owners manuals. You usually have to turn ARC on in the TV menu. You may also have to turn the TV speakers off and change the audio output type to Bitstream in the TV menu to get surround sound. This HDMI connection will get picture from the BD player to the TV and sound from the TV to the HTS on the one HDMI cable. If you don't have ARC in both the TV and HTS then you need to use the TV optical audio output to get sound from the TV to the HTS. ARC and optical are equal in quality. That also needs to be configured in the TV menu. You still need the HDMI cable to get picture from the BD player to the TV.
2. All your other sources connect directly to the TV.
3. You will need to change your inputs on the TV manually.
4. When you go through the setup for the HTS you set the distance that each speaker is from your main seating position. You also set the levels of each speaker when noise plays through that speaker so they all are the same volume. That calibrates the system so that you hear sounds at the correct volume and time from each speaker. Some people do raise the center up a bit higher than the other speakers if there isn't dialogue enhancement in the HTS. You will not hear constant sound from the rears. Sometimes you won't hear anything. Sometimes you only get the center channel. Depends on the source and the content. You can chose a surround mode based on the content. The subwoofer level is set by ear to taste,