No HDMI on receiver so do I need to change the way my system is currently connected?

[Rodmac51___]

First time I've posted here and I'm looking for a little help please. My current audio/video set-up seems to work OK but after reading answers on here I'm not sure if I'm getting the best from it. The biggest problem is my 10 year old Yamaha receiver doesn't have any HDMI connections so I don't use it for video switching. This is how things are at the moment though:

Receiver component video (2 in, 1 out), digital audio in (2 optical, 1 co-ax) and an assortment of analogue ins and outs (no HDMI).
Humax PVR has 1 x HDMI and 1 x optical audio (no component video).
Samsung BD player has 1 x HDMI and 1 x co-ax audio (no component video).
TV has 1 HDMI, component video and optical audio out.

The video is currently routed through a 3 way HDMI switcher so the PVR and BD player are both connected to the switch inputs and the output goes to the TV. Audio is connected by optical from TV to receiver and by co-ax from BD player to receiver.

With this set-up the HDMI switcher will change video sources OK but I have to change audio sources manually plus I'm not sure I'm getting the best out of the sound system. Also, I'm about to get a new Sony TV which has 2 HDMI connections (plus component & optical).

What I'd like to achieve of course is to get the best possible sound and video combination plus the most convenient auto switching for both video and audio. I guess this is the holy grail of home theatre and I've not got any major problems with how things are now but if anyone thinks I could improve on it I'd be pleased to know how. I'm not bothered either way if cables need to be run to the TV or if the HDMI switcher is used, whatever's best.

A couple of things I'm unsure about are:
1) Should I be making use of the component connections instead of HDMI and if so will I notice any difference in the picture quality (TV supports full HD 1080p)?
2) Do I actually need the BD player audio connected to the receiver or will be OK if I just have the digital connection from TV to receiver? Same goes for the PVR - will this improve audio if connected direct to receiver?

I'd be grateful for any assistance please.

 

[kanewolf]

Unless you desire to play audio CDs from the BluRay player when the TV is not on, you should be able to just switch the HDMI inputs to the TV, take the optical output from the TV back to your receiver and be done. If you play audio CDs you could use the COAX output from the BluRay player.

 

[americanaudiophile]

The only area that you are compromising sound quality is for the BD player. Only the HDMI output will access the lossless audio that is available on BD discs. Some BD players have discrete analog audio outputs that can be connected to receivers that have a 5.1 discrete input. The surround processing is done in the BD player so you would get better sound with this type of connection if it were available.
If you want to simplify switching you could get an HDMI switcher that will extract the digital audio and give you a digital out for the receiver. You would leave the receiver on one input.

 

[Rodmac51___]

Thanks for your replies. Kanewolf, that's pretty much how I've got it now. However the amp doesn't switch to the sound format (DTS, DD, or whatever) on the Bluray disc and just uses the surround mode last used. It's set on 'auto' for digital sound selection so should pick up what the disc is recorded in but I'm wondering if it's not doing this because there's no direct input from the BD player (i.e. the amp only gets the sound signal via the optical cable from the TV). I'm not unhappy with the sound quality but I don't want to start getting more cables if there's no real benefit.

 

[americanaudiophile]

Check the TV audio menu and see if it can be set to output surround sound. Many TVs will not.