Expert: Wayne Tapia - 10/4/2008

Question
I ordered the latest Panasonic 58" TV (850U)& Bluray player (DMP-55k)that have the usual HDMI inputs and updated specs, and planned to run HDMI cables from the cable box & Bluray to 2 of the TV inputs. My 4 yr old 7.1 Sony Surround Receiver (STR-DA1000ES)has "outdated" S-Video & Optical audio connections. First, any suggestions to the best or proper hookup of the receiver and 2nd, would it make sense to upgrade the receiver to the newer HDMI compatible units which also upgrade the sound & video specs. Am I losing much with this older receiver? Thanks  in advance Wayne for any help you can provide.

Answer
You shouldn't be losing anything "audio-wise" by keeping the receiver. I'd run whatever digital audio lines from your cable-box & Blu-Ray to the receiver and leave it at that. The digital audio that is sent through the optical cable and HDMI cable are identical, so you'll have no loss in performance as far as that goes. S-video is not an HD capable video signal, so that is the only "weakness" in the system, but if you are running the HDMI cable directly from the other units, you won't need to use the video portion of the receiver.

If you want to do your video switching through the receiver, that's when I'd consider an upgrade to one that has HDMI ins and outs. With that, you'll only need to run HDMI cables - no other interconnects will be necessary.

Also - DO NOT buy your HDMI cables retail. 99.9% of the cabling on the retail market is sourced from the same 5 chinese factories and just re-branded (Yes - even the "Premium" Monster brand).  Look online for companies such as Blue Jeans Cable or Tartan Cable. The same $50+ cable found at BestBuy or Circuit City can be had for around $5 (same stuff, just re-branded).