HDTV Setup Guide - Blu-ray Player, HDMI Receiver & HDTV
Now we're talking. This is the easiest way to get the most from your BDs and DVDs. All you have to do is plug the Blu-ray player's HDMI output into your receiver's HDMI input, plug the receiver's HDMI output into the HDTV's HDMI input, and you're done! HDMI makes everything simple, and keeps the quality digitally perfect.
One slight complication that can occur is that your receiver may not be able to decode Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio. The problem is that the new lossless HD audio formats are compressed using new codecs (digital languages) and if your receiver is slightly behind the times, if will not be able to understand the undecoded bitstream. This can be overcome in one easy step.
Consult the manual and enter the setup menu of your Blu-ray player. Most Blu-ray players can convert the HD surround sound formats into LPCM (Linear Pulse Code Modulation), an uncompressed stream of information that any HDMI surround receiver should be able to process. Don't worry about this affecting quality;
As a bonus, you don't need to plug in your CD or DVD player, as your Blu-ray player will happily play both CDs and DVDs at their full digital quality. You can feel free to sell your older devices and spend the cash on more lovely high definition BD titles!
If you arrived at this page but have different equipment, go the the main page of the HDTV Setup Guide to find the setup that suits you.
Which Cables?
Confused about the names of cables? Here's a quick visual guide to help you figure out which connectors we're talking about. If you're not familiar with the technical terms, either click the words the difficult words for a definition or visit our HDTV Glossary.