HDTV Setup Guide - Blu-ray Player, Non-HDMI Receiver & HDTV
If you're a Blu-ray convert (and if you have an HDTV, you should be...), and you have an HDTV but are using your old surround sound receiver, you're not really going to be able to use the S/PDIF digital connectors (TOSLnk optical or RCA coaxial electrical) to get surround sound. Blu-ray uses Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, neither of which are supported by older receivers. What you can do is use your Blu-ray player's six or eight analogue output sockets and connect them to the surround receiver's 5.1 or 7.1 analogue inputs. It's not as elegant as using HDMI, but if you have a good quality older receiver, the sound will be better than a cheap new HDMI receiver. You needn't worry about also connecting a separate DVD player, Blu-ray players play DVDs very well indeed and usually upscale them to match your HDTVs native resolution.
In order to get full high-definition video, you will have to plug your Blu-ray player's HDMI output directly into the HDTV's HDMI input. If your TV is older, you may have to resort either to an HDMI to DVI converter (assuming your television is HDCP compatible) or Component video cables.
If your Blu-ray player doesn't have six discrete audio outputs, you are out of luck as far as hearing the new surround formats in all their glory, but your Blu-ray player should be able to convert the sound to an S/PDIF digital signal your receiver can understand. You will get digital surround, and it's quite convenient to just plug in one cable, but won't be quite as good as full high-definition sound. Rather let your Blu-ray player decode the high-definition surround sound.
For great sound from your television, use either its digital audio output, or if it doesn't have one, use the RCA analogue outputs to transmit sound to your receiver.
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.