How to connect a home theater to a TV

The advent of home theaters greatly expanded the old possibilities of television. Now movies can be watched in remarkable quality and with excellent soundtrack. The modern home cinema market allows you to purchase a system for every taste, and the capabilities of these systems are associated only with the thickness of the consumer’s wallet and with his preferences.

In its original form, a home theater is a receiver and a set of speakers. It can play video and sound from both discs and flash drives, and even from video tapes. The connectors for connecting the receiver to the TV are different, so let's figure out how to connect the home theater to the TV in one case or another.

For starters, speakers, speakers are connected to the receiver. There may be several speakers, depending on the model of the home theater, but there are at least six of them: two front, two rear, one central, and one subwoofer. The speaker connectors may be different, but the speaker connection scheme is always the same, this is the standard.

The center speaker and the front speakers are located in front, the center speaker is above or below the TV screen, and the front speakers are to the left and right of it. The rear is obviously behind the viewer left and right.

To connect the speakers are standard speaker cables that come with the kit. There may be no lugs on the wires, but the wires are always connected in polarity. Threaded or push-in connectors on the speakers and on the receiver are marked with colors: red - plus, black - minus.

The push connector is equipped with a button, by pressing which the connector opens, and then you can stick the wire, then the button is released, and the wire is clamped, locking in the connector. The threaded connector, however, involves loosening the retainer nozzle, wiring the wires over the electrode, and twisting the nozzle all the way, so that the wire is fixed.

The front speaker jacks are labeled “Front”, the rear speaker jacks are labeled “Rear” or “SURROUND”, the center jacks are labeled “Center”, and the subwoofer is labeled “SUBWOOFER”. The subwoofer is responsible for low frequencies and bass, it can be placed behind, in front, or even on top of the ceiling. After connecting the speakers to the receiver, proceed to connect the TV directly.

There are several ways: HDMI, RGB (COMPONENT VIDEO), COMPOSITE, S-VIDEO or SCART.

HDMI

The best quality video will come from this connector, and if your TV has an HDMI connector, use it, because HDMI will best transmit the digital signal from the receiver. HDMI IN - on the TV, HDMI OUT - on the receiver. Connect these connectors with a cable, then plug the equipment into the network and enjoy watching. HDMI is capable of transmitting both video and audio data.

COMPONENT VIDEO

If the HDMI connector is missing or already taken, use the component video output of the receiver. You will need a triple RGB cable with “tulips”, such a cable, as a rule, comes with the receiver in the kit. If there was no such cable in the kit, then you can buy it, it is not something in short supply, it is quite common.

The cable has three plugs on both sides: red, green, blue. The receiver has labeled COMPONENT VIDEO OUT jacks, and COMPONENT IN on the TV. Connect the connectors in accordance with the marking, and you can enjoy viewing.

Do not forget to separately connect the audio cable with the AUDIO IN cable of the TV and the AUDIO OUT of the receiver, if necessary, for example, if you accidentally do not have speakers in your home theater, but there are speakers on the TV.

COMPOSITE

A composite connector should be used if other options are not feasible. In this case, the COMPOSITE VIDEO (or MONITOR OUT) jack of the receiver is connected to the COMPOSITE IN jack on the TV. This solution will not give a super-picture, but sometimes it turns out to be the only possible option.

S-VIDEO or SCART

These two methods are the most rare today, but you can use them if these connectors are. Old technology has always had such connectors, but now they are found less and less. The SCART connector is often found on CRT TVs SONY, S-VIDEO - on DVD - players. Connect the VIDEO IN jack on the TV and S-VIDEO OUT on the receiver. There are also special cables - adapters SCART - COMPONENT and S-VIDEO - SCART, combined with audio cables.

One way or another, before buying a home theater, figure out how many speakers you will have, what kind of sound you want, how many TVs there will be, and how many different video connectors the receiver should have.

You can also play sound from television channels through the receiver’s speakers by connecting the left and right AUDIO OUT TV outputs to the AUDIO IN inputs of your home theater receiver, for this you need a cable with a pair of plugs at each end, or tulips at one end, and jack 3 at the other end, 5.

Obviously, there are more than one ways to connect a home theater to a TV, and which option is right for you - look at the place, each manufacturer of household appliances implements its own connector configuration. In any case, at least one of the methods listed in this article will suit you.