Beginner's Guide to Home Theater Receivers

High definition television, DVD dolby surround sound are words which we hear the last years very often. A home theatre system is necessary when you want to enjoy the real cinema sound when you are watching a movie. You can call the home theater receiver the heart of your home theater system because this receiver centralizes the sound and the video signals and send them to the right places.

A home theatre receiver has three functions:

1) A tuner for listening radio (AM and FM but many of them have also the possibility for high definition radio, Internet radio or Satellite radio).

2) A control panel which selects the audio or video source you want to use. Do you want to listen a cd or do you want to watch a movie with your dvd player or just watching television? You have to select which source you want to use and the control panel of your home theater receiver will process the sound and video signals to the right channels. The sound is distributed to the different audio signals and subwoofer; the video components (DVD video; DVD recorder) are send to your television. A subwoofer reproduces the best quality of bass in your home theater system

3) The multi-channel amplifier sends the surround sound signals to the different speakers with the right power. A homer theater system consist 5.1., 6.1 or 7.1 channels and makes it possible that you hear the voice on the right place. Sounds can take place on three places in the front place and two places in the back of the room. It is just if you are sitting in a cinema.

Connecting your home receiver with the different audio and video components is not an easy job. There are different kinds of connections and using the one which gives the highest quality for your component is necessary to have the maximum profit of your home theater system. For video signals you have choice between HDMI, component video, S-video, composite video and RF. Audio signals gives you the choice between HDMI, digital (coaxial or optical) and analog RCA.

HDMI is used for as well audio as video signals and gives always the best quality at this moment. The only problem is that most applications don't have such connection. Only the most recent televisions and DVD or blue ray disk players have this connection because it is necessary to watch in high definition quality. Probably in the near future this kind of connection will be used in every new application which comes now on the market. High definition television seems to become the new standard of watching television.

Another important rule for your connection is to make it as easy as possible. Avoid many cables if it is possible with only a few of them. If you have to many cables connected on your home theater system you will make a mess of your total system and if one application doesn't work it is hard to find out which connection doesn't work anymore. Try also to make your cables as short as possible. Shorter cables are cheaper and the chance of signal degradation is very small.

The most important connection is the one from your home theater receiver to your television. The easiest way should be if all your video application has an HDMI connection; in this case you only need to connect your home theater receiver with your television and you can use your home theater receiver for switching between the different sources and the television will always stay on the same input. Probably this is not possible at the moment because HDMI connections are only available at the most recent applications and it depends of your home theater receiver how you can make on the easiest way the connection. Hopefully you have a receiver with cross converting possibilities otherwise you have to use more than one cable from your home theater receiver to your television.

Connecting your home theater receiver for the best sound and image depends of the applications you have and which connections are possible for these applications. Check all the possibilities and with a minimum of cables and your home theater receiver will give you the best quality which you can imagine!