Home audio & video forum: Surround System - Audio Return Channel - System Wiring

Bob and Pepe7, Thank You, Thank You, and again Thank You for breaking it down for me and sorry for the late reply but for some reason the forum gave me an error everytime I tried to respond. I suspected the optical cord was something that might be more reliable based on my reading but this is not my field of expertise. Thanks for answering all the questions directly and so that I could understand them without a bunch of acronyms/tech talk. I've asked questions on other boards and it seems people want to show how much they know rather than answer the questions directly. The dry run this weekend worked perfect and now I can finish this project and get back to enjoying the summer. There's fishing to be done here in the Pacific NW:) Take care guys. Much appreciated for your time:)
Erik

Thanks a ton for your detailed response Pepe7. It is very much appreciated. As you can see I'm not experienced in the A/V home theater world so I'm kind of winging it after reading as much of the manuals I have from Samsung and Yamaha. It didn't help that the Best Buy guy helping me said I could wire the RG6 to the Yamaha receiver in the FM antenna port (I thought he was an expert...). Anyway, I think I was using lingo that may have confused the topic so sorry but basically I want to be sure to get my TV, DVD, Receiver, Wii, set up correctly with the most functionality with wires in the wall while leaving a channel in my woodwork for future wiring needs/technology upgrades in the future so I don't have to tear it apart. After careful examination of my current setup, I noticed my description was wrong above.
1. Currently we have the RG6 (in from the OTA antenna) screwed into the back of the TV. Also, we have the Ethernet cable into the back of the TV for smoother/uninterrupted Netflix viewing (yes it is a smart TV so the apps are controlled from the TV) and finally we have the HDMI cord to the TV down to the receiver.
2. The receiver (down below in the cabinet to the side of the fireplace) has the DVD connected via HDMI which seems to work with the receiver. At this point there is NO optical cord.
3. I'm trying to determine what cords need to be in the wall behind the TV to provide the best picture and audio. At this point, I think I need to route the ethernet cord and RG6 in the wall to the TV. Can you confirm that the HDMI, Ethernet, and RG6 go directly to the Smart TV and none of them (except the other end of the HDMI) should go to the receiver?
4. I think the bulk of my questions above revolve around the ARC and how I can get the best sound for basic TV viewing (and Netflix too). I also was trying to plan/wire for the future if Netflix streamed with surround sound. Based on some internet reading, I understood the TV and Netflix would be in 2.0. I think this is where I led you astray. I though 2.0 just meant 2 speakers. Perhaps it doesn't. If Netflix and regular OTA TV is not in 5.1 surround sound, I meant that I'd like to hear sound on 5 speakers (front 2 speakers on the bookshelves, center (which might not work unless in true surround sound) and rear 2 speakers. I guess this is what you call faux surround meaning if I'm watching the Olympics, I'd like to just hear sound out of at least the front two and rear two speakers. I know it won't be surround like a DVD movie.
5. So, my question is about this optical cable or does the ARC take care of this fully. My internet reading seems to indicate that the ARC takes care of it but if I'm already into the wall routing wires, should I add an optical cord to the TV and down to the receiver if it has better sound or if it will take care of some need down the road after I finish the project? Are there other wires that I should add now for anything else for a sweet system? I think I'm getting closer but just need a small amount of advice to have confidence to move forward. Of course I'm hooking all of this up as a test run before hiding wires in walls.

Thanks a ton all. Have a great weekend.

Erik

There will be some trial and error involved regarding whether or not ARC actually works with your particular system/components, and whether or not it's what you expected (stereo or surround audio).

#3- HDMI, Ethernet and RG6 would indeed go directly to the HDTV. Now if you had any reason to use Airplay though (Apple, iOS feature), you would want to also run ethernet directly to the receiver too. This would be an add-on for you since you don't mention it, but it is a feature of that particular receiver.

Like Bob suggested, also run a digital optical out from the HDTV back to the receiver just in case ARC doesn't work as planned. Think of this as 'Plan B'.

#4- Actually, FWIW some of Netflix content does include 5.1DD, as does OTA TV sometimes, but not usually. There is unfortunately no guaranteed way to future-proof your system per se since things can change and not always in our favor as consumers. The Yamaha can change a stereo signal into matrixed (fake) surround though.

#5- ARC is trial and error. Period. Digital optical is the fallback to provide either 2.0 or 5.1 if for some reason the HDMI connection/signal craps out from HDTV to receiver. I would consider adding the second ethernet cable from your PC to the Receiver for the Airplay functionality, and possibly, two additional HDMI cables, one from PC to HDTV, and another from PC to Receiver. You never know when, at some point, you might wish to serve up some high definition or wideband surround from PC/Mac to your audio system. If you haven't discovered the joys of FLAC formatted digital music files yet, it might be worth a read at least.