# Help with system setup



## NekoDog (Feb 12, 2018)

Hi. I just got a NAD T777 surround sound receiver, that I am setting up 3 digital external sources (cable box, DVD and Roku). My TV is a bit older Mistubishi, so it has HDMI inputs, but no HDMI output (it does however have an digital optical output). I know that I can run all of my external sources into the receiver via HDMI cable and then have one HDMI output from the receiver to the TV, thus using the receiver as a switch box. The problem is that if my wife or kids want to simply watch cable or Roku, they don't want to have to fuss with the receiver. 

So, is there any way of running all of the sources into the receiver, but somehow setting the receiver up so that it is automatically bypassed when shut off, so that my wife can just control the TV and cable box (or Roku)? I can't seem to think of a way that this would work. 

Alternatively, I imagine that I can run all of my external sources into the TV and then have the digital optical cable feed the audio signal back to the receiver to provide surround sound, but obviously this would allow for the receiver to be used a switch box for all of the sources. 

The only other solution that I can come up with is to get HDMI splitters for each of the external sources, and having two HDMI cables run from each device....one to the TV and one to the receiver. That way, my wife could watch TV without the receiver and I could use the receiver when I watch. 

Has anybody addressed these issues? How do you have your system setup? Any other setup ideas that I'm missing? Thanks! :dontknow:


----------



## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

> The problem is that if my wife or kids want to simply watch cable or Roku, they don't want to have to fuss with the receiver.


What “fuss?” Sounds like you need to set up some macro commands in the remote, so that everything comes on, selects the correct input etc., with a single button.




> So, is there any way of running all of the sources into the receiver, but somehow setting the receiver up so that it is automatically bypassed when shut off, so that my wife can just control the TV and cable box (or Roku)?


Some receivers have a HDMI pass-through option. Check the manual.




> Alternatively, I imagine that I can run all of my external sources into the TV and then have the digital optical cable feed the audio signal back to the receiver to provide surround sound,


You won’t get Dolby Digital like that, only PCM stereo, which can get Dolby Pro Logic as best.




> The only other solution that I can come up with is to get HDMI splitters for each of the external sources, and having two HDMI cables run from each device....one to the TV and one to the receiver.


By the time you go to all that expense and hassle, you could just as easily buy a second Roku dedicated to the TV. Cable boxes typically have more than one output. If it has the standard antenna output, maybe it could connect it to the TV’s antenna input. 

Of course the wife and kids will then have to know how to change the input on the TV for whichever source they want to watch, just as they'd have to do with the HDMI splitter / double cabling scheme. Seems to me it would be just as easy to turn on the system and change the input on the NAD remote.

But really, the best thing to do would be to program the remote for one-button operation to turn the whole system – receiver, TV, cable box etc. – on or off. It should be simple at that point to train the non-technical users which button to push.

Regards, 
Wayne


----------



## NekoDog (Feb 12, 2018)

Wayne, thanks for the response! You obviously haven't met my wife. I will take a look and see if there is a pass through option and I will look into the one button programming. 

Thanks again. 



Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:


> What “fuss?” Sounds like you need to set up some macro commands in the remote, so that everything comes on, selects the correct input etc., with a single button.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------

