Page 1 of Surround sound query.

I want to watch my tv through my Lennox surround sound system.What is the best way to wire this up?
Already I have Sky,TV,VCR and sourround sound dvd all connected.
What cables or scarts do I need to get my TV onto surround sound?
I am a newbie,so if you can explain fully it would be appreciated.

I watch all my telly through my sky box (bad reception area),and my sky is tuned into a normal channel not AV1 etc.

If you need more info let me know.
Thanks.

If your Sky is already connected to your amp,and you watch all tv via Sky,surely you already watch tv with surround sound.
Rather than try and connect your tv to the surround system,you should have each device (VCR,SKY etc) connected to the amp.
For genuine 5.1 sound,connect the optical digital output of the Sky box to the input on your amp.If you don`t subscribe to movies your Sky box would be ok connected via normal phonos,which is how I assume your other devices are connected.

I only have surround sound when i watch dvds.When i turn on the dvd player the tv automatically changes to the dvd channel so i cant watch normal tv when the dvd is on.
I told you am new to this,i think technology slipped me by.
I will do as you suggested,but do you know how to sort out this other problem.

I have had a look at how my tv is wired up,and it is as follows:-
An ariel from the tv into the vcr.
Scart 1 from tv to dvd amp.
scart 2 from tv to vcr.
ariel from sky box to vcr.

The scart connection points i have are as follows:-
tv has 2
sky box has 2
dvd has 1
vcr has 1.
If anyone can help it would be appreciated.

This item was edited on Saturday, 30th April 2005, 19:42

I`m not familair with the Lennox System, but normally you wire up surround sound as follows:

Scart lead from your DVD to TV
Optical lead (or maybe several phono leads) from your DVD to your AV amp
Turn off the TV internal speakers (via it`s menu)
Switch the amp on and select DVD.
job done...

your other option, assuming its a standard Sky box, would be to run a standard audio (phono) cable from the audio out on the TV (if available) to the amp, and turn off the speakers on the TV

I will try these suggestions,but how do i get over the problem with the dvd and tv.
When i turn on the dvd (which will need to be on to get sorround sound),the tv automatically changes to the dvd screen.This means i cannot view sky etc while the dvd is turned on.
What do i need to do to remedy this problem.
Thanks everyone who has replied.

That is standard Scart switching.When you switch on the dvd player it assumes you want to watch it so it goes to the correct channel.
Why would you want to watch Sky if your dvd player is on.Simple solution-if you are watching anything other than dvd,keep the player switched off

As my dvd player is my surround sound system,do i not have to turn it on to activate the speakers?

Normally the TV remote has an "AV" button or similar, which let`s you choose the scart socket to use. You just press it a couple of times until you get the right channel/scart socket.

So in theory you could have your DVD player switched on, but still watch Sky.

However, I should point out that you can only get 5.1 surround sound (rather than stereo) with Sky if:
- you have a Sky+ box (rather than a normal Sky box)
- you are watching a movie channel (the other channels don`t have 5.1 sound)

Finally, you`d need a way to get the surround sound "in" to the DVD and then "out" to the speakers. Most DVD players assume the surround sound is just going "out" (i.e. it`s coming from a DVD not the Sky box)

The usual way to get good quality surround sound via Sky, is to have a separate AV amp. You connect the Sky+ box to AV amp (using an optical cable or phono leads) and then the speakers connect to the AV amp.

You`d then have the AV amp & Sky box switched on (but the internal TV speakers switched off)

If you just want surround sound from your DVD then there are two options:
- connect the speakers to the DVD and also have a scart (or similar) from the DVD to TV.
- connect the DVD to an AV amp (via phono leads or optical lead) and also have a scart (or similar) from DVD to TV and then connect the speakers to the AV amp (this will give the best quality sound)

Hope that all makes sense

This item was edited on Thursday, 5th May 2005, 17:00

Thanks for all your help.I will have a bash and see if i can get it working.