How to Hook Up a Receiver to an HDTV

Though it utilizes the most sophisticated technology on the plant, an HDTV is extremely easy to hook up to a receiver. Home entertainment systems are designed for compatibility, whether it is a cable or satellite receiver, a DVD player or a stereo sound system.

Things You'll Need
•HD television
•HD satellite or cable receiver
•DVD player
•Stereo receiver
•AV cables
•Cable connector

•HDMI cables

Instructions

1.Examine the back of your HDTV. You will see a series of input jacks for AV cables, (typically color-coded white and red for audio and yellow for video), as well as an antenna input and one or more HDMI input jacks. There will likely be a number of them, but each one should be distinguished with a label ("video," "cable" or something similar).

2.Attach the cable connector from the cable or satellite receiver to the antenna input on the back of the TV.

3.Connect the AV cables to the DVD player, VCR, stereo receiver or whichever other component you wish to connect to the television. The cables should line up by color: place the white cable in the white input jack, the red cable in the red input jack and the yellow cable in the yellow input jack. All three cables from each component need to go into the same label input jacks. Usually, they will all line up in a vertical row.

4.Find the HDMI output jack on your receiver or DVD player (some receivers will not have them--they are necessary to receive a high definition signal--but can still play on the TV through the cable connector or AV cables). Attach one end of an HDMI cable to the output jack of the receiver and the other end into the input jack on the HDTV.

5.Turn on the TV. Access the menu with your remote, and follow any instructions it gives you. Your HDTV may require a few additional steps to complete the hookup of the receiver (though not all of them will).

6.Access the "input" button on your TV remote. This will allow you to switch the TV signal to one of the cable connections you have just made. For example, if you attached the HDMI cable to the first of two HDMI input jacks, the TV will flash "HDMI 1" on the screen to tell you that is where it is receiving its signal.

Tips & Warnings

Not everything that can be hooked up to an HDTV is capable of playing in high definition. The signal needs to be HD as well, which means that only HD broadcasts, HD DVDs and Blu-Ray DVDs can play in full high definition (though "upgrade" DVD players will allow normal DVDs to play at an enhanced picture). You can still hook receivers up to an HDTV, and it will still play broadcasts from them as clearly as the signal permits.

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