Input This, Part 2

In Input This, Part 1, I suggested that coming to terms with your home entertainment system is a manageable task. If you don't particularly care about audio quality, you can do just fine without the need to purchase or hook up a component system. If you like the idea of listening to everything -- music, TV, DVD's, and so on -- through the same, high-quality speakers, then the bulk of the complexity is focused on one component, which is the A/V receiver. The receiver is the heart of your system, and everything else hooks up to the receiver in a pretty straight-forward way, if you get the right receiver. A receiver is "right" for you if it is suitably powered, has connections for the components you want to watch and listen to, and fits your budget.

If you don't have a suitable A/V receiver, now, you can purchase any of a number of very capable receivers in the $300 range. Do you know about Froogle? Froogle is one of Google's spin-offs. Go to the web site, type in "A/V Receivers" (or anything else you're shopping for) into the search field, and you can explore a range of products, with product details and comparative pricing information. Once you arrive at a model you're interested in, Google its model number and you will find even more information, and more places to purchase it.

For example, one receiver listed in my Froogle search is the "Pioneer VSX-D912K." If I copy just the "VSX-D912K" part and paste it into the Google search field, there are links shown for reviews, price comparisons, and catalog entries for specific retailers. CNet is a particularly good source for buying guides, reviews, and comparative prices of home electronics. Even if you choose not to purchase on the internet, you can still do your research this way.

So, you bought it, you have it at home, sitting in its cardboard box. You can still take it back! You can still call your nephew to figure it out for you! You could do those things, but let's be brave this time and plunge ahead. You take it out of its box. The back panel can only be understood by an electronics engineer! Not so. Take a deep breath. Here are the keys:

• Sound and video travel from their point of origin through the receiver to your TV and speakers.
• Connect the outputs of devices that play sound and picture to the receiver inputs
• Connect the outputs of the receiver to your speakers and TV
• Devices that both play and record have both outputs and inputs, and the receiver has places to connect both for those specific devices

The good news is that everything is labeled. All the connections for the speakers are in one place that will be clearly labeled "Speakers." There is a section labeled "TV" or "Monitor" with "Video Out" and "Audio Out." If you chose your receiver wisely, there will be labeled sections for each of your components.

Speaker connectors are usually red and black. Audio component connectors are either red and black or red and white. Video connectors come in a variety of types. When combined in one cable with the audio connectors, they are yellow. Connect red to red, white to white, black to black, and yellow to yellow. You might also have surround speakers.

Hook up your speakers and TV first. Hooking these things up is generally straightfoward. Power up the receiver and see if you can hear AM/FM radio through the speakers. Work with one component at a time. Focus on what the receiver's manual says about hooking up that kind of component.

There are often several possibilities for the video connection. For cable TV and and satellite TV, you will have a coaxial cable coming from the wall that looks like this:

You typically use this type of cable and connector from the wall to your set top box, and from there to your VCR.

Other cables are used to connect components to the receiver, and the receiver to the TV. The most common is the "RCA" type, which may be used for video and/or audio:

Red and white are for audio, and yellow is for video. Alternatively, you may connect just the audio with RCA cables/connectors and connect the video with a higher quality "S-Video" cable:

Take it one step at a time. Hook up a component, test it to make sure it works, and move on to the next. To test, turn on the receiver, the TV, and any other component you wish to test. There will be a button on the receiver's front panel corresponding to input sources, e.g., TV, DVD, VCR. Press the button corresponding to what you want to watch and listen to. Save the remote controls for later.

The role for your nephew is to make all those remote controls manageable. As I write this, I look to the coffee table on my left, and I see five remotes. I periodically put most of them in a basket -- all but my favorite two -- but over the next couple of weeks they gradually return to the coffee table. There is one for the receiver, one for the TV, one for the VCR, one for the DVD, and one for the TiVo. Ugh!

The good news is that they now sell remote controls that can be taught about all of your components, so you control everything with one remote. But it gets better. The newest customizable remotes have touch screens, somewhat larger than a cellphone or PDA screen. Once customized, the screen shows buttons appropriate to the selected component. For example, if you select VCR, it has play, stop, fast forward, etc., without the distraction of other buttons for other devices. So, you just have to get your nephew to program the remote.

Ultimate power, after all, rests with nephews. But stick with the dream. Power to the people.

T.I.N.