Onkyo 809 - Blu Ray (HDMI) player & Legacy DVD/SACD player Connection Question

[stubertjames]

In the review for this receiver, it was mentioned that one can connect both a Blu Ray player (HDMI) component and a legacy DVD/SACD (non-HDMI) component to the Onkyo 809 receiver.

Does anyone know how this is done so they play nice together?

I just bought a Sony Blu Ray player (BDP-S590) and also have a Sony DVD/SACD player (DVP-NC875V).

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[chiarella]

Thanks for taking the time to write in. You have to understand, the back of the Onkyo TX-NR809 receiver is a cornucopia of connectivity. There's plenty of room for you to connect several HDMI devices, as well as that older DVP-C875V, assuming you're hooking up via component video for the picture and multichannel analog (up to 7.1) for the sound. From there it is a matter of configuring in the receiver's settings so that, say, the component video pairs with the analog multichannel, so you can watch any video that accompanies your high-res music discs. Switching inputs on the TX-NR809 is a breeze, too.

Hope this helps,
CC

[MrBoylan]

And to build on what Chris C. said, one specific problem you might have since your DVD player and Blu-ray player are both made by Sony (and probably use the same remote codes), is that one remote may operate both devices simultaneously. If this is the case look in your owner's manual to see if the Sony players allow for alternate remote settings (like remote code 1 and remote code 2). Not all players support this, but I believe Sony does have this feature on some of their players. I know Panasonic has it on theirs and you set it in the menu and on the remote itself.

Hope that helps.

-CB

[MrBoylan]

And because this is a full service shop here. You could also just get rid of the old DVD-NC875V and use the S590 for everything. It does support SACD playback and if you connect the player to the receiver via HDMI (and set the S590 to playback the multi-channel SACD layer from SACD discs), it will output a full resolution multi-channel DSD stream to the Onkyo receiver, which the Onkyo receiver will then decode just as easily as it decodes multi-channel PCM, DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD.

That may be your best/simplest option.

-CB

[stubertjames]

And because this is a full service shop here. You could also just get rid of the old DVD-NC875V and use the S590 for everything. It does support SACD playback and if you connect the player to the receiver via HDMI (and set the S590 to playback the multi-channel SACD layer from SACD discs), it will output a full resolution multi-channel DSD stream to the Onkyo receiver, which the Onkyo receiver will then decode just as easily as it decodes multi-channel PCM, DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD.

That may be your best/simplest option.

-CB

I thought of doing that as the simplest solution but its a matter of principle. One of the reasons I bought the 809 is b/c it had 5.1 multichannel analogue inputs so I could use my older equipment. My intention was to use the older player as a dedicated CD/SACD player only (no video) since it was a 5 disc changer. It's a matter of convenience.

[MrBoylan]

I thought of doing that as the simplest solution but its a matter of principle. One of the reasons I bought the 809 is b/c it had 5.1 multichannel analogue inputs so I could use my older equipment. My intention was to use the older player as a dedicated CD/SACD player only (no video) since it was a 5 disc changer. It's a matter of convenience.

You could do that and assign the multi-channel inputs as Chris described (it's fairly simple to do this in the Onkyo settings menu). I'm not 100% sure that Sony's remote codes are the same for DVD players and for Blu-ray players (Panasonic's definitely are), so getting the two different players to operate independently may be the real trick here.

I'd be surprised if an older Sony DVD player has a better DAC than the Onkyo but it's certainly worth exploring. Good luck!

-CB

[stubertjames]

You could do that and assign the multi-channel inputs as Chris described (it's fairly simple to do this in the Onkyo settings menu). I'm not 100% sure that Sony's remote codes are the same for DVD players and for Blu-ray players (Panasonic's definitely are), so getting the two different players to operate independently may be the real trick here.

I'd be surprised if an older Sony DVD player has a better DAC than the Onkyo but it's certainly worth exploring. Good luck!

-CB

UPDATE: I now have the BD/DVD Player connected to HDMI 6. They both do work with both picture and sound (multi-channel analogue included) but now I have to inconveniently change the HDMI inputs when switching between the two components.

Thanks for the advise, everyone!

[MrBoylan]

UPDATE: I now have the BD/DVD Player connected to HDMI 6. They both do work with both picture and sound (multi-channel analogue included) but now I have to inconveniently change the HDMI inputs when switching between the two components.

Thanks for the advise, everyone!

Glad you're up and running, but I'm not getting why you would need to physically change HDMI inputs in order to switch sources. For the BDP-S590, use HDMI. For the DVD/SACD changer, you said you didn't need picture so why are you using HDMI for that? Use component video or no video connection at all if you're not using that for visuals and assign it to one of the other many inputs on the Onkyo.

I'm not getting what the issue is here. Are you trying to put both devices into the same input on the receiver?

-CB