Sony STR Dh800 set up

[swampguy]

I am very new to this whole thing of setting up a receiver. Now i have a Att cable box running to a DVD player to the TV. I have set up the speakers but not connected them yet. Should I just run the tv to the receiver or each component seperately? None of my components have HDMI except the cable box.
Also I bought a 7.1 reciever but only have a 5.1 setup with hopes of growning. Can you take me through the set up as simple as possible? Thanks, Tim

[rbinck]

What is the TV, DVD player and receiver brand and model #s?

[swampguy]

Hope this is what you ask for:
Receiver: STR DH800
Sony DVD Recorder RDR-GX330
TV: Samsung SlimFit Digial SR01 (Model Code: TXS2783x/xaa)

Thanks, Tim

[rbinck]

For the best sound you will want to run each component to the receiver using either optical or digital audio connections. Then if you have a HDTV you will want to run directly from the ATT box (U-verse?) to the TV via either HDMI or component video. Routing the video through the DVD recorder will restrict you to SD, so that should be a secondary connection.

[swampguy]

Well, I goter done! I had to call customer service to get everything up and running. I found the owner's manuel and instructions to be wrong and not even related to what the tech told me over the phone.
I ran everything through the reciever for now. I don't have an HD tv yet and when I do I will run everything different. Thanks for the help, Tim