Hi, I am new to this home theatre thing.

I have Panasonic Plasma 50 inch TV with Sony BDV-E970W home theatre system.

I just got a Dune Smart D1 player.

The Dune player is connected to TV via HDMI and the Sony E970W is also connected via HDMI to TV.

Would the sound quality be better if I get an optical cable and connect from the Dune player to the home theatre?

Appreciate some advice from the experts here. Thanks.

This post has been edited by gc68: Mar 1 2011, 02:19 PM

Yes, definately much better than plasma's crappy speakers.

I setup the same thing for my dad:

Plasma <-> Media Streamer <-via optical-> HTiB (amp) <-> Speakers + passive Woofer

Of course it is better to connect to home theater, it gives you better listening experience and that's what home theater means for, if you are connect to TV, you are actually not fully utilize the Dune HD Smart D1

This post has been edited by WereWolf84: Mar 1 2011, 02:31 PM

HTS audio quality definitely better than TV's audio quality...
somemore HTS have subwoofer for bass but TV speaker dont have the capability...

but u have to make sure that the audio can deliver into HDMI and optical cable at the same time... as believe some of player may choose the audio output priority either HDMI or optical cable... if detected HDMI, maybe the rest of other output (optical, RCA stereo) will disable...

I find the Panasonic 50U's speaker surprisingly good. Very good in fact and I do come from a Hi Fi background.

My dad's flat panel is those lower end one... so u know the quality la

I have the same impression also before I go for home theater, because the plasma's speaker system comes with virtual surround

most of virtual surround only apply on small room with 4 walls... the concept of virtual surround is that the sound reflection that speaker "shooting" to side wall and the sound will reflect from the wall and create the effects...


so it quite useless if used virtual surround at big living room... and of cos the surround quality are un-compareable to real surround system with 5.1/7.1 as normal wall able to adsorb the sound or reflected "unevenly"....

but of cos if space & budget constraint and no particular on the audio quality, definitely the virtual surround features are good to go...

This post has been edited by gkl83: Mar 1 2011, 03:54 PM

I never much care about virtual surround etc. All I care about are proper "tone" and sound being clear & audible, no boomy bass and the all important mid-range. As I say, the 50U's sound was surprisingly very good for a TV, probably the best I encountered from a TV.

hts speaker always better than the tv speakers.
As for me, if I'm watching a crappy movies, or movies that barely use the surround sound like comedy or documentary, I just use the tv speaker only. This will save electricity too. I turned on the HT when watching a good movie, especially an action type..

Of course if your HTS speaker is worth as much as the TV itself, it should be better. But then, if you have a lousy 'combo everything' HTS, then it may be a different story when compared to the 50U.