Once you've gotten everything connected, you'll need to go into the receiver's menus to get everything up and running. If you haven't already read it, now is the time to dig into the owner's manual. We've defined some of the most common settings you'll encounter below, so you'll know what to expect. You'll find detailed instructions for these types of settings in your receiver's owners manual.
Assigning inputs
If you look at the back panel of a receiver, you'll notice that a lot of inputs are grouped under labels, like "DVD." Connecting your DVD player to the grouped inputs means that the DVD video and sound will play together.
But what about inputs that aren't grouped under a common label? Component video, HDMI, and digital audio inputs often fall in this camp. So if you wanted to connect your DVD player to a component video input and an optical digital audio input, you'd have to tell your receiver that the video and audio signals from those two inputs should be played at the same time. That means you'll have to "assign" those inputs, labeling them as the same source.
Speaker setup
For the best performance from your speakers, especially when it comes to surround sound, you'll need to give your receiver some information about the type of speakers you have and how far away they are from your listening position.
Most home theater receivers offer automatic speaker calibration — all you've got to do is plug in the included microphone, position it in your favorite listening seat(s), and start the auto calibration. The receiver uses the sonic information collected by the microphone to adjust the level, delay, and other settings for each individual speaker. (You can also enter this kind of information manually if your receiver doesn't have auto-calibration.) Check out our video on auto-calibration for more info.
Video conversion and resolution
If you're taking advantage of your receiver's video conversion or upconversion, you'll need to tell it which sources it should convert, and which output it should use to send those signals to your TV. For upconversion, you'll also need to tell the receiver what resolution you'd like your video upconverted to.
A quick word about surround settings
When you pop in a DVD, play a video game, or put any audio signal through your receiver, the receiver's front panel will light up with some terms that might not be familiar. Generally, these terms will tell you what kind of sound processing your receiver is using. For full details on common audio formats and terms, check out our surround sound article.