I have no fricking clue on how to set up this damn thing. I have cox hi def that came with the standard R W Y cables and also the comp video wires. please x plain from beginnig on how to hook up wires, etc.. I have the 55" lcos phillips, yamaha 750 reciver and like I said the hi def from cox. then for surrond i have the a klipsch synergy series (beginner I know)please help

We need to know what kind of connections you are using.

HDMI

DVI

Component

S-video

or Composite

You seem to be saying that you have a composite cable (red, white, yellow - the yellow carries video, the red and white carry audio - red=right channel, white=left channel), and a component cable (green, blue, red - all 3 for video only). If your set has a component input, connecting the component output of the cable box to the component input of the TV will give you the best picture. If you're set up for HI Def, you'll Have to use the component hookups.

Can you give me the Brand and model # of the cox set top box (for example,I have the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3250 HD), and the Model # of the Phillips TV. I can look them up on the internet and get an idea of the best way to hook them together.

I'll go look up the Yamaha 750 to see what kind of audio connections you have to make.

The simplest way is use a Toslink optical cable to connect your Cox cable box to your Yamaha receiver. Then use your component video cable to connect your Cox cable box to your TV composite input. That's it.

Using your receiver remote, you select the audio source you plugged the optical cable into (CBL, SATTELITE, etc). Using your TV remote you select the video source you plugged the component cable into.

The Toslink optical cable is available at Radio Shack, if you don't already have one. There are other ways to do it, but I think this is the simplest.

You can automate the switching with a learning remote like an MX-700. See RemoteCental for more info.

if the cable box has only Component Video out, the easiest way to hook everything up would be to hook up both audio and video direct to the Yamaha 750 (it has component switching). It will require an extra cable for the video connection from the receiver to the tv, but it will facilitate component switching.

Now if the cable box and tv both have DVI or HDMI output/inputs, that's likely how you're going to want to hook it up. It may be worth experimenting though to see what gives you the better picture quality between digital (DVI and HDMI) or analog (component).