How do I turn my movie into Blu-Ray?

What's the right way to connect a Sony Bluray Home theater in a box to my cable box and HD TV?

• I have a Sony Blu-Ray that's part of the Theater in a Box, I have a HD DVR cable box from time warner (motorola), and a LG 42" HD TV. The bluray only has one HDMI input, the TV has 2, the cable box has 1. They all have an optical cord input, as well as a coaxial (orange) cable. It seemed straightforward enough, HDMI cable from the bluray receiver to the TV, and also another HDMI cable from the cable box to the TV. I thought I didn't need cables for the audio as I thought the HDMI cable did both video and cable, but I had no sound, so I added the optical cable from the bluray to TV and I had sound, but then reading the manual, thought I should have added it from the cable box to the bluray, I think now I have the optical cable from the bluray to the cable box. I can play discs and operate the bluray machine but the problem I'm having is that after I use the blueray, I can't switch input (in my TV remote) back to HDMI1 to view my TV again. And I can't view the TV picture on the Bluray TV input, I only can get the TV sound. Not sure if I'm supposed to be able to view the TV through the bluray or not. I am not sure if this is a glitch with my connections or if it's a problem with my LG TV. It says "connecting..." but never connects, and then if I try to power it off, it won't register for a while. It takes a few minutes to get it to turn off, and then when I turn it back on, it'll work fine for TV viewing. It's a pain to watch a movie and then when it's over not be able to easily watch the news. Do I have the connections right? (sorry for the lengthy question)

• Answer:

  Based on the equipment I think you have and the cables you are trying to use I suggest. Use your tv as the switching unit of the system, so plug in your cable box and blue ray or whatever you want to connect directly to the tv using hdmi cables. Yes they do carry audio and video. Connect an optical cable from your tv's optical audio output into the optical input on the blue ray home theater in a box (I assume it has an optical input). This will take the audio from the hdmi sources plugged into your tv and any other audio processed in your tv and send it out through the optical cable. When you are watching something on your blue ray player than audio is clearly not an issue (its a HTIB) and when you are watching tv channels on your tv or cable channels using your cable box (or anything else that is connected to tv via hdmi) set your Blue ray/Home Theater to read the optical input you are sending from the tv. ON the tv audio menu make sure your tv is outputing a raw or dolby digital signal through the optical. If this doesnt work there is something fundamentally wrong with your system that I can not address. You might be confusing inputs with outputs and stuff like that. THe basic idea is everything goes into your tv, the video stays and the audio leaves to the receiver unit (or in your case the blue ray player again) If you need further help give me some model numbers. This really shouldn't be hard at all because in the scope of things you have a very basic system.