A:Answer5.1 means 5 speakers plus a subwoofer (5 speakers are front left, front right, center, rear left and rear right). It does not have a switch to select between different pairs of speakers, if that's what you mean.
A:AnswerNo, the unit is required to be on for a signal to pass through. If you wish to view these devices without the receiver being on, plug them directly into the TV and then use the TV's optical or coax output to go to the Yamaha unit. This would allow you to either use the TV speakers without turning on the receiver or using the receiver to use the home theater functionality.
A:AnswerYou need to use RCA plug out of AMP "Monitor" output. I have Direct TV and Blue Ray HDMI in and they go HDMI to tv. My old VCR and Wii are in using aux conections with RCA cables and use the monitor out . Works great and the speaker setup was a breeze.
A:AnswerThere are four HDMI connections/inputs and one out.
There are RCA hookups but I don't use those so I can't tell you. I think it is also the same.
They are selected by the push of a button on the remote. Literally.
As far as VHS, that went out in the 80s. LOL!
No 8- track hookup, either.
However, if your VHS player has RCA then yes you can look it up to this amp.
This is a high quality amp for high quality sound and picture. If you want top performance out of this machine you might honestly want to consider switching to blue ray. Just a thought.
Hope this helps!
A:AnswerWorks that way for me. At first I had an issue where my rear surround speakers weren’t showing up but after plugging in the mic and allowing the receiver to test and make the adjustments to each speaker, it worked.