What reciever should I get for my HD TV.?

Question

I recently purchased a HDTV and need a receiver to go with it. Right now I have a tivo and also a DVD player that I need to run through the receiver. I want to use the HDMI cables for my whole system and need a receiver that can support that. I don’t care as much about the audio as I do the video because I don’t have a very large room for the system. I have been doing some research and can’t seem to make sense of what I really need in a receiver and what I don’t.

For example is a receiver that can up scale video to 1080p really worth the extra cost?

Are all HMDI inputs on new recievers 1.3 quality with switching ability for both audio and video?

Can anybody give me advice on what receivers might work well for me and about what the cost of them would be?

Answer 1

If your tv has enough hdmi inputs for the stuff you have dont bother hooking hdmi to your reciever.  Most receivers with hdmi plugs just sent it through they dont even process the audio. You still have to hook another cable.  I have a pioneer vsx1017 350-400 bucks they make a 917 too little cheaper both are great for audio and all the audio hookups you'll ever need.  I dont use the hdmi though its a waste of money on the extra cable plus more for the signal to go through which can only be bad. Go to amazon.com  look at receivers there they will have alot of them with decent prices but most importantly lots of reviews. I always do part of my research for big purchases there.

Answer 2

SONY Model: HT-DDW990, it's a 900 watt 5.1 system with 2 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output. I have this system in 18 x 25 living room and it does a nice job of filling the room with sound. I like the HDMI inputs as my TV only has one and I have an HD DVR and an up-converting DVD player so I run both through the receiver with no loss in PQ and PQ is better than when I was using component. It can be found on-line for around $275.00 - $300.00. I found nothing close to this price range with more than 1 HDMI input. It was perfect for me because of this and that it didn't have a DVD player, I had just got my 6 disc up-converting DVD player when my other receiver bit the dust.

You should know one other thing, the surround still requires either optical (has 2 inputs) or coax for digital surround. The receiver does not process sound through the HDMI.

Answer 3

Great question.  What is the best thing for receiver manufacturer's to spend their development and component money on, right?

I personally don't switch my video through my receivers.  I have 4 of them, and 4 rooms with surround sound set up.  The reason for this is that HD Video is pretty high frequency, and you will get some degradation.  Switching HDMI however is digital, so it will not degrade at all (sort of!!).

I use a great quality and easy to use intelligent remote to do all the switching for me.  The receiver just process and plays the sound.

Hey, it's an idea!   I will say I went down this road starting 3 years ago, when there was no HDMI switching in any receivers and today I might do otherwise as this is now common and reasonably inexpensive.

Denon AVR 1508 and Onkyo TX-SR505 are great value and will do what you need at around $350.  They also are excellent for audio quality considering the budget.

All HDMI carries both the Audio and Video, so both will switch.  There are a few rare exceptions where the unit is using HDMI only to output video, but I haven't seen one of these in a while.  v1.3 is great to get, but not essential, unless you are planning a True HD audio world which is only available with Blu-ray and HD-DVD.  Get 1.3, it will take 1.1 and 1.2 inputs from older equipment.

As far as upscaling goes, you don't need this.  Your TV is going to autosense the ATSC format (480i -> 1080P) and lock on.  It will also do the necessary scaling to display on the 1080P display panel it is driving.  So to some extent scaling up beforehand is a waste.  This logic starts to fail if you have a budget oriented TV (50" LCD less than $2500 recently, or one older than 2 years) and a pro receiver like the Denon 4308.  I STILL think it is better to spend on a high quality upconverting DVD player as they can handle the data better at source, usually, than the receiver can.  Especially a blu-ray player.

In summary, upconvert at source or at display wherever possible for quality.  If you can get upconverting in the receiver for very little money it won't be wasted, as this will let you switch fast between sources.  TV's usually take a few seconds to lock onto a new format.