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Once again I am look for your thoughts and suggestions (valued as always) on a replacement A/V Reciever for our Theatre Room. Current we have a Pioneer VSX-710S which as served us well, but I currently have HDMI, Component and Composite cables connect to the TV and would like to reduce that to just HDMI, plus I am in need of another couple of inputs;
(HTPC - HDMI, XBox 360 - HDMI or Component, VCR - Composite, PS2 - Component, DVD Player - Component and a future Blu-ray Drive which I guess will be HDMI)
I was thinking something along the lines of the Onkyo TX-SR606, the Yamaha RX-V863 or the Denon 2808.
I am leaning towards the Yamaha was it has 3 HDMI inputs and will happly upscale all video to either HDMI or component (so that covers the one cable to the TV and one cable to the Projector).
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and if anyone has the Yamaha I would love to hear of your experience.
I liked the 663 and the only real difference between the 663 and the 863 is the extra HDMI input, so I guess is the extra $300-$400 worth it to future proof the system a little.
What about a HDMI switcher to provide multiple HDMI inputs? You can get them with remotes (great for Harmony users).
I haven't tried one but plan to with Foxtel IQ2 coming and having just switched from VGA to DVI/HDMI for the HTPC. The PC gets a direct connection to the TV and the Yamaha RX-V661 connects to the second HDMI.
The RX-V661 has two HDMI inputs but it has other limitations that make me loathe to use both HDMI inputs (or at least not to connect something that will be on semi-permanently like a HTPC).
When I bought the AV Receiver I thought I would be able to use all the inputs (it sure seemed to have a lot) but I found that there are not as many as I thought. For example one set of L/R inputs, one optical, one coaxial, one set of component, one composite/svideo and one HDMI are all tied to the DVD input selection. Therefore if more than one of those inputs are connected at the same time then you better make sure only one device is turned on at the same time!
Having multiple devices connected to one HDMI port via an external switcher hopefully will allow me to connect more audio sources to the Yamaha. My goal is to have no audio attached to the TV.
I liked the 663 and the only real difference between the 663 and the 863 is the extra HDMI input, so I guess is the extra $300-$400 worth it to future proof the system a little.
Cheers
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
All I will ever have is HTPC, receiver, TV and speakers. If you plan to have more than 2 HDMI input devices, then - yes you should consider 863.
Good luck.
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I had settled for the Yamaha 863 but I am unsure if it will handle DVI to HDMI and reading the manual it appear to support DVI from my HTPC to the HDMI input on the 863 and the two salespeople I ask could not answer that question.
Guess I will need to take my laptop down and test it on the weekend.
...but...having said that, you get what you pay for...
It really depends how much you are prepared to spend for the features you need... If a $500 receiver does what you need, why spend the extra?
I can highly recommend the Sony for build quality and connectivity though and the upscaling is brilliant!!
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Once again I am look for your thoughts and suggestions (valued as always) on a replacement A/V Reciever for our Theatre Room. Current we have a Pioneer VSX-710S which as served us well, but I currently have HDMI, Component and Composite cables connect to the TV and would like to reduce that to just HDMI, plus I am in need of another couple of inputs;
(HTPC - HDMI, XBox 360 - HDMI or Component, VCR - Composite, PS2 - Component, DVD Player - Component and a future Blu-ray Drive which I guess will be HDMI)
I was thinking something along the lines of the Onkyo TX-SR606, the Yamaha RX-V863 or the Denon 2808.
I am leaning towards the Yamaha was it has 3 HDMI inputs and will happly upscale all video to either HDMI or component (so that covers the one cable to the TV and one cable to the Projector).
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and if anyone has the Yamaha I would love to hear of your experience.
Cheers
Andrew
I am a big fan of Denon. I have Denon stereo amplifier that is still going strong after 20 years, and I recently bought a 7.1 amplifier for my HTPC. The overall balance of sound is a personal preference, and I find the yamahas harsh and the pioneers a bit lacking.
I did not want to fork out for a brand new Denon, so I bought a 3 year old one off e-bay for 1/3 the price of the latest model. It lacks HDMI switching (has component or less), but I put my video inputs direct to the TV and switch them at the same time as the audio using a logitech remote. The amplifier drives more speakers than I have (only 6), handles the usual audio standards and remembers different settings for each input source.
P.S. It is a lot cheaper to put a Blu-ray drive in your HTPC than buy an standalone model - and you won't need extra video and audit inputs.
The Onkyo's are the best bang for buck right now. TX-SR606 has 4x input HDMI 1.3 with upscaling, DTS HD Master Audio, Dolby True HD etc. It also has the Faroudja DCDi Edge for deinterlacing - the best in it's class.
I have the predecessor and it is amazing. I have a PS3 and Xbox 360 going in via HDMI (audio too), then take the HDMI output to a Gefen GTV-HDMI1.3-144-CO unit so I can output to two HDMI displays (one is the Samsung Plasma and one the Sanyo Z2000) at 1080p.
This way I can switch between the 2x outputs with my Harmony remote (remote switches HDMI input on Onkyo receiver, then turns on or turns off the Plasma or Projector depending on the activity I've chosen).
BTW - the Gefen box is a splitter not a switcher - it takes one input and can send the same signal to 4x outputs. Also passive - ie no remote control required for it.
How do you handle the resolution difference between your TV and projector (which I read you'll have TV component and projector HDMI) ? Are they both the same res?
Regards,
Shane.
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Does anyone know of any current A/V Amp that will upscale everything to 1080p? ie different HDMI rezs such as the BIOS and Vista boot sequence?
I am looking at upgrading my Yamaha to a HDMI switching amp, and I need this to get around the limitation of my crappy TV.
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