Seeking Receiver recommendations

Sorry if this is not quite HDTV related, though it is somewhat, and
the reason I'm asking here is I'm hoping those of you who have HDTV's
also have home theaters and can recommend a decent receiver.

My receiver at home is a stero and 2 speakers where the standard def
dvd player hooked into so when I watched movie the sound came through
the speakers. It's the poor man's home theater that why this time
around I want to do it right with an (HD?) receiver and surround sound
for the first time!

I will have HD Comcast Cable coming in, so that will go right to the
receiver. I also need to get HD DVD player, which also gets hooked up
to the receiver.

Then 2 HDMI connection's out from the receiver to watch the
aforementioned cable and dvd's on the HDTV.

The TV's audio should hardly ever get used since the receiver will be
doing that.

Am i visualising my connections correctly here?

I would like to do surround sound for the first time ever as I am a
movie buff, dramas, action, whatever watching with the lights out.
Sorry I'm just getting excited and ahead of myself heh.

Any recommendations anyone can provide would be appreciated!

Thanks again!

Cognitive Distortion wrote:
Sorry if this is not quite HDTV related, though it is somewhat, and
the reason I'm asking here is I'm hoping those of you who have HDTV's
also have home theaters and can recommend a decent receiver.

My receiver at home is a stero and 2 speakers where the standard def
dvd player hooked into so when I watched movie the sound came through
the speakers. It's the poor man's home theater that why this time
around I want to do it right with an (HD?) receiver and surround sound
for the first time!

I will have HD Comcast Cable coming in, so that will go right to the
receiver. I also need to get HD DVD player, which also gets hooked up
to the receiver.

Then 2 HDMI connection's out from the receiver to watch the
aforementioned cable and dvd's on the HDTV.

I wouldn't think you would need two connections from the receiver to the
display. The receiver should have switching capabilities.

Matthew

--
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of
people". Alexander Bullock ("My Man Godfrey" 1936):

On Nov 19, 12:02 pm, "Matthew L. Martin" wrote:
Cognitive Distortion wrote:
Sorry if this is not quite HDTV related, though it is somewhat, and
the reason I'm asking here is I'm hoping those of you who have HDTV's
also have home theaters and can recommend a decent receiver.

My receiver at home is a stero and 2 speakers where the standard def
dvd player hooked into so when I watched movie the sound came through
the speakers. It's the poor man's home theater that why this time
around I want to do it right with an (HD?) receiver and surround sound
for the first time!

I will have HD Comcast Cable coming in, so that will go right to the
receiver. I also need to get HD DVD player, which also gets hooked up
to the receiver.

Then 2 HDMI connection's out from the receiver to watch the
aforementioned cable and dvd's on the HDTV.

I wouldn't think you would need two connections from the receiver to the
display. The receiver should have switching capabilities.

Matthew

--
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of
people". Alexander Bullock ("My Man Godfrey" 1936):- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You mean 1 for the cable channels and 1 for the dvd correct? that's
what i meant by the 2 hdmi connections... (i think we're on the same
page)

Cognitive Distortion wrote:
On Nov 19, 12:02 pm, "Matthew L. Martin" wrote:
Cognitive Distortion wrote:
Sorry if this is not quite HDTV related, though it is somewhat, and
the reason I'm asking here is I'm hoping those of you who have
HDTV's also have home theaters and can recommend a decent receiver.

My receiver at home is a stero and 2 speakers where the standard def
dvd player hooked into so when I watched movie the sound came
through the speakers. It's the poor man's home theater that why
this time around I want to do it right with an (HD?) receiver and
surround sound for the first time!

I will have HD Comcast Cable coming in, so that will go right to the
receiver. I also need to get HD DVD player, which also gets hooked
up to the receiver.

Then 2 HDMI connection's out from the receiver to watch the
aforementioned cable and dvd's on the HDTV.

I wouldn't think you would need two connections from the receiver to
the display. The receiver should have switching capabilities.

Matthew

--
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind
of people". Alexander Bullock ("My Man Godfrey" 1936):- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

You mean 1 for the cable channels and 1 for the dvd correct? that's
what i meant by the 2 hdmi connections... (i think we're on the same
page)

No, he means two in and one out to the display. It may be better though if
you get a reciever with more than two inputs for things you may wish to
connect in the future.
--
Adrian

Cognitive Distortion wrote:
On Nov 19, 12:02 pm, "Matthew L. Martin" wrote:
Cognitive Distortion wrote:
Sorry if this is not quite HDTV related, though it is somewhat, and
the reason I'm asking here is I'm hoping those of you who have HDTV's
also have home theaters and can recommend a decent receiver.
My receiver at home is a stero and 2 speakers where the standard def
dvd player hooked into so when I watched movie the sound came through
the speakers. It's the poor man's home theater that why this time
around I want to do it right with an (HD?) receiver and surround sound
for the first time!
I will have HD Comcast Cable coming in, so that will go right to the
receiver. I also need to get HD DVD player, which also gets hooked up
to the receiver.
Then 2 HDMI connection's out from the receiver to watch the
aforementioned cable and dvd's on the HDTV.
I wouldn't think you would need two connections from the receiver to the
display. The receiver should have switching capabilities.

Matthew

--
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of
people". Alexander Bullock ("My Man Godfrey" 1936):- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You mean 1 for the cable channels and 1 for the dvd correct? that's
what i meant by the 2 hdmi connections... (i think we're on the same
page)

I'm thinking of two HDMI inputs and one HDMI output.

Matthew

--
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of
people". Alexander Bullock ("My Man Godfrey" 1936):

On Nov 19, 12:21 pm, "Adrian A" wrote:
Cognitive Distortion wrote:
On Nov 19, 12:02 pm, "Matthew L. Martin" wrote:
Cognitive Distortion wrote:
Sorry if this is not quite HDTV related, though it is somewhat, and
the reason I'm asking here is I'm hoping those of you who have
HDTV's also have home theaters and can recommend a decent receiver.

My receiver at home is a stero and 2 speakers where the standard def
dvd player hooked into so when I watched movie the sound came
through the speakers. It's the poor man's home theater that why
this time around I want to do it right with an (HD?) receiver and
surround sound for the first time!

I will have HD Comcast Cable coming in, so that will go right to the
receiver. I also need to get HD DVD player, which also gets hooked
up to the receiver.

Then 2 HDMI connection's out from the receiver to watch the
aforementioned cable and dvd's on the HDTV.

I wouldn't think you would need two connections from the receiver to
the display. The receiver should have switching capabilities.

Matthew

--
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind
of people". Alexander Bullock ("My Man Godfrey" 1936):- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

You mean 1 for the cable channels and 1 for the dvd correct? that's
what i meant by the 2 hdmi connections... (i think we're on the same
page)

No, he means two in and one out to the display. It may be better though if
you get a reciever with more than two inputs for things you may wish to
connect in the future.
--
Adrian- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

yeah that's what I meant and yes, i should have said *at the very
least* 2 HD input. but not limiting myself to that.

OK, now that that is finally cleared up ;-) I guess I can just look
for a decent HD receiver with at least 2 HD inputs (i'm sure most will
have more) and dolby surround... so... sharp? panasonic? lg? just look
for the typical brands?

On Nov 19, 11:55 am, Cognitive Distortion wrote:
Sorry if this is not quite HDTV related, though it is somewhat, and
the reason I'm asking here is I'm hoping those of you who have HDTV's
also have home theaters and can recommend a decent receiver.

My receiver at home is a stero and 2 speakers where the standard def
dvd player hooked into so when I watched movie the sound came through
the speakers. It's the poor man's home theater that why this time
around I want to do it right with an (HD?) receiver and surround sound
for the first time!

I will have HD Comcast Cable coming in, so that will go right to the
receiver. I also need to get HD DVD player, which also gets hooked up
to the receiver.

Then 2 HDMI connection's out from the receiver to watch the
aforementioned cable and dvd's on the HDTV.

The TV's audio should hardly ever get used since the receiver will be
doing that.

Am i visualising my connections correctly here?

I would like to do surround sound for the first time ever as I am a
movie buff, dramas, action, whatever watching with the lights out.
Sorry I'm just getting excited and ahead of myself heh.

Any recommendations anyone can provide would be appreciated!

Thanks again!

You should start by giving a budget.

If you're about to get a new receiver, you should look to one that is
HDMI 1.3 compatible, as many of the new Blu-ray and HD DVD players
will now bitstream the audio across HDMI. This is more important with
the HD DVD players as only the top of the line XA2 has analog audio
outputs (RCA) for lossless multi-channel surround tracks, found on
roughly 50 HD DVD disc and over 150 Blu-ray discs.

Although most players decode TrueHD internally, which means any HDMI
1.1 receiver would do the job, you will find more discs surfacing with
dts-HD Master Audio on them, the decoding of which is not mandatory
inside the player on either HD DVD or Blu-ray.

If your budget is restricted, the Onkyo TX-SR605 is an amazing
receiver with 90watts/channel into 7 channels. It has AudysseyEQ which
allows the receiver using a mic to EQ three different listening areas.
I have the TX-SR905 and from my own measurements I can tell you that
the AEQ is extremely accurate. This allows you to not worry about
setting up speaker distances, crossover, etc. It's all done for you
the first time you turn the unit on.

It has two HDMI inputs and one HDMI output, supporting 1080p
bandwidth, Dolby TrueHD decoding and dts-HD Master Audio decoding.
It's a heck of a receiver and you can find it normally on Amazon for US
$399.

You should start by giving a budget.


Yeah sorry about not providing a budget. A couple/few hundred for a
receiver I guess because then I have to shell out about the same for a
dvd player and I don't really want to spend $1,000 on home theatre
equipment although I have even calculated speakers into the equation
*sigh*

If you're about to get a new receiver, you should look to one that is
HDMI 1.3 compatible, as many of the new Blu-ray and HD DVD players
will now bitstream the audio across HDMI. This is more important with
the HD DVD players as only the top of the line XA2 has analog audio
outputs (RCA) for lossless multi-channel surround tracks, found on
roughly 50 HD DVD disc and over 150 Blu-ray discs.

Although most players decode TrueHD internally, which means any HDMI
1.1 receiver would do the job, you will find more discs surfacing with
dts-HD Master Audio on them, the decoding of which is not mandatory
inside the player on either HD DVD or Blu-ray.

If your budget is restricted, the Onkyo TX-SR605 is an amazing
receiver with 90watts/channel into 7 channels. It has AudysseyEQ which
allows the receiver using a mic to EQ three different listening areas.
I have the TX-SR905 and from my own measurements I can tell you that
the AEQ is extremely accurate. This allows you to not worry about
setting up speaker distances, crossover, etc. It's all done for you
the first time you turn the unit on.

It has two HDMI inputs and one HDMI output, supporting 1080p
bandwidth, Dolby TrueHD decoding and dts-HD Master Audio decoding.
It's a heck of a receiver and you can find it normally on Amazon for US
$399.- Hide quoted text -


Thanks for this specific info! You're a godsend.

Is HDMI 1.3 something I will definitely notice? Remember, I'm a person
that played my movies through an offbrand 5cd changer shelf system
with average stereo speakers. So jumping from that to surround 5.1 is
probably going to be plenty of a change.

But is this something you will definitely notice if you don't buy it?
(HDMI 1.3)

Maybe if I can't afford the surround I can always get future proof
with the receiver and get the speakers later.

Well at least with your info now I can shop around and have a better
idea what to look afor when doing my homework.

Thanks.

ninphan - is below what you are talking about?

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onkyo... d=k39085&mid=

Cognitive Distortion wrote:
You should start by giving a budget.


Yeah sorry about not providing a budget. A couple/few hundred for a
receiver I guess because then I have to shell out about the same for a
dvd player and I don't really want to spend $1,000 on home theatre
equipment although I have even calculated speakers into the equation
*sigh*

If you're about to get a new receiver, you should look to one that is
HDMI 1.3 compatible, as many of the new Blu-ray and HD DVD players
will now bitstream the audio across HDMI. This is more important with
the HD DVD players as only the top of the line XA2 has analog audio
outputs (RCA) for lossless multi-channel surround tracks, found on
roughly 50 HD DVD disc and over 150 Blu-ray discs.

Although most players decode TrueHD internally, which means any HDMI
1.1 receiver would do the job, you will find more discs surfacing with
dts-HD Master Audio on them, the decoding of which is not mandatory
inside the player on either HD DVD or Blu-ray.

If your budget is restricted, the Onkyo TX-SR605 is an amazing
receiver with 90watts/channel into 7 channels. It has AudysseyEQ which
allows the receiver using a mic to EQ three different listening areas.
I have the TX-SR905 and from my own measurements I can tell you that
the AEQ is extremely accurate. This allows you to not worry about
setting up speaker distances, crossover, etc. It's all done for you
the first time you turn the unit on.

It has two HDMI inputs and one HDMI output, supporting 1080p
bandwidth, Dolby TrueHD decoding and dts-HD Master Audio decoding.
It's a heck of a receiver and you can find it normally on Amazon for US
$399.- Hide quoted text -


Thanks for this specific info! You're a godsend.

Is HDMI 1.3 something I will definitely notice? Remember, I'm a person
that played my movies through an offbrand 5cd changer shelf system
with average stereo speakers. So jumping from that to surround 5.1 is
probably going to be plenty of a change.

But is this something you will definitely notice if you don't buy it?
(HDMI 1.3)

Maybe if I can't afford the surround I can always get future proof
with the receiver and get the speakers later.

Well at least with your info now I can shop around and have a better
idea what to look afor when doing my homework.

FWIW, you might save some money if you get enough inputs on your display
to hook up your video directly (via HDMI) and route the audio only to
the receiver via coax or toslink. The downside is that you have to
switch two devices instead of just one. The upside is that most good
universal remotes will allow you to combine both commands to a single key.

Matthew

--
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of
people". Alexander Bullock ("My Man Godfrey" 1936):