HDMI via AV Receiver

On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:20:52 GMT, smb wrote:

Thanks, but I will have to pass. The only reason I'm half-tempted by the
Marantz is because the small size means I don't have to buy a new cabinet
to fit it in, so the extra cost is offset by a saving elsewhere. It's
tough being on a budget!

Fair enough. In that case, may I suggest that you take a look and see
what's available on eBay? You might be able to pick up something
better, but a little older, than you would by buying new.

(And I apologise if that sounds patronising. My intention is only to
offer a potentially helpful suggestion. Of course I appreciate that
it's an idea that you might already have considered. But, for all I
know, you might not have done.)

Peter.

"smb" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:48:42 +0000, Peter wrote:
On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:57:14 GMT, smb wrote:

Wow, that's a seriously nice bit of kit. Hate to think what you upgraded
to! Sadly, I think it's likely to be out of my price range. I was
hoping
to spend no more than £250, and had seen a Yamaha that would meet my
needs. I also looked at a Marantz at around £400, which I like because
of
its small size.

Well, I won't go down to £250, but it sounds as if you might still be
able to afford it. Please contact me by e-mail if you'd like to
discuss the possibility further.

Thanks, but I will have to pass. The only reason I'm half-tempted by the
Marantz is because the small size means I don't have to buy a new cabinet
to fit it in, so the extra cost is offset by a saving elsewhere. It's
tough being on a budget!

I can't be sure about the pass through in standby, but against my better
judgement* I recently bought a Sony STRDH800 from Richer Sounds for £240.
It certainly copes with all digital modes from all inputs including HDMI
from the Blue Ray player, coax from the satellite receiver and optical from
the Freesat TV. It was about two thirds the price of the equivalent Denon
receiver and I am quite happy with it.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/.../sony-strdh800
I don't think it can interfere with anything else.




* of course Sony devices often contain malware [ref 1] and other slugs to
prevent optimal operation and so should normally be avoided. Sure enough
when it plays a Blue Ray source the component outputs (such as might go to a
DVD recorder) are suppressed :-((


Ref 1. http://www.baum.com.au/~jiri/ae/blog/01132660259
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Rootkit

On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:30:53 +0000, Peter wrote:
On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:20:52 GMT, smb wrote:

Fair enough. In that case, may I suggest that you take a look and see
what's available on eBay? You might be able to pick up something
better, but a little older, than you would by buying new.

I hadn't thought of that, and it could certainly help the budget. Thanks
for the suggestion.

On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 19:20:51 -0000, R. Mark Clayton wrote:
I can't be sure about the pass through in standby, but against my better
judgement* I recently bought a Sony STRDH800 from Richer Sounds for £240.
It certainly copes with all digital modes from all inputs including HDMI
from the Blue Ray player, coax from the satellite receiver and optical from
the Freesat TV. It was about two thirds the price of the equivalent Denon
receiver and I am quite happy with it.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/.../sony-strdh800
I don't think it can interfere with anything else.

Are you suggesting the Sony specifically, or just suggesting that I should
have little trouble with even low end kit?



* of course Sony devices often contain malware [ref 1] and other slugs to
prevent optimal operation and so should normally be avoided. Sure enough
when it plays a Blue Ray source the component outputs (such as might go to a
DVD recorder) are suppressed :-((

Is this not expected? I thought the HDMI/HDCP stuff was supposed to work
this way. Am I missing something. Would non-Sony kit work differently?

Ref 1. http://www.baum.com.au/~jiri/ae/blog/01132660259
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Rootkit

On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:14:21 GMT, smb wrote:

On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:30:53 +0000, Peter wrote:
On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:20:52 GMT, smb wrote:

Fair enough. In that case, may I suggest that you take a look and see
what's available on eBay? You might be able to pick up something
better, but a little older, than you would by buying new.

I hadn't thought of that, and it could certainly help the budget. Thanks
for the suggestion.

On the other hand, it might not help you. This thread prompted me to
sell the Denon AVR-3808 that I mentioned the other day. I was thinking
of asking £400 for it. However, I put it up on eBay last night with a
"Buy it Now" price of £500, which I thought a little high. It sold for
that within two hours, and its new owner has already been here and
collected it.

Good luck!

Peter.

Peter wrote:
On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:14:21 GMT, smb wrote:

On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:30:53 +0000, Peter wrote:
On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:20:52 GMT, smb wrote:

Fair enough. In that case, may I suggest that you take a look and see
what's available on eBay? You might be able to pick up something
better, but a little older, than you would by buying new.
I hadn't thought of that, and it could certainly help the budget. Thanks
for the suggestion.

On the other hand, it might not help you. This thread prompted me to
sell the Denon AVR-3808 that I mentioned the other day. I was thinking
of asking £400 for it. However, I put it up on eBay last night with a
"Buy it Now" price of £500, which I thought a little high. It sold for
that within two hours, and its new owner has already been here and
collected it.


Hope he paid cash.

-Kevin.

--
Confessions of a Starving Author
http://www.stanleyrumm.com

"smb" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 19:20:51 -0000, R. Mark Clayton wrote:
I can't be sure about the pass through in standby, but against my better
judgement* I recently bought a Sony STRDH800 from Richer Sounds for £240.
It certainly copes with all digital modes from all inputs including HDMI
from the Blue Ray player, coax from the satellite receiver and optical
from
the Freesat TV. It was about two thirds the price of the equivalent
Denon
receiver and I am quite happy with it.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/.../sony-strdh800
I don't think it can interfere with anything else.

Are you suggesting the Sony specifically, or just suggesting that I should
have little trouble with even low end kit?

Basically Sony have been caught twice inserting additional code in their
drives and disks - the second link explains the problem fairly well.

AFAIK no other manufactuerer has done this.

OTOH I don't think the AMP can muck up any connected equipment.




* of course Sony devices often contain malware [ref 1] and other slugs to
prevent optimal operation and so should normally be avoided. Sure enough
when it plays a Blue Ray source the component outputs (such as might go
to a
DVD recorder) are suppressed :-((

Is this not expected? I thought the HDMI/HDCP stuff was supposed to work
this way. Am I missing something. Would non-Sony kit work differently?

HDMI is supposed to work like this, however the component should be present
as well and AFAICT does come out of the drive.


Ref 1. http://www.baum.com.au/~jiri/ae/blog/01132660259
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Rootkit



But you wouldn't expect an audio CD to strart scribbling over your BIOS...

Originally Posted by smb

On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:19:43 +0000, Peter wrote:
On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:03:00 GMT, smb lid wrote:

Is it worth me ensuring that my AV receiver also does the
older Dolby Surround?

Yes. Whether or not it's relevant for broadcast TV, it's likely to be
useful for some DVDs. Not all of these have DD or DTS soundtracks.
Some (especially boxed sets of TV series) have only stereo soundtracks
with surround information matrixed in.

I will check the models I'm looking at to see what they do. So far, I've
only been making sure they do Dolby Digital and the HD stuff for Blu-ray
discs. My plan is to upgrade my DVD player to Blu-ray at some point in
the (hopefully near) future.

Thanks for you help.

I've no doubt that the sound quality via the AV receiver would be far
better than via the TV, but somehow it seems like overkill for watching
the news, etc. One of the AV receiver manuals I read gave the power
consumption of something like 380 watts - seemed high to me.