Re: Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500

Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

In Reply to: Re: Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500 posted by cbd0815 on April 4, 2003 at 11:24:58:

Best advice I can give is to punt on the integrated HT, multichannel hirez, 2-channel dream at the current moment. There is simply NOTHING on the market that makes a reasonable compromise between the conflicting demands of these various sources. That said, there are many things in the works that will have huge effects on A/V setups in the very near future. So, for the immediate future, I would recommend segmenting your system to provide decent performance in the short term with a view to dumping your components in the midterm once the new products come on the market.
Specifically, you're looking at DVI/HDCP morphing into HDMI on the high-def video front. If your Panny doesn't have DVI, DON'T BUY IT! Note that HDMI will be backward compatible with DVI, so you're all set with a DVI/HDCP video connection. The DBS folk are rapidly moving to DVI-enabled HD receivers and PVRs (next generation if they don't go broke). Next generation A/V receivers will support DVI/HDCP (HDMI) switching thereby obsoleting the present day component video switching. The HD revolution is well underway wrt broadcast, cable and DBS. The upcoming HD-DVD will complete this massive change while remaining backward compatible with existing DVD video formats.
On the multichannel hirez front, standardized digital connections are in the works (the first ones are already on the market). 1394 iLink looks to be the interface of choice for upcoming hirez products. It IS possible, but unlikely IMO that HDMI could also serve this purpose. This interface deals with the jitter, interconnect, bass management and copy protection issues associated with hirez in one simple, elegant and CHEAP solution. $300 carousels for all audio formats with PERFECT bitstreams to the processors is around the corner. Note this includes 2-channel digital sources as well.
So what to do right now? Minimize the waste! Don't spend big bucks on equipment with short legs. Speakers, amps, video displays and software are good bets. Pre/pros, receivers, players and bass managers are bad bets. If you need a certain functionality to support your sources, buy the minimum necessary that implements it. Any more spent above the minimum will be wasted.
To be continued...
Austin

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500 - cbd0815 08:45:46 04/04/03 (5)

Re: Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500 - chuckoftahoe 17:26:29 04/14/03 (0)

Rotel RSX-1055 - bondmanp 10:37:52 04/04/03 (0)

Re: Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500 - williak 10:18:01 04/04/03 (2)

Re: Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500 - cbd0815 11:24:58 04/04/03 (1)

Re: Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500 - williak 14:12:37 04/04/03 (0)

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Re: Best Sounding HT Receiver <$1500 - williak 14:12:37 04/04/03 (0)

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