Help with choosing receiver

[harvey5560]

I am new to this so I am seeking help.
I am the process of finishing my basement and will be installing a home theatre. I have purchased a Pioneer Elite 50 inch plasma and will be investing in speakers and a receiver shortly. I am looking for advise on which one choose. Audio is important but not as important to me as video quality.
The receivers I am looking at are the Yamaha RX-V1700, Yamaha RX-V2700,
Pioneer Elite VSX-81TXS and the Elite VSX-82TSX.
Any help or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Adam]

Welcome, Harvey. In the same price range, I'd recommend also considering the new line of Onkyos (805, 875, maybe even the 905). Spec-wise, they should have some good video quality.

 

[Leprkon]

Audio is important but not as important to me as video quality.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks

if video is key, run it directly to the display.

you can get a much better receiver that won't do hdmi than one that will for the same price.

 

[jinjuku]

What target are you looking to hit w/ your receiver purchase?

I also second Leprkon's suggestion. For the amount of money you are looking at spending, toss on NAD/Denon/Outlaw Audio into the mix.

Also another good question to ask is what is the ratio of money allocated to the receiver vs allocated to the speakers.

The general rule of thumb is a 30/70 split. 30% toward the receiver/electronics and the rest to speakers.

 

[Seth=L]

The highest video performer that is out now would absolutely have to be the Onkyo TX-SR805, because it is a HDMI 1.3 machine (it is the nicest one available at the moment). Denon, Sherwood, and Pioneer are all expected to have released comparably featured receivers by year's end. It can also be expected that Yamaha will soon be doing the same. The Onkyo TX-SR805 is the beefiest (heavy at 50 pounds, means big power supply and reserve power) of it's competitors, and the most advanced with HDMI 1.3 and the latest Audyssey auto-setup program.

if video is key, run it directly to the display.

There should be no video degradation by sending video through the receiver via HDMI, unless the receiver is faulty. An added plus of using HDMI switching on these receivers is the process the audio off of HDMI if it is present from a source like a Satelite box, Blu-ray player, HD DVD player, or upconverting DVD player.

NAD and Outlaw currently have no HDMI features on their receivers.

 

[Leprkon]

There should be no video degradation by sending video through the receiver via HDMI, unless the receiver is faulty.
NAD and Outlaw currently have no HDMI features on their receivers.

If there is "no" degradation, that means there is no improvement. So why bother ?

As for no HDMI features, that means you aren't paying for them. It's only a "feature" if you value it. Otherwise, it's less of the "features" you do want.

 

[avaserfi]

If there is "no" degradation, that means there is no improvement. So why bother ?

Many people actually purchase HDMI receivers in part because of the one cable solution which is why having no degradation is important and nice if you want a cleaner look.

 

[obscbyclouds]

If there is "no" degradation, that means there is no improvement. So why bother ?

As for no HDMI features, that means you aren't paying for them. It's only a "feature" if you value it. Otherwise, it's less of the "features" you do want.

If you send everything HDMI to the TV you can miss out on the uncompressed audio formats : DTS-HD MA and Dolby Digital Plus, etc. avaliable on Blu-ray and HD-DVD, unless you hook up the good ol' 6 RCA cables, but then you miss out on the reciever's bass management, DSP modes, and anything above 5.1.

Also, some reciever's (Onkyo TX-SR805) have the Faroudja chip for video upscaling, so if you have a 480i/p source, it will be upscaled to the TV's native resolution, quite possibly increasing picture clarity.

 

[Seth=L]

If there is "no" degradation, that means there is no improvement. So why bother ?

As for no HDMI features, that means you aren't paying for them. It's only a "feature" if you value it. Otherwise, it's less of the "features" you do want.

It all depends on the OP for that, he will need to prioritize I guess. He has more than enough options on the table now, and should be able to make a decision based on the information given, with maybe a few more questions to be answered like what speakers will be used in conjuction with the receiver, of course speakers come first.

 

[harvey5560]

Thanks

I appreciate all of the replies. THe Onyko's receivers sound nice but I live up in Canada and there are not that many dealers from those receivers and the ones that do have them are over priced to the poin of being out of my budget. I will be most using the receiver for home theatre with approximatly 5% use for audio only. Video is far more important to me than audio and I would rather spend more money on a good upscaling reciever than on audio.

 

[Seth=L]

I appreciate all of the replies. THe Onyko's receivers sound nice but I live up in Canada and there are not that many dealers from those receivers and the ones that do have them are over priced to the poin of being out of my budget. I will be most using the receiver for home theatre with approximatly 5% use for audio only. Video is far more important to me than audio and I would rather spend more money on a good upscaling reciever than on audio.

As a general rule, receivers pre-dating HDMI 1.3 don't have very good upscaling. The upscaling from budget DVD player from Oppo should have superior upscaling to most receivers, maybe even the Onkyo TX-SR805. The awaited TX-SR875 has the Reon processing set, it should be a superior machine, but it will be over the budget most likely. I would find out what scaling engine your Pioneer Elite uses, it may be better than what is in most receivers. Also, what are your sources, do you have an HD DVD player, Blu-ray, or an upconverting DVD player?

 

[obscbyclouds]

As a general rule, receivers pre-dating HDMI 1.3 don't have very good upscaling. The upscaling from budget DVD player from Oppo should have superior upscaling to most receivers, maybe even the Onkyo TX-SR805.

Don't they use the same chip? Faroudja DCDi? I would assume this would make the upscaling comparable. It would be interesting to know if anyone has any experience with this.

 

[harvey5560]

I'm not sure off hand the names of the video scalers for Pioneer and Yamaha but I do know that they are not the same chip. As far as the DVD player, I have the Pioneer Elite 46AV which does upscaling to HD. I know that I don't need to run the DVD player through the video scaling receiver but I like the single HDMI to the display so I probably will. Other components I will be connecting with be a Motorola HD cable box and XBOX ( soon to be either a 360 Elite or a PS3)

 

[Seth=L]

I'm not sure off hand the names of the video scalers for Pioneer and Yamaha but I do know that they are not the same chip. As far as the DVD player, I have the Pioneer Elite 46AV which does upscaling to HD. I know that I don't need to run the DVD player through the video scaling receiver but I like the single HDMI to the display so I probably will. Other components I will be connecting with be a Motorola HD cable box and XBOX ( soon to be either a 360 Elite or a PS3)

The PS3 might have the Reon engine, but I am not sure. If it does it should do just as good an upconversion as any receiver that is out now, if not better.

 

[avaserfi]

The PS3 might have the Reon engine, but I am not sure. If it does it should do just as good an upconversion as any receiver that is out now, if not better.

I doubt the ps3 has the Reon engine because up-conversion was actually an afterthought added via firmware updates. I am pretty sure the up-conversion is done through the cell processor and the graphics card in the ps3 alone and according to Sony reps and firmware developers increases in up-conversion quality should be released in the future as they claim they have not tapped the full ability of the chips.

 

[Seth=L]

I doubt the ps3 has the Reon engine because up-conversion was actually an afterthought added via firmware updates. I am pretty sure the up-conversion is done through the cell processor and the graphics card in the ps3 alone and according to Sony reps and firmware developers increases in up-conversion quality should be released in the future as they claim they have not tapped the full ability of the chips.

You are probably correct there.