If you only want a lower budget receiver go with the upcoming Onkyo 605 receiver. It comes out in May. It is supposedly the first out with HDMI 1.3 inputs (2) and decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Don't short change yourself especially with 2007 stuff coming out in mere weeks.
There is a lower priced Sony Blu-ray player coming this summer with an HDMI 1.3 output (supposed to have the same, if not more features than the current Sony model, but without the metal plate on top--- highly rated PQ). The Samsung 1200 (out now) also is equipped with HDMI 1.3. If you want a decent player for games as well, the PS3 is HDMI 1.3 capable and has enough horsepower to enable DeepColor decoding (in fact, Sony has been touting this feature recently) and the newest BD-Java features for this November.
The HD-DVD add on for the 360 has MAJOR issues that I've been reading about at AVS Forum... and it can't output the new audio formats as it doesn't have HDMI let alone HDMI 1.3. Besides, I really do believe of the two formats Blu-ray is the better one (better audio, especially-- it's amazing!) and has the potential of being the winner of this war.
