Ok, I am new to the forum but been into sound for around 25 years. I went from IASCA Sound Quality competition to a very modest theater in a box, and then to a speaker upgrade. I am now interested in building a new setup with a 7.1 or 7.2 receiver running 5.1 in my living room and 2 speakers as zone two in my kitchen. (I like to stream Pandora or iTunes while I cook and wash dishes). Right now the only 4K device I own is an Xbox One S that was a Christmas gift. I am definitely going to get a 4K tv within the next year. I am interested in a few receivers and I am wondering if 4K pass through is a make it or break it feature. My understanding is that I can go hdmi from sources to TV and then go from tv to receiver to get sound but no switching sources on the receiver. Option two would be hdmi to receiver with 4K pass through then to TV. I want a 4K picture when it is available and I want the lips to sync with the sound.
If you depend on your TV to switch sources and send audio to your AVR, your TV is likely to downmix to stereo. Better to have the AVR perform the switching I think, so you can maintain native multichannel audio streams. And your rat's nest of wires is more manageable if your TV doesn't have a dozen cables sprouting out its back.
For what it's worth, the only real benefit to 4K, unless your TV is too large for your seating distance, is passive 3D. Passive 3D interlaces the frames, devoting half the lines to the left eye and the other half to the right. So instead of your content having 2160 lines of resolution, it'll be reduced to 1080 lines for each eye. If you have no interest in passive 3D, then at a reasonable seating distance 4K would be indiscernible from 1080p. Don't devote a lot of effort in your quest for 4K. Fulfilling that feature should be at the bottom of your list.
