best budget receiver for game consoles/computer/ cable tv?

[jc6699]

I just want to connect my pc/xbox 360/ps3 and cable box so I can get the best gaming/movie experience without any complicated setup, so what receiver would be best for me? I'm assuming something with atleast 3 hdmi imputs for my components and optical for the pc sound card to the receiver?

 

[bandphan]

Jc, do you have a budget? What about speakers? How large is the room? Have you seen something you liked?

 

[jc6699]

budget so far is looking like $600 I have everything except the receiver and I'd like to know more about that onkyo 606 I believe? other then that I think I'll just need to know what cables and speaker wire I'll need and how to get it setup properly.

 

[Adam]

Hey, jc, welcome to the forum. I'm going to quote your post from one of your other threads just to try and keep this all in one place for you:

I hope I'm asking this in the correct forum, anyway I'm not exactly sure how to ask this question since I am nt at all tech savvy,but I'll list my components.....

1)Display... Samung ln t4681f HDTV
2)cable box...explorer 8300hd
3)computer... video card is ati 4870x2...sound card is creative soundblaster x-fi titanium fatal1ty pro .
4)ps3
5)xbox 360
6)speakers...definitive tech 5.1 with sub not exactly sure model#
7)receiver not sure what to get yet...only have $600 doller budget.

I want to hook everything up to my surround sound receiver/speakers and get the best sound while watching blurays/dvd's, gaming.. computer or console and normal cable tv viewing.
What receiver will I need,cables ect and will this be easy to setup?

For HDMI connections, you'll have at least the Xbox, PS3, and the cable box. So, you're right that you'd want at least three HDMI inputs. Does your PC video card have HDMI, and if so, do you also want to connect it to your TV (via the receiver)? That would make four.

The Onkyo 606 that you mentioned has four HDMI inputs, which is nice. That receiver has gotten good reviews. Do a search on this forum for "606", and you'll see a decent amount of posts on it.

As a couple of other ideas:
1. The Pioneer 1018 has three HDMI inputs and seems like a nice unit, too.
2. The Yamaha 663 gets good reviews, but it only has two HDMI inputs. While you can get external HDMI switches, my preference would be to get a receiver with what you want built-in, if possible.

Anyway, I think that you're going down the right road with the 606. Just wanted to say that, with a bit of explanation.

Adam

 

[jc6699]

Thanks Adam, I appreciate the help I'm pretty sure the ati 4870x2 just has dvi? I'm not 100% sure, if so do I just hook that up to the tv and then run a optical from the tv to the receiver or do I run the optical from the PC sound card creative soundblaster x-fi titanium fatal1ty pro to the receiver?

 

[Adam]

If you have enough HDMI inputs on the receiver, you could run the video from the PC to the receiver and then on to the TV just like for your other components. You'd just need to get a DVI-to-HDMI adapter (such as this one...just an example, there are plenty of them out there).

As for the sound, I'd recommend running it straight from the sound card to the receiver. Cut out the middle man, as it were.

 

[jc6699]

Thanks again Adam, ok last question and this one is probably dumb but my TV has 3 Hdmi imputs, now normally hdmi 1 would be cable in hdmi 2 for the 360 and hdmi 3 for ps3.If I now have 4 things going into the receiver pc/360/ps3/cable box and all going back out to hdmi 1 On the tv. Do I just select what component I want on the receiver while the tv is allways left on hdmi 1? and does not having everything directly to the tv still give me full 1080p? sory again if these are dumb questions. I think thats it unless there anything else I should know?