Well I have been thinking about buying a new player. I have about 500 to spend. What is a good one that can connect to the internet and decode the formats I need?
You don't need the player to decode the formats if your receiver can decode them. The only reason to use the player to decode them is if: 1) your player cannot output the raw data (which is what Seth=L says of your player) or 2) your receiver cannot decode it. If the player is doing the decoding and sending multichannel PCM to your receiver via HDMI, it should sound exactly the same as if the receiver decoded it. A new BD player should also sound exactly the same (unless different settings are selected that affect the sound, but then it is an issue of different settings, not that one player sounds better than another).
From looking again at the manual to your receiver, there is another detail that I should have mentioned. With the auto setup, your receiver also applies frequency equalization. You should have it set to "Flat" in order for it to give you a flat response. See pages 32-36. You will be able to see the settings it has selected, and you can double check them for yourself to make sure that it gets things right (sometimes receivers automatically pick "large" for speakers when they should pick "small", for example, but typically they get the distance and levels pretty well right).
You might also want to read the section that follows that on "SCENE" (that, by the way, is an unusual Yamaha use of the word, not a standard one for such presets, so many people, even if well-informed about audio, are likely to not know what that word means in this context) on pages 37-41 and set your own preset for when you get things as you like them.
If, after redoing the automatic setup with "Flat" selected, and if you still are unhappy with the sound (keeping in mind the settings I have already mentioned above), then I would recommend that you just turn up the center channel if you are still having trouble with the dialog, though you should not need to do so.
Basically, if you are having trouble hearing dialog, either:
- the settings are wrong in some way (the solution being to correct the settings),
- the speakers are not adequately clear with the relevant frequencies (the solution being getting better speakers),
- the acoustics of your room are dreadful (if you hear an echo in your room when you clap your hands, as in an empty room, you need things in there to absorb sound for it to sound right),
- the speakers are not properly located in the room, or
- the actors are mumbling or the disc was improperly recorded or mastered (which can only be solved by playing a different movie).
The sound is not going to be bad from either the receiver or the player, unless there is a serious malfunction, which should be evident in some other way as well. If you are planing to replace your BD player because you are having trouble hearing dialog, you will be throwing away your money.
