built-in decoding for next-gen HD-DVD and Blu-ray audio formats

[topspin]

Hello all,
I am currently shopping for a receiver that is on the bleeding edge side of things.
Are there any Receivers that have built-in decoding for Blurau and/or HDDVD formats?
I went to my favorite AV Receiver's website, Denon. It seems they do not make one that includes the above.
If noone is on the bleeding edge, have there been any news about any products coming up with the encoding?
Thanks
Topspin

 

[jcPanny]

HD decoding

I am not aware of any receivers with this feature. Probably because HDMI 1.3 chips just came out.
There should be some news about future products at the CES show in January. I suspect that a couple manufactures will have a receiver next year with the HD audio decoding if you are willing to pay for it.

 

[MichaelJHuman]

What you may want is a receiver with HDMI. The HD-A1 will decode all the formats and send them via LPCM over HDMI.

There is a stickied thread about future proof receivers you might want to read.

 

[Bluesmoke]

What you may want is a receiver with HDMI. The HD-A1 will decode all the formats and send them via LPCM over HDMI.

There is a stickied thread about future proof receivers you might want to read.

The HDA1 decodes only True HD. Not DTS MA.

 

[MichaelJHuman]

Is DTS-HD Master Audio expected to be used on many disks?

 

[topspin]

Thanks and a question.

What you may want is a receiver with HDMI. The HD-A1 will decode all the formats and send them via LPCM over HDMI.

There is a stickied thread about future proof receivers you might want to read.

Michael, thanks for your response. I am strongly considering the Denon 4306 because of the HDMI inputs, however, considering the amount of money I may shell out I want to future proof it as much as possible.
So having said that have a couple of questions.
1. I am unable to find the stickied thread. Pls point it out for me.

2. According to the CNET review (http://reviews.cnet.com/Denon_AVR_4306/4505-6466_7-31736750.html?tag=lst) the only real ding against the receiver was that there was no built in decoding for HD-DVD/Bluray.
So my question is, why would anyone want to route video through an AV receiver when they can directly connect to a 1080i Plasma TV? Receivers IMO are mostly for sound processing.
3. Is bluray/hd-dvd decoding ability that important considering the fact that the receiver already has HDMI inputs? I can theoreticically route a bluray/hd-dvd player thourgh the hdmi input of the receiver and finally to the 1080i or connect the player directly to the 1080i. What am I gaining by routing it thourgh a bluray/hd-dvd player? What am I missing here?

 

[topspin]

Anyone?

Anyone want to answer my questions?

Michael, thanks for your response. I am strongly considering the Denon 4306 because of the HDMI inputs, however, considering the amount of money I may shell out I want to future proof it as much as possible.
So having said that have a couple of questions.
1. I am unable to find the stickied thread. Pls point it out for me.

2. According to the CNET review (http://reviews.cnet.com/Denon_AVR_4306/4505-6466_7-31736750.html?tag=lst) the only real ding against the receiver was that there was no built in decoding for HD-DVD/Bluray.
So my question is, why would anyone want to route video through an AV receiver when they can directly connect to a 1080i Plasma TV? Receivers IMO are mostly for sound processing.
3. Is bluray/hd-dvd decoding ability that important considering the fact that the receiver already has HDMI inputs? I can theoreticically route a bluray/hd-dvd player thourgh the hdmi input of the receiver and finally to the 1080i or connect the player directly to the 1080i. What am I gaining by routing it thourgh a bluray/hd-dvd player? What am I missing here?

 

[MACCA350]

Michael, thanks for your response. I am strongly considering the Denon 4306 because of the HDMI inputs, however, considering the amount of money I may shell out I want to future proof it as much as possible.
So having said that have a couple of questions.
1. I am unable to find the stickied thread. Pls point it out for me.

2. According to the CNET review (http://reviews.cnet.com/Denon_AVR_4306/4505-6466_7-31736750.html?tag=lst) the only real ding against the receiver was that there was no built in decoding for HD-DVD/Bluray.
So my question is, why would anyone want to route video through an AV receiver when they can directly connect to a 1080i Plasma TV? Receivers IMO are mostly for sound processing.
3. Is bluray/hd-dvd decoding ability that important considering the fact that the receiver already has HDMI inputs? I can theoreticically route a bluray/hd-dvd player thourgh the hdmi input of the receiver and finally to the 1080i or connect the player directly to the 1080i. What am I gaining by routing it thourgh a bluray/hd-dvd player? What am I missing here?

1. Dunno
2. For video switching convenience, and because HDMI passes audio also
3. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA can only be transferred in raw bitstream via HDMI v1.3 and as I've said in another thread 'Even with HDMI 1.3 and a receiver capable of decoding, you still cant send Dolby TrueHD to the receiver for decoding unless the content provider of the HD-DVD has encoded the disc appropriately to allow the player to bypass the internal mixing and output the Raw Dolby TrueHD Bitstream. To date NONE of the HD-DVD's on the market are encoded to allow Raw Dolby TrueHD Bitstream to be output! Until they do, if they ever do, forget about HDMI 1.3 being the audio nirvana'(IIRC this applies to Blue-ray also) reasons being content protection and because the players actually mix audio tracks together(this can include online tracks)
What you gain by routing HDMI through the receiver is the ability of sending the decoded raw high resolution multichannel lossless PCM signal from the player to the receiver in digital form allowing the receiver to perform processing such as bass management, room eq, etc, and I believe the 4306 can do this.

cheers