Cheap AV Receiver with HDMI??

[chillmeow]

Hi,

I got a HDTV, HD DVD PLAYER, and I am looking for an av receiver.


1. Is there any good cheap AV receiver out there with hdmi connections?
JVC RXD401S
Panasonic SA-XR70S
Are these any good? Any receivers that is good around $300 range?


2. Or should I just use a conventional analog signal and spend the money on a HK, yamaha, onkyo or pioneer receiver??

 

[chillmeow]

Or should I just use the HDMI to connect between the TV and the DVD Player , and then connect the TV audio out to the receiver if I do not have HDMI connection on the receiver?

 

[cusky5oh]

it is stated elsewhere in the forums, there are issues with current hdmi enabled devices (not necessarily all of them) there will be an update or 2 more for hdmi, although they claim backwards compatibility with the older hdmi, i think more than a few of us have a gut feeling telling us otherwise, or at least there will be even more issues with the backwards compatibility than there are using plain old hdmi right now. my advice is to hold off on buying a receiver untill hdmi is finalized if you are set on plugging in your hdmi sources through the receiver, (the prices will come down too)
right now there arent any low priced hdmi receivers (at least that i know of) the jvc is one of the cheapest but uses entirely digital amplifcation wich has issues of its own, (those being sound quality issues, and the listener ultimately decides how he/she feels if its an issue or not)
a viable route would be to purchase a receiver you like and use component signals, and when the hdmi b.s. is taken care of, get an hdmi switcher,
and using audio out isnt a great idea because you usually arent able to get a digital signal (coaxial or optical) out of a tv, it is usually just the analog L/R outputs.

 

[Nick250]

Hi,

I got a HDTV, HD DVD PLAYER, and I am looking for an av receiver.


1. Is there any good cheap AV receiver out there with hdmi connections?
JVC RXD401S
Panasonic SA-XR70S
Are these any good? Any receivers that is good around $300 range?


2. Or should I just use a conventional analog signal and spend the money on a HK, yamaha, onkyo or pioneer receiver??

It depends on how important HDMI is to you. For me it just does not matter that much. I watch a fair amount of TV and 99% of the time I watch just using the TV's speakers. I have a DVI connection from the cable box to the TV and a component connection from the DVD player to the TV and that's it. With a simple setup like mine, HDMI is just not that big a deal. With a lot more devices to connect (game box, computer etc) I might feel different. In any case my thinking is consider your current needs before buying into HDMI before they have it all sorted out.

Nick

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver options

You will get much better performance from a $300 receiver like the Yamaha HTR-5860 (or 5960) without HDMI then the cheapest receiver with HDMI. As sugested above, your cable box probably wont work with HDMI anyway and the component video connection is comparable quality.

You can also connect a single HDMI device directly from source to the TV and use the receiver component video switching for the others.

In a year or two, they will have all the glitches worked out of HDMI and you can upgrade the receiver or add an HDMI switch box.