First timer needing some receiver suggestions

[avaserfi]

I have always been a music/movie lover but have had the huge drawback of being a college student with barely any free time to work and feed this habit, but recently I took the first step and saved up and bought a Vizio VP42 plasma <http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=19> and am now on the way to buying a receiver and 5.1/7.1 set up as well as a dvd player.

I have recently been trying to research starting with the receiver but am being overwhelmed by the information and sometimes prices as well as the fact that where I live there are no decent audio stores. I have yet to set a budget up for myself since I do not have a clue about the price range for the features I want.

Currently, along side the TV I have a Wii, with component inputs ofcourse, and plan on buying the OPPO DV-981HD dvd player.

My two primary concerns with the receiver are that it has good connectivity and of course good, clean (uncompressed) sound quality. I was hoping for a couple component INs and atleast 2 HDMI INs with one HDMI out and video upconversion to atleast 1080i (the highest quality my TV offers). I would like room to grow in the Hi-Def department if needed.

I figure once I have decided on a receiver speakers will be my text venture since I will have to make the purchases in parts but it is important to me that I get long lasting quality rather than saving myself a couple hundred bucks now to have to spend it again later.

So I was wondering what everyone suggests I look at and if anyone would make suggestions as to what I am looking for in a receiver. I am hoping to not have to break 1500 dollars between the receiver and speakers in the end, if at all possible but do not yet know if that is totally reasonable.

My last question is say I do get a receiver with 2 HDMI INs and eventually have three devices that are HDMI compatible will I be up a creek or are there HDMI hubs out there. I have looked but only see something that doesn't quiet seem to work the way I would like.

Thanks for your time.

Andrew

 

[avaserfi]

First off, i couldnt find the edit button to edit the first post, sorry mods.

Secondly I have been looking at the Onkyo TX-SR674, it seems to have all the features I want I especially like the fact that I will only need one input to my TV using this receiver. Does anyone have any experience with this model?

 

[jcPanny]

Speaker and Receiver options

In your budget, I would consider a quality receiver without HDMI like the Yamaha RX-V659 or HTR-5960. These are in the $3-400 range from authorized dealers. I have a similar model and recommend it. You can connect HDMI sources like the new Oppo player directly to the display and use component switching on the receiver for other video sources like the Wii.

This will leave you plenty of money for a quality speaker system. The Onix X-LS speakers from AV123.com would be a good option and you should have enough money for a 5.1 system with stands, A/V cables, etc. The speakers are the most important component of the audio system and you should budget accordingly.