Help, Just Got RX-V861 But Can Still Return It For HDMI 1.3 AVR For Almost Same Price

[krowten]

Greetings All:

Few days ago I purchased the Yamaha RX-V861 that was on sale for $800. I'm sure in the US, that price seems high but in Canada, that's a decent price. Anyway, I haven't had time yet to open up the box and I was planning to do it over the weekend. That being said, I just saw that Pioneer's first HDMI 1.3 AVR (VSX-9120TXH) was on sale for $999 at BB. Now I'm having second thoughts. For another $200, I get HDMI 1.3 and 25 watts more per channel than the Yamaha.

I would seriously aprreciate some advice on this.

Thanks

 

[AbyssalLoris]

It all depends on your requirements.

What are you going to use HDMI 1.3 for? Do you need what it offers now? There is of course the question of future proofing, but unless you are possessed of great will (read resistance to upgrade-itis) I find this idea very shaky in the world of electronics.

Don't know about power. Exactly how much power one needs to obtain good response from their speakers is a mystery to me.

 

[bass addict]

There is nothing 1.3 will do right now that 1.2 won't. Currently no player is capable of sending the newer codec's via bitstream and even if/when they do it isn't going to accomplish anything more than sending it via PCM and letting the receiver decode it. 1.3 is capable of sending deep color but there currently aren't any discs even encoded and even if there are you will need every component in the chain to have 1.3 to be able to take advantage of it.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't look into a 1.3 capable receiver (the Onkyo 805 is probably the best bang for the buck receiver out there right now being THX Ultra 2 certified, 1.3, and a smoking price of around 850 in the states). Pioneer also makes a great receiver, coming from an 84 myself.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I like the Pioneer for the extra $200. Why settle if this is a unit you plan on keeping for a long time? We all know how fast technology moves, which means discs will be encoded in the future with deep color. I also think the Pioneer has a more robust power supply.

Was this the one you were comparing it to?

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/kuro/product/details/0,,2076_310069789_463566618_tab=B,00.html?compName=PNA_V3_ProductDetailsComponent
Pioneer Electronics - VSX-91TXH - 7.1 Channel A/V Receiver featuring Dolby� True-HD & DTS-HD Master Audio

 

[krowten]

Thanks B-eye, yes it's the same AVR. VSX-9120 is the big box store version of the VSX-91TXH. I also found a pdf spec sheet for 9120 and they are identical.
It's rated 7x110 watts @0.09% THD, which is not a huge difference compared to the Yamaha at 7x105 watts @ 0.06% THD.

Seems Best Buy has 9120 rated at 7x130 watts which is a little misleading.

The one feature that got my attention is the Pioneer only upscale to 480p via HDMI. The Yamaha has an upscale range from 480p through 1080i via HDMI.

I guess I'll wait for Onkyo's SR805 price to drop a bit. The lowest price I could find in Canada was 1300 bucks.

 

[GlocksRock]

I really don't think that few extra watts of power will make much of a difference, and unless you have an HDMI 1.3 display, or plan on getting one in the near future, then there is really no point in upgrading right now. You would be better off saving your money.