Need help with receiver choice!!! Onkyo vs Pioneer

[palleg33]

Hi there. I have tried to research multiple sites and had a question

1. I need to upgrade a 7 year old Onkyo receiver without any HDMI inputs or outputs.
2. I have a 2 year old 50 inch Samsung DLP that I love with 3 HDMI inputs
3. Old DVD player (Toshiba) with video upscaling but it is acting up and may need replacing
4. Nintendo WII which likely does not matter

Should I buy a receiver with video upscaling or not. The pioneer vsx-919 does not but the 1019 does. I am also considering the Onkyo 607

My needs are- my wife wants as few wires as possible behind the set
I may add a blu ray player or better upscaling DVD player at some point

Will it benefit me to buy the pioneer 1019 with upscaling. Or should I just hook my DVD player up to the TV and run everything else to the receiver. How does it work if I plug everyhting into the receiver and send one cord to the tv (ideal). Will I still get HD sound if I hook directly to the tv.

I also have an itouch but have a griffin evolve with wireless speakers I use for that and it is great. We also need zone 2 option as we have speakers in the living room hooked up as well.

Thanks for any and all help

Pioneer 1019- 450
pioneer 919- 350
Onkyo 607- 400

What should I pick?

 

[sholling]

Most TVs upscale so well that I tend to like letting the TV handle the upscaling. If it were me I'd look for a deal on an Onkyo 607 and a deal on a Blu-Ray player. I just picked up an LG BD-370 for $129 shipped for my master bedroom and I'm very happy with it. That's a pretty nice BD player for that price and I'm seeing less fancy players for as low and $100 online.

 

[myke]

If you are looking at the pio 1019 you should just go for the VSX 21 Elite.

I just picked it up for about the same price as the 1019.

I got mine from a website called centraldigitial.com on the receipt though it said amdv.com

I just looked and didnt see it on there, but check it out. I called and spoke to a guy when I bought mine. I was skeptical if it was a refurbished model for that price. I believe his name was "dave anderson" (anderson for sure). He gave the receiver, 4 year warranty and a HDMI cable for 531 out the door shipped express. I had it in about 3 days.

Pioneers standard warranty if you buy direct from them is 2yr.

Be advised alot of online stores are not allowed to resell products so you wont get the factory warranty. But a 4 year warranty where they repair it at a place by your house or cut you a check of the purchase price...Thumbs up.

 

[palleg33]

Narrowed it down a bit!!

Thanks to all for their input. I have now fixated on connections and quality of sound and picture.

I decided to buy a new upscaling DVD player as I don't want to take the blu-ray plunge yet
Pioneer DV420k for 85.00

Then I am between the Pioneer vsx-919(upconverts but does not upscale?) and the Pioneer vsx-1019 receivers (upscales)

I would love to run my HDDVR cable box and new DVD player to the receiver via HDMI and then send one HDMI cable to the TV.

However, I don't want to lose picture or sound quality. Will I need to spend the extra 100 to get the 1019 or will the 919 suffice. I have also read I could connect HDMI to the tv from the cable box and DVD and then use optical cables to the recievers for sound but this is more cluttered than I wanted.

Also, we have an ipod and an xm radio subscription if that means anything. But I do have a griffin evolve for our ipod with wireless speakers so it may not factor in.

Please help me pick a receiver of the two mentioned above

 

[palleg33]

Narrowed it down a bit!!

Thanks to all for their input. I have now fixated on connections and quality of sound and picture.

I decided to buy a new upscaling DVD player as I don't want to take the blu-ray plunge yet
Pioneer DV420k for 85.00

Then I am between the Pioneer vsx-919(upconverts but does not upscale?) and the Pioneer vsx-1019 receivers (upscales)

I would love to run my HDDVR cable box and new DVD player to the receiver via HDMI and then send one HDMI cable to the TV.

However, I don't want to lose picture or sound quality. Will I need to spend the extra 100 to get the 1019 or will the 919 suffice. I have also read I could connect HDMI to the tv from the cable box and DVD and then use optical cables to the reciever for sound but this is more cluttered than I wanted.

Also, we have an ipod and an xm radio subscription if that means anything. But I do have a griffin evolve for our ipod with wireless speakers so it may not factor in.

Please help me pick a receiver of the two mentioned above

 

[mperfct]

I dunno, I'd spring an extra $50 or so and get a Panny BRP. If you are going to buy an upscaling DVD player, get an Oppo 981/983 and be done with it.

(edit) and don't ever buy a receiver based on it's video handling qualities. If they are making your signal look better, then you need a better source unit or display unit. Hope that makes sense.

 

[sholling]

I'll be honest I've owned Pioneer VSX series receivers and I was less than impressed after living with them. I started out with a VSX-912 that I later replaced with a VSX-1014 moving the 912 into my master bedroom. The 912 now lives in the garage and has been replaced by an Onkyo TX-SR606. Partly for HDMI but mostly because neither Pioneer seemed to really drive my speakers well. The 1014 now lives in my home office. If you're going to invest in Pioneer then spend the money on an Elite series.

I'd also reconsider Blu-Ray. With prices hovering between $130-200 for a decent unit it's worth spending the extra $50. Black Friday has come and gone but watch for Christmas sales online.

 

[bmninada]

"However, I don't want to lose picture or sound quality. Will I need to spend the extra 100 to get the 1019 or will the 919 suffice. I have also read I could connect HDMI to the tv from the cable box and DVD and then use optical cables to the reciever for sound but this is more cluttered than I wanted."

This is also something, I am really interested in knowing. I have DLink DVD player with network connection. But it doesn't have HDMI. As such would send COAX to receiver. The component out - wanted to send to TV directly (to upconvert/upscale as appropriate).
Alternatively, can't I connect the component to receiver and from receiver have just 1 HDMI output to TV but make sure my receiver doesn't do any upconverts/upscales and let the TV handle that. All receiver essentially does is converts the analog signal (component) to digital (HDMI)

 

[palleg33]

I dunno, I'd spring an extra $50 or so and get a Panny BRP. If you are going to buy an upscaling DVD player, get an Oppo 981/983 and be done with it.

(edit) and don't ever buy a receiver based on it's video handling qualities. If they are making your signal look better, then you need a better source unit or display unit. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for your help. So, are you saying I should hook the cable box and dvd video (HDMI) to my display (Samsung 5087s DLP) and let the digital audio (optical cables) be handled by the receiver no matter which one I choose?

 

[sholling]

Thanks for your help. So, are you saying I should hook the cable box and dvd video (HDMI) to my display (Samsung 5087s DLP) and let the digital audio (optical cables) be handled by the receiver no matter which one I choose?

No, no, no. What he (I believe) is saying is go ahead and use HDMI to the receiver and then from the receiver to the TV - but don't use the receiver's video processing. I agree. I have an Onkyo TX-NR906 with serious video processing capability in my family room but I don't use that function. I let my TV do the upscaling.

 

[palleg33]

Sorry for my ignorance. But if I hook the DVD and cable box HDMI to the receiver and then the receiver HDMI out to the TV won't it automatically get upscaled at the receiver? Is there some way to pass through? I thought I needed to directly connect the DVD and Cable box to the tv to avoid receiver upscaling.

Thanks. Looking forward to your response

 

[palleg33]

By the way. You got an LG blu ray for 129? I was hesitant to upgrade to this as we are not huge movie watchers and I thought purchasing these tapes would get expensive. We usually watch movies on demand anyway. But I may do it if the prices are closer to 130 for decent models.

I have not ruled out the Onkyo. That is my current receiver and subwoofer. I love it, but no HDMI capability

 

[Seth=L]

I'd just skip the upscaling DVD player and get a Blu-ray player. Most of the Blu-ray players do a pretty good job of upconverting your regular DVDs, I see no reason to purchase another thing that does only some of what the Blu-ray player does. IMO, it would be a waste of money to get a DVD player at this point unless it has some specific function that Blu-ray players do not in a certain price range.

 

[sholling]

You can turn the video processing on or off on the Onkyos and I assume on the Pioneer Elites. On both of mine default was off.

The LG BD-370 that I bought was a Black Friday weekend only sale. They normally sell for $180ish. It will play DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, plus it has a network connection that lets it play youtube videos and Netflix's over the internet offerings. I have a Netflix 3 BD disc at a time membership ($21/mo) that also allows me to stream video from their site. It's in my bedroom. I use my PS/3 for videos in my family room. If you watch the Internet adds carefully you'll see a lot of deals on good Blu-Ray players for under $150 and a few entry level players for under $100. I have a feeling that it's going to be the hot item this year.

 

[palleg33]

What do you think of the Panasonic DMP-BD60 blu ray player. It is going for 120ish and seems like a decent player. I assume this will play and upscale standard DVD's. You guys have me rethinking onkyo again.

 

[Seth=L]

The Panasonic DMP-BD60 is an excellent Blu-ray player and has above par DVD video upscaling for the street price. I give it two thumbs up.

Also, Panasonic Blu-ray players have some of the fastest boot-up times as well. They rarely have issues. Panasonic gets Consumer Reports highest reliability rating on most electronic devices. There aren't many things negative to say about the Panasonic Blu-ray players really, at least I can't think of any.

 

[palleg33]

So Seth, I can get maximum video output and audio hooking HDMI from DVD and cable box to my receiver (pioneer or onkyo with upconversion but not upscaling) and then one HDMI to my tv? Will the high quality video signal just pass through the receiver and be displayed at 1080p on my HDTV?

I hope this finally settles it.

 

[Surroundpro]

Onkyo

In my professional opinion I would lok for a good deal on a new onkyo 607 - Ive personally used it many times with great success ! Bottom line- its a beast thats easy to use , that will allow easy connection of HD sources - hope this helps

 

[bmninada]

Yes - it'll work, ensure receiver settings are set correctly.

 

[palleg33]

Surround pro. Can I use the Onkyo 607 with multi zone function. Will I be able to listen to another source in a separate room while watching tv?

Also, we have an xm subscription. It says it is sirius ready. Will that matter given the merger?