New Receiver....

[the_moose914]

Ok, i need a receiver for the following Devices:
Xbox 360
42" Philips LCD (hdmi)
obviuosly the speakers
and eventualy an HD DVD for the 360
and upconverting DVD player

so what cables and receiver do you recooemnd (for the receiver i need it to be resaonalby priceds not like $600, but it hsould have hdmi.....etc)

 

[Nick250]

Best to pick speakers first, receiver second. Speakers are the most important part of your system. If you had a one thousand dollar budget for a receiver and speakers, I would spend seven hundred on the speakers and three hundred on the receiver. Any Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo Pioneer should suffice if it has the inputs and outputs that you want.

Nick

 

[geekysteve]

Nick is 100% on the money with his suggestion on speakers being the "main ingredient" of your system's budget.

Would also help if we knew about your room, and what you hope to accomplish with the system. Will you spend the majority of your time watching movies? Playing Xbox? Listening to music? Hosting parties? etc?

 

[Seth=L]

I assume he has speakers already from reading the OP. The Onkyo 604 is a good option to consider. It has HDMI 1.1 switching and audio processing abilities. It is less than your proposed price, around $300-400. The advantage of audio processing over HDMI is that it allows for you to process audio from Next-Gen sources such as HD-DVD and Blu-Ray using multichannel Linear PCM up to 7.1 discrete. Onkyo also has a stellar user interface on all receivers that I have used, I have owned two Onkyo receivers in the past.

 

[the_moose914]

red= speakers
so links to cables and receiver and upconvert dvd player would be nice

 

[Seth=L]

I assume that you are using two surround speakers, not just one as the picture implies.

 

[Nick250]

Moose, what are your speakers? Can't recommend a receiver without that information. Somehow I thought you had not purchased speakers yet.

Nick

 

[the_moose914]

th reason there is 2 left or right fronts(however you look at it) is becasuse on is the rear, we have yet to ceiling mount them

 

[the_moose914]

Alright So I (my parents) will most likely be getting this stuff:

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-SR604&class=Receiver&p=i

HD COMCAST CABLE BOX

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=DV-SP404&class=DVD&p=i
OR

http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-DV-970HD-Up-Converting-Universal-Player/dp/B000GT5FK0/sr=1-2/qid=1171083349/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-8340518-0516015?ie=UTF8&s=electronics
whats your preference?!?!??!
​

OR CAN YOU SUGGEST A NICE DVD PLAYER THAT UP CONVERTS AND HAS A VCR, OR IS IT EASIER TO GO SEPARATE, IF SO WHATS A GOOD AND NICE LOOKING VCR???

Another thing that would be helpful is if you listed the quantity of each type of cable (HDMI, component, optical (i can't remember the two types of these) i would need if i wanted the best audio/video....
i have a 42" lcd w/ one hdmi input and like 3 componets, but i really only need the hdmi, cuz the tv is only going to display the picture

 

[Seth=L]

I would order two HDMI cables online and another that has a converter that makes DVI turn into HDMI. Then you need only one optical cable. The HDMI can be routed through the Receiver from the DVD player and the Cable box (you need the HDMI-DVI adapter to connect the cable box to the receiver. Next connect the optical cable to the cable box and route it to the Onkyo Receiver. HDMI can carry both audio and video on the same cable, so you only need to make one connection between the DVD player and the receiver. The cable box, since it only has a DVI output, you will be needing the optical cable because DVI interface only does HD-Video, not audio. Last run the HDMI output from the reciever to the television.

Good Luck,

 

[the_moose914]

thanks for the help,
i'll let my dad know so he can get the comcast guy out here to install the boxes in our house.
Also whats you opinion the DVD players (onyko vs. oppo), and is there any DVD players that have a VCR and UPCONVERT the dvds to 1080i.
or should i just get the dvd and vcr players separate, if so whats a good vcr?

 

[Seth=L]

If it were me, I would find an older, nice VCR. I don't think that a new VCR will be any different from older ones, it is a proven technoligy and isn't making advances for obvious reasons. The VCRs they make today are to small and cheasy for me to even consider them. VCR-DVD combos as a general rule are not good.

 

[the_moose914]

and the dvd players i chose?

 

[Seth=L]

Either should be fine. Note the Oppo comes with an HDMI cable, so if you get that one you will only need to buy one regular HDMI cable and a HDMI-DVI cable. A friend of mine is a die hard Onkyo fanatic and may be getting an Onkyo Upconverting player soon, even though I advised against it. Not because I think that Onkyo makes bad players, only because HD formats will eventually have numerous movies and players that are cheaper and buying a DVD player now if you already have a decent one seems silly to me. I have seen Upconverting players in action, they don't do much for me. DVD is usually not going to look bounds better on HDTV than it already does.

 

[the_moose914]

well all we have now is like a dvd player that is an HT in a box thing, so i guess will just get a cheap dvd player and later on if HD-DVD wins, we will get the add on for the 360

 

[Seth=L]

well all we have now is like a dvd player that is an HT in a box thing, so i guess will just get a cheap dvd player and later on if HD-DVD wins, we will get the add on for the 360

Heck, get the add-on now.

 

[the_moose914]

lol, ill try it at my relatives house first, their new house has a 10' * 6 ' screen with an hd projector

 

[AmpItUP]

I completely agree with Nick, get the speakers first.

__________________
McIntosh MCD201 - MCD201 SACD/CD Player Catalog by McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. for download

 

[jcPanny]

DVD Player

I have the Oppo DV-970HD and recommend it. I have been using it for a few months for DVD viewing on my 32" LCD. I haven't used it for DVD-A or SACD playback, yet, but the memory card slots on the front are convenient for viewing pics from the camera.

You can read detailed reviews on the secrets of HT DVD benchmark, but it is a great upscaling DVD player for the money.

 

[avaserfi]

I have the Oppo DV-970HD and recommend it. I have been using it for a few months for DVD viewing on my 32" LCD. I haven't used it for DVD-A or SACD playback, yet, but the memory card slots on the front are convenient for viewing pics from the camera.

You can read detailed reviews on the secrets of HT DVD benchmark, but it is a great upscaling DVD player for the money.

Ive read that if you aren't using the HDMI cable on the oppo its not even worth having since it doesn't up convert through the components, is that right?