Worth Upgrading or Not?

[ousooner2]

I'll make this short and sweet. I've got a Yamaha RX-v663 and I'll be powering

EMP e55ti's - EMP e56ci - EMP e5bi's - sub unknown at moment

I'll likely stick with 5.1 for awhile as I just don't have room for 7.1 at the moment. Having the ability to have 7.1/7.2 like my 663 is nice though for future possibilities. My other need is that my HTPC is across the house in the study and I'd like to be able to stream/play music/pandora/movies(torrents) from the PC. I know about AirPlay, but I think it only does music right? I'll likely just pick up WDlive, Roku or maybe even AppleTV...though I don't like how it doesn't play MKV files.

On another note...I've got a wall plate right behind my tv stand and I was thinking about changing it out with a custom one from BlueJeansCable. Have a couple banana plugs for my surrounds to come down the wall and plug into, cable jack obviously...but should I put an Ethernet port there for a hard wired connection for any of those streaming devices? I'm not sure how good they are at streaming from 40-50', but I don't want to have to go back into the attic to run an ethernet if I can just run it while I'm running my surround wires.

Anyways...that wasn't very short lol. Sorry. My main point is if it's worth an upgrade to a Denon 1712/etc in the $300-$400 range. I have a buyer for my 663 at $200...so is it worth spending $200 to upgrade? or should I put that towards a sub purchase for later?

Seems like the 663 has a good amount of power still. Seems like most like the MultiEQ more than Yammy's EQ though.

 

[j_garcia]

I don't think something like the 1712 would be a huge step up from what you have, if at all, with the exception of some newer features and MultiEQ XT. A sub would likely be a much bigger benefit.

For the Roku, unless you get the XS (current models) or the top model 1st generation, they are all wireless only. Which really just means you would need the top model that costs you a little more, or accept wireless. Regardless of that, I'd run the ethernet.

I have a Roku2 XD and it performs mostly well, just with certain channels it tends to freeze randomly, which gets annoying. Other than that, it works fine.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Ethernet all the way. My NAS, HTPC, & Denon are all connected via Ethernet. The Ethernet to my Denon 3312 is 50'. No problem streaming BD movies at all.

I would get an open box Denon 3312 for around $500 delivered. Saw it from Amazion few weeks ago. Also saw it from Electronics Expo (can call them & negotiate best deal).

 

[ousooner2]

How are you streaming movies Acu?

If I'm already going to be up in the attic running speaker wire I might as well just run that ethernet lol. I figure it's likely a much more stable connection that wireless at higher resolutions.

I still can't decide whether to go with WDlive, Roku, etc. I want it to stream MKV files that I torrent along with being able to play all my music from my PC flawlessly. I know lots of people use wireless, but I just want to make sure it doesn't struggle with larger video files like MKV's and larger audio files like Flac/WAV.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

How are you streaming movies Acu?

If I'm already going to be up in the attic running speaker wire I might as well just run that ethernet lol. I figure it's likely a much more stable connection that wireless at higher resolutions.

I still can't decide whether to go with WDlive, Roku, etc. I want it to stream MKV files that I torrent along with being able to play all my music from my PC flawlessly. I know lots of people use wireless, but I just want to make sure it doesn't struggle with larger video files like MKV's and larger audio files like Flac/WAV.

Yes. Streaming Netflix HD movies from my Panasonic BD player and BD movies (ripped to ISO files since using DVDFab) from my NAS. For big BD files, you need Ethernet.

 

[ousooner2]

Okay then let me ask this lol...

Are there any AVR's that have ethernet port so I could not have to use a wireless streaming device like WDlive/Roku/AppleTV/etc? Not sure if they make one like that, but that'd be cool if I could just run an ethernet from my PC to my AVR and just stream all my video and audio like that and the AVR would decode/do everything.

Since I've got a buyer (or 2) for my 663, if I could just spend that $100-150 or so that I would use on a wireless streaming device on an AVR upgrade that would do what I just mentioned...that'd be great too.


Acu - Did you end up selling both of your subs to that one guy or just one of them?

 

[lsiberian]

Okay then let me ask this lol...

Are there any AVR's that have ethernet port so I could not have to use a wireless streaming device like WDlive/Roku/AppleTV/etc? Not sure if they make one like that, but that'd be cool if I could just run an ethernet from my PC to my AVR and just stream all my video and audio like that and the AVR would decode/do everything.

Since I've got a buyer (or 2) for my 663, if I could just spend that $100-150 or so that I would use on a wireless streaming device on an AVR upgrade that would do what I just mentioned...that'd be great too.


Acu - Did you end up selling both of your subs to that one guy or just one of them?

No there aren't any I'm aware of.

 

[ousooner2]

Well that'd be a pretty cool feature if someone would come out with that!

 

[lsiberian]

Well that'd be a pretty cool feature if someone would come out with that!

It wouldn't be hard to do, but if one part breaks. You'd be up a creek. It's like the TVVCR combos.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Okay then let me ask this lol...

Are there any AVR's that have ethernet port so I could not have to use a wireless streaming device like WDlive/Roku/AppleTV/etc? Not sure if they make one like that, but that'd be cool if I could just run an ethernet from my PC to my AVR and just stream all my video and audio like that and the AVR would decode/do everything.

Since I've got a buyer (or 2) for my 663, if I could just spend that $100-150 or so that I would use on a wireless streaming device on an AVR upgrade that would do what I just mentioned...that'd be great too.


Acu - Did you end up selling both of your subs to that one guy or just one of them?

I sold both the Rythmik subs.

You connect your PC to the Router via Ethernet and the AVR to the Router via Ethernet. Now on your AVR, you select Network--> Media Server --> PC.

So in a way you are connecting Ethernet from the PC to the AVR.

I don't need Roku or any media player to stream music.