For what it's worth, I picked up the 2700 over Christmas in advance of my axioms showing up (which just did) and I've been playing with the HDMI and other functions. At first I couldn't get 1080p passthrough working - only the component connection from my Wii would feed and pass on over HDMI. However after some rearranging of gear, whatever dropout that was happening with my stubby cables (3 foot seemed so much longer when I ordered them!) were being stretched cleared up and now it's working flawlessly. I haven't noticed any degredation in picture quality for what it's worth. While I'd rather have hooked everything up directly to my new Samsung, it wasn't workable with only 2 HDMI inputs on the set and 3 (with more to come
) HDMI sources.
Also, you mentioned the ability to handle PCM audio over HDMI I think. It does do this if I you're asking the question I think you are (and I was before).
I'm sure you already found it, but AVS has a good thread going on the 1700 and 2700:
AVS 1700/2700Finally...I'm sure you can find cheaper places, but I bought my 2700 from ABT electronics out of Chicago. I emailed them wondering if they'd offer a discount since I was looking to buy my Samsung 6188 and the 2700. The request ended up in the hands of corporate sales and the woman I worked with was excellent. Throughout the process she stressed that if I had any problems at all to call her directly and she would get them fixed now. Including soaking up return shipping costs etc.
The fact that I saved $350 from the web listed MSRP on the 2700 and got the 6188 for $150 less than anywhere else reputable I could find on the web felt like a bonus. The overall service alone would have been nearly worth it after some of the horror stories I've read elsewhere.
Wow, long winded. Hope it helps. As you can tell I'm a big fan of the 2700 and I won't begin to tap it's potential till the rest of my axioms show up. If you have questions, let me know. The impact will probably seem less for you since you apparently had "nice" gear before.
Good luck.
Nick
