Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater AVR's are confusing. :P Help me pick one, again.

Well I had purchased a denon 589 which JohnK had recommended but after receiving it and playing with it I realized it does not have audio switching through it's hdmi's.

So I think I am left with a box I can't do much with, please correct me if I am wrong here.

I wanted to connect my computer, my xbox360, and my hd cable through my receiver without having any audio switching issues.. Maybe I am not quite understanding how the wiring will work, this is what I am hoping anyways.

So my DVR is acting as my tuner, my cable comes through my dvr and then uses an HDMI and a coax to go to my avr right? My computer would do the same thing, thus using up all my hdmi imputs.

This leaves my xbox360 without any imputs to use but I could maybe get a switcher.. I guess I am wondering how seemlessly the audio / video would integrate into this avr 589 system. I was eyeing the 1910 or 591 as alternative options.

But I was hoping someone here could straighten out my confusion.

Are there such things as automatic switchers btw?

Hey Bakajon

Can you clarify? I'm not sure wht you are referring to when you say, "audio switching through it's hdmi's"

If your devices put audio out through HDMI then your reciever will use that audio.

Your DVR should use HDMI for video *and* audio. You should not require a Coax. Same with your computer, although support for that depends on driver support. I had to find and install an extra driver to do it, and even then I can only get Stereo over HDMI. If I want 5.1 I have to go Analog or buy another sound card.

The 589 only has 2 HDMI inputs so anything beyond that and you're going to have to start choosing devices to use Componant In.

Ideally you could get 4 Hi Def sources...
- 2x HDMI (video and audio)
- 2x Componant Vid + Coax/Optical

Maybe you could move your DVR to Componant/Coax leaving you with a free HDMI port or Componant/Coax for the XBox?


Personally I chose a Denon 1910 because of the number of HDMI inputs.

What irks me about the Denons... no VGA or DVI inputs! Hooking up a PC is HDMI or nothing! (love them otherwise)

Regards
snazzed

Your DVR is the device in your list that does not require HDMI at all. Use component + coax for it to free a port for your xbox. In your Denon receiver, you need to configure each "source" properly (identifying which connector is to be used for audio, video or both audio/video). Whenever you select a source, both audio and video will switch in your receiver.

Umm, snaz you do realize avr's are designed for Home Theater and not computer use, this would be why they strictly use HDMI, besides which HDMI is becoming the standard even for PC use.

And DVI is electrically compatible with HDMI, so you can use a simple physical adapter to convert DVI to HDMI (without sound of course).

Hey Jay.

AVRs don't "strictly use HDMI". There are a number of AVR manufactueres out there that *do* have DVI inputs on their AVRs. To me its a Denon "irk".

Also, there are still a large number of computers out there that *don't* sport HDMI outs. I'm going to go out on a limb and say *any* computer where you are using the on-board video... and laptops. In fact I have yet to see a PC that *comes with* and HDMI port.

I have yet to see Laptop with HDMI out. In fact, if you have a Mac Laptop, you need an adapter to go from "mini display port" --> DVI and another for DVI --> HDMI.

Is it so wrong that I want to hook my PC up to my good screen and good sound?

snazzed

Hey Bakajon. Are you doing HD audio/video from your PC? I use optical from my computer to the AVR as this is fine for music.

Yes I am doing it from my pc. I wouldn't have any degradation to use optical instead of hdmi? How hard is it to switch between audio / video modes on the avr? This is my biggest concern.

Say I watched a video on my computer then wanted to play a game on my 360. I switch the audio and the video signal separately yes? Sorry I am likely just nit picking. :P Just curious about the process because I have never done it and know no one who knows about it.

Hmmm. Thinking on it, I have my video out from the computer going directly to the display, so I change the source on my AVR from the computer to the PS3 and change my input source on the display whenever I change between the computer and the PS3. It really doesn't seem like much of an burden/issue to me.

I could use HDMI from the PC as I have no other HDMI sources. I'm not sure why I didn't set it up that way.

Hey something awesome. Dakmart informed me that they can not process credit card transactions so I will not be recieving the avr 589.

I am looking into a yamaha 765. I found one for $400, looks like a beautiful piece of hardware.