I just made the move to HD-DVD and supposedly my new Toshiba A2 will only output the better audio via HDMI. That means new receiver if they aren't horribly expensive.
Any recommendations in the $400 to $500 range?
Greg
I found the HK AVR245 but it won't utilize audio via HDMI. IIRC, that means "ordinary" DTS and not the improved audio.
Anyone like Onkyo? How about this guy?
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=31563Thanks for any tips.
Greg
This is the only one near the price range you are looking at, that I could find. If you were to up the budget or look refurbished you then have a few more possibilties. I like
Denon's 2307, 2807.
You need one that will accept the multi channel PCM output of the player. Don't assume that if the receiver has HDMI 1.1, the receiver will do this. Most Denons will, the newer Yamaha's, and although my HK745 don't, it's supposed to. Your best bet is to do exactly what you have, ask for input on specific receivers from folks who have them. You may want to ask this question at AVS on the HD DVD board.
Thanks for the replies. And I am not trying to get anyone to do my dirty work for me, just seeing if anyone happens to have one in this price range and likes it.
I'll check those recommendations as well as the Onkyo that sells for $379. From the price, it sounds like it won't do what I want.
Greg
I went ahead and bought the Onkyo receiver. It won't up-process component to HDMI but I don't really care about that.
For those who wonder what going from DVD to HD-DVD, and I assume Blu-Ray is like, here are some thoughts:
1) The receiver is very easy to setup. Easier than the HK AVR240 I used to have. You do need to asign HDMI to the DVD selector but that is easy enough to do.
2) The receiver only says HDMI when watching Batman Begins. It is at the movie level you select the audio you want to hear. With the DVD playing, you press menu the menu button. The movie continues playback and the menu slides up into the letter box bars. The audio tab has selectors for True HD, DD+ and I think, DTS. Toggling between them causes the audio to temporarily cut out so I am very certain I am hearing True HD once it is selected.
3) Sound quality. I can't really tell a difference between Dolby True HD and Dolby Digital 5.1 that I normally heard. But I am not an audiophile and unless I can switch back and forth and to a really good A-B comparison, I'll probably never know. This is not what I would call a detriment. Also, Batman Begins would normally be around 65 on the volume level with the SD version. The HD version needs about 75 to be comfortably loud. I have heard this is the way Dolby True HD is so it isn't a reflection of the player or receiver.
4) Picture quality. Noticeably better than with ordinary DVD. If you ever went from watching Discovery Channel non-HD nature programming to Discovery HD theater, you saw a picture improvement tough to put into words. A massive improvement to say the least. HD-DVD is no where near as big a jump and I watch on a 106" screen with a Sanyo Z4 front projector. The difference is certainly there and worth the upgrade, just don't expect to see the SD tv to HD tv difference I described above. People's faces look a lot less fuzzy than on the regular DVD and you may not notice just how fuzzy your old DVD's looked until you upgrade. Text and graphics are a night and day difference and I am sure the Antarctica DVD I have on order will be more impressive than "just a movie." I tend to think that cinema is about mood and story telling whereas documentaries are all about a gorgeous picture.
The only negative so far is the A2 player. When you press the stop button, you are supposed to be able to press the resume playback button to be able to get playback to start where you left off. That button on my remote doesn't appear to be working so each time I would stop the movie, I had to start it from the beginning again.
The 604 receiver gets high marks overall. The only oddity is that when I jump from one chapter to the next, it loudly clicks for some reason. I think it is because the HDMI signal is temporarily lost and it looks for it elsewhere. A second later it comes back and clicks back again. I may be able to fix this.
All of this is based upon the first 30 minutes of the movie and a little bit of going back to the SD-DVD version of Batman Begins. I am now going to watch the rest of the movie and see if I can get the clicking to go away. More later.
Greg
Greg