Are current AV receivers compatible with forthcoming Blu Ray/HD DVD players?

[pitxi]

I intend to purchase the new Denon 3806, but I would like to know if I will be able to use it with forthcoming Blu Ray or HD DVD players. If this receiver is not compatible, is there any receiver compatible with them?
Thank you.

[Gary_W]

As I understand it....

There is nothing out there at the moment capable of receiving digital data from such sources; the manufacturers are still having a bit of a sponsored argument over the fine points and as such no-one is building these capabilities into an amp.

However....

The formats concerned will be true 7.1. So as long as the Blu-Ray player is capable of outputing 7.1 analogue pre-outs and as long as the receiver you buy has 7.1 analogue inputs you should be good to go. As long as you don't mind the spaghetti. We can all hope that a current receiver with iLink, Denon Link or HDMI will work with the new formats digitally but I suspect we'll be lucky.

I'll be buying the 3806 (or maybe the Pioneer AX4) and going analogue with things for the forseeable future.

Gary

[Ed Selley]

There is a good chance that the "new" surround formats can be re-flashed onto existing units that have the relevant upgradeability. Receivers that have an RS232 might be a good place to start looking. This is not a cast iron guarentee but you've nothing to loose by trying it.

[Tejstar]

As the above posters have pointed out, there are no amps/receivers that include the necessary codecs for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray. Afaik there are no forthcoming units that will feature them either. However, these codecs have been announced (click here for info on Dolby’s TrueHD) and therefore I would expect manufacturers to start including them in the next iteration of their receivers i.e. Denon 3807 etc.

However, when released, some HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players should come with the necessary codecs on board. Therefore even if you bought a receiver now you could still benefit from HD sound, it will just be the player doing the processing instead of the amp. Hope that makes sense!

[MPK]

The new formats DD Plus and DTS HD will be backward compatible with existing decoders, but obviously you won't get the benefits of the new technology. So no need to worry, you'll still be able to play discs with 5.1 surround sound. Alternatively, as Gary_W mentioned, you will be able to use the onboard decoders of the DVD player (if any) and use your amp's pre-inputs