Hi guys, typical noob looking for some help if anyone's willing to lend a hand
I have a Samsung 37" R88 and have been looking for a while to sort some decent sound out - decent to my ears is probably pretty average to some of your ears, having never really experienced a 'proper' several thousand pound audio system before! After toying with separates or all in ones, I've decided that investing in a decent separates system will serve me better for longer, and so here I am starting at the receiver.
I'm struggling to pick around the various units because I frankly have no idea what the differences are between all the various Pro-Logic/DTS/THX etc decoding gumph, so I'm hoping you guys can point me in the right direction if I list my requirements
In terms of usage, the main input of any substance is going to be an Xbox 360, which has an HDMI out, so I'd like a unit that will take a 5.1 audio signal straight off that rather than needing a separate optical connection. Although I do have a question here - currently I plug the 360 into HDMI 2 on my Samsung for 1:1 pixel mapping, so that I can output at the native panel resolution rather than just 720p. I have no idea how a receiver would handle this - am I likely to lose that?
Secondary input would be out BT Vision box - also HDMI. Nothing really special coming from this at the moment, we dont use the movie rental service but hopefully in future we'll be getting some HD/5.1 service from freeview and I'd like to be in a position to take advantage of that.
Bar a couple of other boxes (PS2/Wii (with component)) those 2 are the key, the 360 in particular. I'd like the receiver to pass analogue inputs out over the HDMI connection if possible, just for convenience. Ideally I'd like a spare HDMI in to cater for a PS3 or Blueray player in the future but neither are on the horizon.
At the start of this I was planning on looking at 2.1 systems, so in terms of speakers I wouldn't be against just having that for now and upgrading to 2.1 in the future but I guess that's for another thread.
Budget wise I'm looking at around £350 - but I dont know if I have pretty modest requirements and that's more than I'd need to spend, or I'm after cutting edge functionality and I need to put some more to it. Hoping you guys will set me straight
So yeah, any comments on my requirements and unit recommendations welcome. Thanks for reading and sorry for the rambly post!
I have a Samsung 37" R88 and have been looking for a while to sort some decent sound out - decent to my ears is probably pretty average to some of your ears, having never really experienced a 'proper' several thousand pound audio system before! After toying with separates or all in ones, I've decided that investing in a decent separates system will serve me better for longer, and so here I am starting at the receiver.
I'm struggling to pick around the various units because I frankly have no idea what the differences are between all the various Pro-Logic/DTS/THX etc decoding gumph, so I'm hoping you guys can point me in the right direction if I list my requirements
In terms of usage, the main input of any substance is going to be an Xbox 360, which has an HDMI out, so I'd like a unit that will take a 5.1 audio signal straight off that rather than needing a separate optical connection. Although I do have a question here - currently I plug the 360 into HDMI 2 on my Samsung for 1:1 pixel mapping, so that I can output at the native panel resolution rather than just 720p. I have no idea how a receiver would handle this - am I likely to lose that?
Secondary input would be out BT Vision box - also HDMI. Nothing really special coming from this at the moment, we dont use the movie rental service but hopefully in future we'll be getting some HD/5.1 service from freeview and I'd like to be in a position to take advantage of that.
Bar a couple of other boxes (PS2/Wii (with component)) those 2 are the key, the 360 in particular. I'd like the receiver to pass analogue inputs out over the HDMI connection if possible, just for convenience. Ideally I'd like a spare HDMI in to cater for a PS3 or Blueray player in the future but neither are on the horizon.
At the start of this I was planning on looking at 2.1 systems, so in terms of speakers I wouldn't be against just having that for now and upgrading to 2.1 in the future but I guess that's for another thread.
Budget wise I'm looking at around £350 - but I dont know if I have pretty modest requirements and that's more than I'd need to spend, or I'm after cutting edge functionality and I need to put some more to it. Hoping you guys will set me straight
So yeah, any comments on my requirements and unit recommendations welcome. Thanks for reading and sorry for the rambly post!