Reciever Recommendation with input/output 'conversion'?

StreetDragster

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Hi All,

I wonder whether you can help me, a friend has asked my assistance with choosing him a receiver for his home cinema setup with a few requirements, and I’ve been out the loop with technology for a couple of years since i bought mine. Please bear with me, i expect you get this question alot.


1) His budget is roughly £350 tops

2) He only needs outputs for a 5.1 setup, although the option of a 6.1 or higher would be nice

3) If possible for his budget, he would like a receiver compatible with this new 'HD audio', although i must admit i have never heard of this before.

4) His TV is being used as a display panel only, so i think he needs a 'receiver' rather than an 'amplifier'?

He connects the following equipment to his setup-
Xbox 360, via component and optical TOSLINK
PS3, via HDMI
Sky HD, via HDMI
Wii, via HDMI
Occasionally, a camcorder via composite

What he's looking for, is basically, a single HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV, and then the receiver 'converts' any video from the various sources to supply the TV. He would like this so the TV is always set to one input, and the input selection is easily made on the receiver by pressing just one button (Input). Therefore his family, who are not very AV literate, can use the system easily. (As in, Xbox on, press the 'Xbox' button on the receiver, TV on, job done)

Is this even possible/available at the moment? And if so, what would you suggest? My only experience is with a Cambridge Audio 540R V2, and i don't think it (or any of the range?) do the conversion part he would like.

The TV is a 50" Pioneer Kuro

Thanks in advance for all help

Matt
 
An AV Receiver is effectively an AV Amplifier with a built in tuner (radio). The Yamaha 763, Denon 1909, Sony 2400ES will all do what you want. I don't think the Pioneer models will fit in with the budget constraints. The VSX-1018 has Kuro link if you wanted that feature but as I stated, it is over your £350 limit.

For more information on the HD audio formats see HERE. The PS3 decodes all formats inc. HD and outputs this decoded stream in LPCM format over HDMI. All of the amps above have HD audio decoding on board but this would be unused as the PS3 cannot output the audio in raw bitstream form, so the amp will display Multi-channel, LPCM or similar and not the audio format. In order to see what audio format is input, you need to press the display button on the PS3.

To simplify the setup even more, I recommend a universal remote such as the Logitech Harmony One. It will select the relevant video and audio inputs on the AV Receiver and the TV by the press of one button e.g. Play PS3, Watch Sky, Play wii and so on. All the Harmony remotes are similar in setup and programming and the cheapest is the 525, which I use in 2nd setup.
 
Hi guys, i'm streetdragsters friend who he is helping find an AV receiver for. :hiya:
I'd almost decided which reciever to go for, then realised they were all a standard width of ~430mm - 435mm.
The problem is that the shelf in my sideboard cupboards where the receiver will be is only 420mm (absolute max).... is there such thing as a narrow or an upright AV reciever that will give the same performance as the above mentioned Receivers??
 
If you check the manufacturer's websites, you'll get the dimensions. Unfortunately the more features you want/need, the bigger the receiver gets. A quick look at av-land (good selection of receivers but no Yamaha) revealed the Pioneers are 420mm wide. I hope that helps, otherwise you might need to review where you site the receiver and remember they need room for heat dissipation.
 
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