Upgrade Yamaha RX-V673

siross

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Hi all.

I've not been in the market for av equipment for a while so it's all a bit baffling at the moment.

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth upgrading from my trusty yamaha which seems to be serving it's purpose well.

I'm taking delivery of a new 4k TV tomorrow which will predominantly used with an nvidia shield and Virgin TV.

The Virgin box isn't an issue as there is little to no 4k content at the minute but I believe they are potentially putting more on?

I'd like the shield to show Netflix etc in 4k so if I don't upgrade I'd have to bypass the av receiver and use optical outs?

My speakers are acoustic energy ae120 fronts ae100 rears and 107 centre. With an MK subwoofer.

Would I gain much more from a new receiver? No more than £500. Happy to go second hand
 
What TV are you getting? Mosr models have a comprehensive selection of streaming servic app onboard. DEpending upon the make of TV then you may or may not be able to get as good as you'd get via the Shield in terms of both video and audio via these apps onboard the TV?

You would ideally need an AV receiver inclusive of an ARC or eARC enabled HDMI output though. This would allow you to convey the DD+ most streaming services use from the TV out to the AV receiver.

I'm under the impression that the Yamaha RX-V673 is ARC enabled?


The one thing you'd not have access to with your current setup and streaming apps is Atmos object orientated audio.


Your current AV receiver is limited by the fact it has no HDCP 2.2 or 2.3 compliance or HDR compatability. THis would seriously hidder you if you were to add a UGD disc player or other 4K UHD external sources to your setup, but this doesn;t nescessarily preven you accessing the audio associated with streaming services if using the apps onboard the TV itself.
 
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What TV are you getting? Mosr models have a comprehensive selection of streaming servic app onboard. DEpending upon the make of TV then you may or may not be able to get as good as you'd get via the Shield in terms of both video and audio via these apps onboard the TV?

You would ideally need an AV receiver inclusive of an ARC or eARC enabled HDMI output though. This would allow you to convey the DD+ most streaming services use from the TV out to the AV receiver.

I'm under the impression that the Yamaha RX-V673 is ARC enabled?


The one thing you'd not have access to with your current setup and streaming apps is Atmos object orientated audio.

Hi, the TV is the Samsung UE65TU7020. I've previously been disappointed with built in TV apps and more specifically Samsung UI but my previous iteration was from 2012 so things may have improved.

I've just gone to check whether the AV Receiver is ARC enabled and I don't believe it is, but it does mention 4k passthrough, I didn't realise this...

 
The manual does suggest that the Yamaha RX-V673 is ARC enabled:

by default 2022-01-06 at 09.16.18.png




I've also been involved in previous discussions where ARC has been used relative to this model:


Given the other considerations, you still may be better off looking at a more recent model though?
 
may not be relevant but i did a similar exercise last year and got rid of my Yamaha 673 AV receiver and swapped it all out for a Sonos setup - it blew the performance of the Yamaha out of the water.
 
The issue you are going to have if wanting a new AVR is your budget.
 
Thanks for the replies all. I've set up the TV and the arc seems to be working fine as @dante01 suggests. I've connected the HDMI from the eARC HDMI input on the TV and HDMI 1 on the receiver and it just works...

Turning the TV on turns the receiver on, switches to AV5 (no idea why) and then plays audio from tv to receiver. Not sure whether it's getting a full 5.1 signal though, I need to do a bit of testing. All volume controls work as well.

So really, there doesn't seem much point in upgrading at the minute.

@bigbfan a Sonos set up would be very costly. The AV receiver is also only one part of the puzzle here, the full set up together should be able to compete with a Sonos set up.
 
ARC is reliant upon HDMI CEC (HDMI Control) this means that you have to have HDMI CEC engaged onboard both the TV and the AV receiver in order to be able to use ARC. The adverse effect of this is that the TV will trigger the AV receiver to automatically switch to the source ordinarilly allocated to ARC whenever you power them up.

It isn't a fault with either device and simply a flaw in the way HDMI CEC and ARC work.

In order to ensure that you are outputting 5.1 sources when available, set the TV's digital TV output to an option that equates to BITSTREAM and not the PCM option. THe bitstream option is sometimes termed AUTO and or PASS THROUGH. Do not set the digital audio output to the PCM option or the TV will downmix all audio to nothing more than 2 channel PCM. Note that some services such as YouTube will only ever fascilitate you with 2 channel PCM regardless of the digital audio output configuration you have used. THis is because such services do not provide or host multichannel audio.
 
ARC is reliant upon HDMI CEC (HDMI Control) this means that you have to have HDMI CEC engaged onboard both the TV and the AV receiver in order to be able to use ARC. The adverse effect of this is that the TV will trigger the AV receiver to automatically switch to the source ordinarilly allocated to ARC whenever you power them up.

It isn't a fault with either device and simply a flaw in the way HDMI CEC and ARC work.

In order to ensure that you are outputting 5.1 sources when available, set the TV's digital TV output to an option that equates to BITSTREAM and not the PCM option. THe bitstream option is sometimes termed AUTO and or PASS THROUGH. Do not set the digital audio output to the PCM option or the TV will downmix all audio to nothing more than 2 channel PCM. Note that some services such as YouTube will only ever fascilitate you with 2 channel PCM regardless of the digital audio output configuration you have used. THis is because such services do not provide or host multichannel audio.

Thank you for your help and advice, I've put the setting on to PASS THROUGH and everything seems to be working perfectly now. I'm getting 5.1 tracks from both Virgin box and the apps on the TV. Happy days!
 

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