Thread: Frustration with HDMI Receiver

So my super old receiver finally went.

I went online and did some quick researcha and found a Sony Receiver that has "5 HD Inputs". It's an STR-DH500, and to say it has 5 HD inputs is a half truth. It physically has 5 HD inputs, there are 3 HDMI, and 2 Component. BUT 2 of the component ones are redundant of the HDMI ones so they are basically either/or leaving you with 3 HD input methods.

PLUS, and I found this weird, if you hook your HDMI device into say "SAT", the audio is ONLY passed through to the TV set and is NOT played out of the 5.1 speakers. UNLESS you ALSO attach a TOS fiber cable. I have the cable, but it seems really weird.

Both of those are pretty annoying but I can work around them if necessary. It was a pretty good price.

The bigger problem is that it will not output things coming in on the COMPOSITE video connections through the HDMI port. The manual is poorly translated, and the way I read it I thought it COULD do this, but clearly it doesn't.

My main question is do all or most modern receicers have that last issue? I really want to be able to plug in all my varous devices using HDMI, component, and composite and be abel to have them all show up at the TV via HDMI. Is this even possible? Seems kind of like an obvious feature to me. So obvious it never ocurred to me a recever wouldn't do it.

I am willing to spend some extra money for a Yamaha RX-V465. The online manual for that makes it sound like it will do it, but like the SONY one it's by implication not explicitly stated.

There might be receivers that do this but I would think that you have to pay a bundle to get one. Composite video is not digital. The receiver would literally have to convert the analogue signal of the composite input to a digital signal output through HDMI. HDMI is an all digital signal. To be able to use the HDMI out you would have to use an all digital input as the signal is only a throughput of the original.

As far as the 5.1 sound, again I believe that the HDMI connection is only used as a throughput of the original and does not get processed in the amplifier. I would think that you would be able to use the RCA stereo inputs from the source to the amplifier as well but the fiber is much better quality.

Any tech forum would be a better place to ask this question because you would most likely get a more informed answer.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/

Yeah, I figured there are more tech places to ask, but those places tend to be full of snobby dicks. This place is usually the friendly place to ask newbie questions. There's always someone here that knows something about whatever the topic is.

Digging around I think I did discover that some receivers do convert the analog to digitals. Just have to figure out what that costs and if it's worth it.

My main irritation is that my tv sucks for switching inputs. You can't jump to an input, you have to flip through them and it is ass slow. I was really looking forward to not having to do that anymore.

How many components are you plugging into your receiver that require video?

I feel your pain. I had an old Sony receiver that had the same misleading BS. I thought I had 5 HDMI inputs to play with,but it turned out that only 2 of them passed video and audio.

Is there any chance of returning it?

Originally Posted by Socrates

I am willing to spend some extra money for a Yamaha RX-V465. The online manual for that makes it sound like it will do it, but like the SONY one it's by implication not explicitly stated.

While the RX-V465 does do HDMI pass through (only passing through the digital video/audio), it does not do an HDMI upconversion. The HDMI upconversion will take all input sources, including composite/component video and analog audio, and upconvert (duh!) them, allowing the HDMI Out of the receiver to carry all sources.

RX-V565, the model above the 465, has both the pass through AND the up conversion. (up to 1080p). It retails for $479, but streets at authorized dealers for around $429. (Oh, and check your PM.)

Originally Posted by Len-Det64

How many components are you plugging into your receiver that require video?

1 Cable DVR - HDMI + TOS
2 Cumputer w/WMC and DVD, etc - Component
3 Old School DVD+VCR Player - Analog Video + Coaxial Audio
4 Wii - Currently composite, but was going to upgrade to Component

Originally Posted by Socrates

1 Cable DVR - HDMI + TOS

Easy answer on this one.

Originally Posted by Socrates

2 Cumputer w/WMC and DVD, etc - Component

Does your graphics card have DVI? If so get a converter adapter cable from DVI to HDMI.

Belkin Pure AV Blue Series - Video cable - Male 19 pin HDMI Type A to M 18 pin digital DVI (Single-Link)

The sound can be transferred either by the phono jacks on your sound card or motherboard and adapted over to RCA jacks for your Amplifier. Some sound cards or integrated motherboard sound have fiber optic ports. If so use this for the sound.

Originally Posted by Socrates

3 Old School DVD+VCR Player - Analog Video + Coaxial Audio

Get one of these. It up converts.

Samsung 1080p Upconverting DVD-VCR Combo Recorder at HSN.com

Originally Posted by Socrates

4 Wii - Currently composite, but was going to upgrade to Component

Not much you can do with no analogue to digital conversion.

Or you could get one of these.

Home theater receiver with HDMI switching and video upconversion - Google Product Search

As suspected most of those are pretty expensive but they will do what you need from your surround amplifier.

Rather than start a new thread I thought I would just add to this one. I'm finally going to get a PS3 and I want to update my surround sound receiver at the same time. I have a 10 year old Denon that worked great when I had it on my Sony Wega tv but I never got that great of sound when I hooked it up to my Hdtv.

I was at Best Buy yesterday looking at the new Denon AVR790 that they are advertising. They had an open boxed Yamaha rx-v1065 for $499, retails for $899. I was just wondering if anyone was familiar with it? I've read a few mostly positive reviews but some seemed disappointed. If it's still there and the same price as the Denon I may consider picking it up, but since I'm also familiar with Denon I may just stick with that. There aren't any reviews I can find yet for that new Denon so I'm still a bit hesitant. I was just wondering if anyone is familiar with any of these models and had any recommendations. I'm only going to hook up my tv, hd cable, and ps3 to it, and I would like to run everything through the receiver so I can switch through video inputs with the receiver.

Also since I'm new to hd will I only need to use hdmi cables or will I need to run seperate audio cables as well? I'm under the impression that hdmi covers both video and audio but I'm not 100% sure. Thanks for any help and suggestions.