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In Reply to: RE: Sources again! posted by jedrider on February 27, 2012 at 12:02:20
1. You are right. L/R analog and S/PDIF are no problem for any AVR or modern prepro.
2. HDMI is the de facto standard now for video and audio and the top version, as of today, is v1.4 but that is only of import for 3D. No 3D and v1.2/3 are just fine.
3. BluRay uses dts Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD for high resolution audio. Prior versions (e.g., DD) used lossy compression while the new ones are lossless.
4. You cannot get HD audio via S/PDIF or TOSlink and, imho, HD audio is as, if not more, important as HD video. For that, you need HDMI. You can get HD audio from multiple analog outs from the player but that is ignoring the inevitable.
5. Since you are really starting from scratch, you should consider a decent modern AVR that will provide all you require including amps.
6. If you are more persnickety, as I am, a standalone preamp/processor and an external amp will do better but at a higher price.
7. A frugal but dead-end option is to get the BluRay player and feed the HDMI to the TV while feeding L/R analog audio to a 2 channel integrated amp with analog and digital inputs.
Edits: 02/27/12Follow Ups:
That pretty much covers it. I'll just add that Blu-ray players with separate multichannel audio outputs are less common, and more expensive. Only worth considering if you already had a really nice pre-HDMI (or even pre-Digital Surround) processor or receiver that has discrete multichannel inputs. Or want a minimalist surround system where you just use a multichannel volume control between the Blu-ray source and some quantity of power amps. (Decent surround processors allow for running without a centre channel speaker or subwoofer, by distributing the centre channel signal to the left and right front, and/or doing the same with the subwoofer signal. So, you could upgrade from stereo to real discrete surround by adding just one pair of speakers for the rear. Any decent 5.1 or 7.x receiver will have this ability.)
Some models of A/V receiver include preamp outputs, so you could use a separate amp for the front speakers and the internal amps for the surround. Some do 7.2 which presumably means outputs for left and right subwoofers, which might be better for music. Most 7.x receivers can upconvert standard definition sources (VCR, laserdisc) to HDMI, which will save the annoyance of switching inputs at the TV as well as the receiver. They also tend to have more HDMI inputs than 5.1 models. But, if you don't have a lot of different sources, you may be perfectly happy with a 5.1 receiver (a decent Pioneer can be had for $250 on sale).
Be wary of used HDMI receivers. Some early models just switched HDMI video without extracting the audio portion. Some had serious bugs in the firmware (like an h/k receiver I spotted in a pawn shop). Check the reviews on Amazon.
I read someplace that 5% of A/V receivers develop problems, which is an argument in favor of buying new with an extended warranty. Now that we've got multichannel lossless audio support, there's not much room for improvement.
HD Audio. H'mmm. I see planned obsolescence is very much a part of the audio/video scene. At least, I don't have to worry about 3-D sound ;-) as seven loudspeakers should be enough already.
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