Cheapest Possible Receiver With HDMI (1 Viewer)

[Nickman71]

Does anyone know the cheapest receiver with at least 1 HDMI in and 1 out? The best I've found is the Harman Kardon AVR245 for around $350.

 

[Alon Goldberg]

Pioneer VSX-1016TXV-K
Onkyo TX-SR604

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Do you need it to read audio over HDMI? If so then the Pioneer 1016TX will not.

The Panasonic XR57S has 1 HDMI in and 1 out. It will read audio from HDMI. It's $280 from J&R.

 

[Jacob C]

And its a great sounding reciever for the price.

 

[John Garcia]

Marantz SR4001 - 2 in 1 out.

 

[DorianBryant]

Cheapest by far is the JVC RX-D402b for $197 at Ecost.

 

[Nickman71]

Yeah, I was looking at the RX-D402b, but it seems (from the limited reviews I found) that people are having lots of problems with it.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I was under the impresson that it didn't perform any sort of bass-management on the HDMI input, which ruled it out for me.

 

[daggerNC]

This thread is of keen interest to me as I just purchased an LCD HD TV and an HDMI upscaling DVD player. So, I'll have my HD cable box and DVD player which will require my receiver to support 2 HDMI in. I currently have the Panasonic XR70S receiver (appears very similar spec wise to 57S) which only has 1 HDMI in. My other must have for functionality is that it support posered dual zone as I have a pair of speakers outside on my deck. And of course, it needs to sound good!

Now, as this new TV has already blown the budget based on needing to buy a new cabinet, combo DVD/CD changer, HDMI cables, etc, and since this is the living room TV and not the main HT system, my budget is unfortunately very low - around $400 max :frowning: So like I said - this is a good thread!

So far, my research has come up with this list of lower cost 2/1 HDMI, dual zone receivers:
- Sony STR-DG800
- Pioneer 1016TXV
- Marantz SR4001
- Onkyo TX-SR674 (above budget)
- HK AVR-345 (also above budget)

The Sony is only 17.6 lbs - worries me about power supply quality, but it's cheap (but how does it sound??). The Pioneer is nice but is 18.4" deep - won't fit in my 19" deep cabinet. I like Marantz equipment but in reading some of the threads on it I see 2 posts that the Panasonic sounds better, so that will be hard for me to justify. Another option is to buy an HDMI switch, but holy cow look at the prices (monoprice has the most reasonable but some have had a few issues with it), but now that's another (small) box and the killer might be it doesn't do the switching automatically - it requires the user to select/switch and that will be a nogo with my wife.

Maybe someone has a nice Yamaha 1700 they need to dump just so they can get one of the new HDMI 1.3 recievers........

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

If you want a receiver that will handle audio over HDMI at under $400 then you're pretty much looking at the Onkyo SR604 and Marantz SR4001. The 1016TX is video-only and I personaly wouldn't trust any non-ES Sony audio product.

One other thing to consider is most cable boxes are having HDMI handshake issues when connected to receivers. This is a problem w/ the cable box and fixable via firmware but it's still a problem in alot of regions. I can't get my Motorola 6412 w/ DVI to work through my receiver but it will work connected directly to the projector. I'm using component to the receiver and letting it convert to HDMI to go to the projector. Honestly I can't see a difference in picture quality. Unfortunately none of the sub-$400 HDMI receivers will do this and you'd need to move up to the Onkyo SR674 or higher to get this functionality.

I've also compiled a list of most of the sub-$800 HDMI receivers along w/ their HDMI features in this thread:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=249593

 

[daggerNC]

Stephen - thanks for the input here and link to your thread. Nice summary. My audiophile side wants to spend $2K for a "decent" sounding receiver (not quite an oxymoron these days) but those funds need to go to the main HT room some day......

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my new SA HD-PVR box won't have any HDMI/HDCP issues, but we'll see. If I have to it will be two cables running to the TV instead of one - probably HDMI from the DVD player and component from the HD STB.

I think you should sell me that Pioneer 82TXs of yours for $300 and go get that new HDMI 1.3 receiver you really want

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Actually if you read the first part of my post in the thread I linked to you'll see I'm of the opinion that HDMI 1.1 and 1.2a are extremely robust as is. If the player can properly decode the new losless codecs and pass PCM over HDMI then I don't see much of any advantage to letting the receiver do it (unless it's going to drive the player-prices down and get them into more homes).

Also I don't think I'll be letting the 82TXs go any time soon. The RX-V1700 I exchanged for it was a christmas gift from my father-in-law, so really the 82TXs is a gift too. It's also built like a tank, has plenty of power, and all the features I need for now (and the forseable future). I do, however, have a Pioneer 1014TX I'm trying to sell... $275 + SH and it's yours!

Right now I'm just hoping for a firmware update to fix the -10db LPCM LFE bug (though there's a work-around already it requires having 2 MCACC presets and switching between them when watching LPCM content).

 

[Nickman71]

Thanks a lot for that list David. I too blew my budget on the TV (I started out looking at 32" ones and I ended up getting 42"). I really glad you mentioned the Sony STR-DG800, I'm seriously thinking about that one.

 

[John Garcia]

I'd skip anything from Sony that wasn't in the ES line, PERIOD.

 

[daggerNC]

Nick - I have not heard the Sony, but did see it/lift it at BB. It is lite, and tend to agree with John on recommending a base-series Sony receiver without doing some listening tests first and finding any good reviews. The ES line tend to do a decent job - we just want to ensure you're not dissappointed with the performance though the price is certainly right! A quick Google shows a very mediocre rating on cnet.com - a number of them talk about a step down in audio sound quality from previous receivers... I won't be going with this unit.

My current reciever is the Panasonic XR70 and it is even lighter than this Sony but it's a digital amp and came with a lot of good reviews/recommendations. And I'll be darned if when used with digital inputs it really does sound quite good - if it only had 2/1 HDMI I'd be all set for now. I explained the options to my wife yesterday - HDMI switchers are out but she wasn't too thrilled about spending another $400-$500 for a capable new receiver. Right now I'm just using the component connections - meets the only one input selection on TV requirement but I'm not getting best video quality either :frowning:

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Cheapest with 2 in / 1 out that does LPCM over HDMI is probably the SR604 for $325 from accessories4less.com (who is an authorized dealer).

 

[DorianBryant]

Still, cheapest by far is the JVC RX-D402b for $197 at Ecost. More than likely the refurbs have been tested and would be fine.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

I'll normally trust refurbished items... especially from eCost as they're an authorized refurbished dealer for most major brands... but in the case of the JVC digital-path hdmi receivers I've read SO many horror storries I'd me much more inclined to spend the extra $130 on something having a better established track record, especially with technology as finicky (for lack of a better word) as HDMI.

 

[Nickman71]

I didn't know it would be this hard to find a sub $350 receiver. If I don't find one soon I might just spring for the Onkyo TX-SR674

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

The SR604 is currently available from accessories4less for $325... it's available in black, silver is on backorder.