I keep seeing quotes similar to this. Only "older" receivers don't process HDMI audio? I think it is more accurate to say that most receivers right now don't process HDMI audio. Going by the older comment I guess these are people that have the means to replace their receivers every year i.e. Elites, Z-series Yamahas, etc.
I did go through the spec pages for Pioneer's and Denon's receivers and for Pioneer, they don't include HDMI audio processsing until you get to the $950 VSX-81TXV, though I am almost guessing at this because this was the first spec page that didn't say "HDMI passthrough".
For Denon it was even more difficult to find this out: I had to download five manuals - and the ones for the 4XXX series are enormous!!! - and go through them using Acrobat's "find" feature. After more than half an hour, (I think) I found that the first receiver to have HDMI audio processing is the $1,300 AVR-3806.
And for Yamaha, according to the Crutchfield site, the $999 RX-V1600 is the first to process HDMI audio: "The RX-V1600 is equipped with two HDMI inputs and one HDMI output for digital multi-channel audio and video signals." Still kind of ambiguous though.
Holy crap why cant the marketing people place this information in an easier-to-understand format on the front page? How about a simple line like Processes HDMI audio? followed by the unambiguous words YES or NO. Sheesh! :rolleyes
