[Mario_S]

hi. i'm kind of new to home theater, but something seems pretty silly about av receivers to me. i've got a tivo, xbox, gamecube that i plan on hooking up to a new av receiver that i buy. obviously there are no named inputs for these on any receivers i've seen. in fact, i plan on buying one with 2 component inputs and usually those are labeled dvd and sat/dbs. do people just accept that they have to select "dvd" when they want to play xbox, or select "sat/dbs" when they want to play gamecube, or select "vcr" when they want to watch tivo? what types of receivers (if any) just use generic names like "video1, video2, video3, etc"? also, are there any that let you program the name that is displayed on the receiver display? this stuff is complicated enough for me, i'd hate to explain to my wife why she has to click "vcr" when she wants to watch tivo. any ideas?

[Kris McLaughlin]

Mario,
Many receivers will let you name the inputs whatever you want. My Sony receiver is a few years old and by no means high end, but it has this feature. Every radio preset & every input gets its own name, 10 characters with upper/lower case & punctuation. Sweet!

cheers,

[Steve Schaffer]

My Pioneer VSX45TX also lets you custom label inputs.

[Scott Merryfield]

Both my current Pioneer Elite 47TX and former Sony DA50ES allowed inputs to be renamed for display on the receiver's LCD readout. This is a fairly common feature for receivers. However, if the receiver's remote control has pre-printed labeled buttons, you will still be pressing "Video 1" or "Sat/DBS" on your remote, even though the display may read "Tivo" or "Playstation". You will need a remote control with soft keys to avoid such a scenario.

[Mario_S]

do you mean by "soft" keys - a remote with a screen like the ones on the high-end denon receivers?

also, what receiver brands do you know of that actually label inputs like "video1, video2, video3, etc"? i think onkyo's do, but do you know of any others?

[Scott Merryfield]

Quote:

do you mean by "soft" keys - a remote with a screen like the ones on the high-end denon receivers?

Yes, either something like that or a Philips Pronto, which is a LCD touch screen universal remote.

[Mark Hedges]

On my el-cheapo sony HTIB reciever you can rename what it says on the recievers LCD screen. But you cannot reassign inputs. So for example, if you connect a cable box to the DVD input you can make it say "Cable" on the LCD but you still have to press "DVD" on the remote or reciever to switch to it.

As an aside, if you are shopping for recievers make sure it has Dolby Pro Logic II. DPLII is what the gamecube uses for surround sound, and it works pretty well.

Mark

[Mario_S]

so it sounds like it's a pretty common feature to be able to program what the receiver displays on the screen. but as far as buttons go, you're stuck with what's painted on the button on the receiver and the remote. now, if you have a receiver that has selector dial or advance left, right buttons rather than individual buttons it sounds like you're okay to program. and if you get an lcd remote, you're good to program there too. i've got to really look into this.

[jeff_coil]

The MX-500 is a nice remote as well its a button type vs touch screen which I prefer.
Jeff

[Scott Merryfield]

Since you will be connecting a lot of components to your receiver, you are probably better off investing in a universal remote with an LCD screen. Not only will it solve your issue regarding labelling of inputs, it will also eliminate a coffee table full of remote controls. Another benefit is that any for any future components you add or replace, you will not need to concern yourself regarding how good or bad each product's remote control performs, and you will be able to keep a consistent "look and feel" as your components change.

I have several components in my system that get marked down in reviews due to their poor remote controls. However, this is no concern to me, since I use a Marantz RC2000 MKII universal remote to control every component in my system -- the original remotes for each component are in storage, and only get used if I need to teach a command to the learning universal remote.

[Mario_S]

i do plan on getting a remote with LCD screen, but i'm just wondering about what will be displayed on the receiver. specifically, i'm looking at denon and kenwood sovereign series receivers. can i program the names of the inputs on these receivers such that the correct name is displayed on the actual receiver instead of "VCR1"?

ps. thanks for the help!