[John M. Ford]

I am just starting on upgrading and I am looking at the Vizio VO47 lcd, and a PS3. My question is about upgrading my receiver. I have always been a fan of Pioneer and was looking at the VXS1017. But doing some research I discovered that the HDMI connections on the receiver were for video pass thru only and the the audio side of the signal was ignored. So I guess it would be necessary to use either the coax or optical connections for the audio. I guess my question would be is there any point in upgrading my current receiver, a Pioneer VSX 608. I know that some of the Elite models do process the audio over HDMI but my budget will not support the Elite prices. Thanks

Johnf

[Joseph DeMartino]

Quote:

So I guess it would be necessary to use either the coax or optical connections for the audio.

I looked at the specs for the Vizio and it doesn't seem to have any digital audio inputs, so I don't think that's an option, either. But I'm not sure why this is a problem. If you're switching through the receiver, why would you need the audio to go through HDMI to the TV? You'd be using the receiver for the audio. And if the receiver is turned off, you can't send the video through it, either. To get picture and sound from the TV without the reciever from your PS3 and other sources you'd need to user alternate (analog) connections anyway. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your question.

Regards,

Joe

[John M. Ford]

I guess I was a bit ambiguous. What I was getting at is that HDMI is a simple way of carrying both audio and video, which would simplify hookups. Only one cable for both audio and video. Since I would have to run a separate cable for the audio with the 1017, I just did not see any reason to upgrade my receiver. I just wish I knew if the mid priced receivers would include HDMI audio processing in the future.
johnf

[Joseph DeMartino]

Quote:

Only one cable for both audio and video. Since I would have to run a separate cable for the audio with the 1017, I just did not see any reason to upgrade my receiver.

You're still not being entirely clear, since you still don't specifiy where you would be running these cables from and to.

HDMI will carry both audio and video from your PS3, cable or satellite box and DVD player to your receiver, which will play the audio and pass the video to your TV. That's a very simple connection, one cable from each device to the receiver, a single cable from the receiver to the TV. The only downside is that you must have the receiver turned on to use any of the connected devices. But that would be the case with any AV receiver used as switch. My receiver doesn't have HDMI, so I use component video switching. That means four cables from each device (in my case a cable company DVR and two DVD players) to the receiver, and three to the TV (because only video goes to the TV - why send audio when the receiver is handling the audio?) If I could do this with HDMI I would need only one cable from each device to the receiver and one to the TV.

I also have a splitter on the cable coming from the wall jack that goes to the TV's tuner so I can watch TV without the reciever being on or watch something live (on a basic channel) while two shows are recording on the DVR, and one of the DVD players has a direct HDMI connection to the TV, in case the receiver ever goes and I'm reduced to watching my DVDs without surround sound.

So I'm still not seeing why you think you wouldn't benefit from a receiver upgrade.

Regards,

Joe

[Zack Gibbs]

Joseph, I think John was pretty clear when he said the HDMI on the receiver he was looking at did not precess the audio, it was only for video pass through. He would still have to use an optical/coax. line to the receiver, and wouldn't have access to the lossless multichannel audio.

You're right John, you're not going to gain anything upgrading to the VSX1017.

[John M. Ford]

Zack, you beat me to the punch, I was just about to explain my situation again. Since I have no plans to expand my speaker system to either 6.1 or 7.1 right now, I agree that upgrading my receiver is probably not necessary. Except of course to satisfy that nagging upgrade itch we all get from time to time. Hopefully, in the future, mid priced receivers will take advantage of all of HDMI's capabilities. Thanks.

johnf