Reciever Questions

Okay, this is my second go through typing this up. The first time around it was broaching book length, so I decided to get to the meat of my query right away.

Instead of rambling on forever and talking in circles I'll make it real simple: I plan on getting the Samsung HL-S4666W 720P 46" DLP, the Micra 6 surround sound system, the entry-level Toshiba HD-DVD player, as well as HD cable via the Motorola 6200 box. I need a way to connect all this stuff together (ie: some reciever, amp, or whatever) so that A.) all componets are able to play (video) in their full glory without restrictions and B.) all components have access to the surround sound speakers.

I would be fine with component cables, but I've heard that there are restrictions being placed on HD-DVDs through the HDMI format or something like that (ie: hd-dvds will not play on anything but HDMI in the near future).

I suppose it goes back to my original question: my goal is to get the aforementioned TV, speakers, HD-DVD player, and cable box all linked together in such a way that all will work unhindered, or at least unhindered to the point where it won't be a major issue. HDMI, DVI, Component Cables, Digital Shoe-String, I really don't care at this point so long as it all works the way it was intended to....if you can't tell by now I've been racking my brain behind this monitor for some time, and finally broke down and turned to the forums.

For referance and approximate price range, I was looking at the Pioneer VSX-816-K/S.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Okay, I do realize the merits of going with one of the higher end recievers. However, this home theater setup is not for me. Rather, I am providing recommendations and installing the system for my parents, as they just remodeled their basement and are looking to get a competent, but not "video/audiophile"-grade, system.

They are limiting the amount of money they want to spend. The budget for the reciever is rather limited, and there is no way I can justify spending $800 for a piece of technology they don't really see a need for. Basically, it originally started with just wanting an HDTV. Then I conviced them they will really appreciate a halfway decent set of speakers to compliment a decent HD TV, and a reciever to coordiante the two. After this, my father approached me about HD-DVD, so I'm incoorporating that into their system now.

Originally, I wanted to keep the total cost under 2.5K, which I've managed to do to this point. Now, with the reciever and a few other things, its slowly edging toward 3K. Now, don't get me wrong, my parents can foot the bill, but given their limited knowledge of technological affairs, they simply cannot see spending much more than that on a home theater system. Granted, I've reassured them that they will be blown away with what I can provide them, but even with this in mind they're still not willing to spend much more than 3K ("I could have gotten a Caddilac for that back in my day!").

Essentially, with the money I have to work with, I've steered them toward the Samsung 46" 720P DLP (forget the exact model number), the Athena Micra 6 5.1 system (inexpensive, but also delievers very acceptable sound quality), and the Toshiba HD-A1 HDDVD.

Now Im juggling recievers. After reading through comments and recommendations, it would appear an HDMI-compatible reciever is the way to go...if, for nothing else, due to the HD-DVD player.

Therefore, I've arrived at several options. There may be more choices out there, but these are the ones I've discovered in my spare time.

First, and perhaps the most likely candidate due to its excellent price, is the Pioneer VSX-1016TXV. It is HDMI compatible, but the low price seems too good to be true, perhaps? Again, I am not looking for future expandability or anything like that, I just need something that is of decent quality and will run the equipment I mentioned above. Ive been quoted prices hovering in the $350 area for this reciever, with retail being $500.

The denon reciever the poster above suggested is just a bit too far out of price range. The lowest price I've seen on one is about $750, which is at least $150 beyond what can realistically be spent.

The next two recievers that fell into the "do-able" range are two Yamahas, the HTR-5990 and the RX-V1600. Basically, I realize (or think I realize) that the RX-V1600 is the better of the two. In terms of new pricing, the best I could dig up on the RX-V1600 was $750, with the HTR-5990 being around $620 (both retail for over 1K). However, I managed to find a "refurbished" RX-V1600 at $430, which seems amazingly low to me. There were other refurbished ones listed of the same model for $600 and above, which would lead me to believe it was a misprint or there is some catch.

So this is my list of recievers, in the order of desirability:

1.) Refurbed Yamaha RX-V1600 @ $430, provided there is a return policy, warranty, and this is actually the RX-V1600 I have in mind (writing the company offering this unit to verify the above).

2.) New Pioneer VSX-1016TXV @ $350ish, provided it has the capabilities required to run all the aforementioned equipment without any jive. I know it has 2 HDMI ins and 1 HDMI out, but thats about the extent of my knowledge on this one.

3.) New Yamaha HTR-5990 @ $620ish...this is a last resort, assuming neither 1 or 2 fits the bill. Im really, really, really, not trying to have them spend over $500 for a reciever.

So, any opinions?

 

That yamaha reciever I was referring to was a 1300 dollar reciever posted at 430. The seller confirmed the fact that it was a misprint.

In the end, I ordered the Pioneer receiver highlighted above. It is the most inexpenisve Pioneer that implements HDMI, yet has a very nice feature set for the price. There were also a few JVC receivers in this price range (actually a little cheaper). I ended up going with the Pioneer for several reasons.