Home Theatre guru's. Need an opnion...

[RCM78]

I'm just starting research to build a home theatre system. I'm not looking for the absolute high end stuff since the room isnt that large.(15X17).

The Denon AVR 4306 looks pretty good for the money. The thing that caught my eye was the three HDMI inputs and the ability to upscale analog video to 720p or 1080i HDMI.

Does this feature really work or would I be wasting my money?

The TV I ordered (Sony KDL46XBR2) allready has three HDMI inputs so if the upscaling feature is BS then I could probably spend $1000 less on a reciever that would sound just as good as this one.

Whattaya Think??

[Smokes35]

Well... if you ask me, theres no substitute for a good reciever. As far as i know, the HDMI is only slightly better than a DVI, however, im pretty sure price wise, there isnt much of a difference between the 2 at this point. Plus, a good reciever will last you a long time, so spending a bit more for future compatibility isnt a bad idea.

Denon makes great stuff, id go with that.

Plus with the increased signal clarity and the noise filters they use, you can afford to make go a little less high end on your speakers and woofer.

[nhfirefighter13]

Be careful with falling into the HDMI trap. Yes, it will upscale HD signals and signals from a DVD player, etc...but if most of your tv viewing is done on regular cable you might find yourself a little unhappy as HDMI can make the picture look worse.

Denon does make some good, quality gear, though. I prefer Pioneer Elite receivers myself.

[John712]

Ralph, talk to Tom Foti, (TPM Coach) he knows his stuff, he has his house set up real nice with good loud crystal stuff. i never seen anything like it before. i mean he went over board with his stuff i think, but i really have to say his neighbors 5 streets away will hear everything coming out of his house. he definately spent a shit load of $$$$ for it. and it is nicely set up to. probably something your not looking for but he knows what he is doing. and can definately point you in the right direction.

[JimRBlue]

I may be a little old school here but here is wHat I have found...

I upgraded to HD not long ago and the bummer with HDMI wsa the cable company. The cable box I have did NOT have HDMI. They (cablevision) only offered true HDMI signal when used with the DVR recorder box . When I did patch from DVI to hdmi the picture was off center and neither the tech or myself could get the image centered.
I do run a yamaha receiver Because all my amplification is done outside the receiver and I only needed a processor and couldnt afford the DC-1.. ( Good choice there cakes..) and am pretty satisfied with running component and optical.. Hope this helps.

[RCM78]

Ralph, talk to Tom Foti, (TPM Coach) he knows his stuff, he has his house set up real nice with good loud crystal stuff. i never seen anything like it before. i mean he went over board with his stuff i think, but i really have to say his neighbors 5 streets away will hear everything coming out of his house. he definately spent a shit load of $$$$ for it. and it is nicely set up to. probably something your not looking for but he knows what he is doing. and can definately point you in the right direction.

Thanks John, I'm very familiar with Toms setup. He's not really up on the new stuff though...

[RCM78]

I may be a little old school here but here is wHat I have found...

I upgraded to HD not long ago and the bummer with HDMI wsa the cable company. The cable box I have did NOT have HDMI. They (cablevision) only offered true HDMI signal when used with the DVR recorder box . When I did patch from DVI to hdmi the picture was off center and neither the tech or myself could get the image centered.
I do run a yamaha receiver Because all my amplification is done outside the receiver and I only needed a processor and couldnt afford the DC-1.. ( Good choice there cakes..) and am pretty satisfied with running component and optical.. Hope this helps.


You should go back and get the DVR. Thats what I got. Also from Cablevision. The box upscales regular channels to HDMI out. We noticed a marked improvement in picture quality when not watching HD channels.

[RCM78]

Be careful with falling into the HDMI trap. Yes, it will upscale HD signals and signals from a DVD player, etc...but if most of your tv viewing is done on regular cable you might find yourself a little unhappy as HDMI can make the picture look worse.

Denon does make some good, quality gear, though. I prefer Pioneer Elite receivers myself.


I'm still researching different recievers and have it rounded down to the Denon 2807 or the Pioneer VSX-82TXS. From reading the AVS forum I dont think I can go wrong with either of these units...

[RCM78]

Yamaha makes some of the best recievers out there. Lot better than their bikes :lol:

Seriously though, Yamaha reciever with a nice JBL surround w/8 or 10" sub is all you'll need.

Heres something like what I bough 6 years ago and still great to this day(style is all black with a 10" sub)
http://jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=SCS145.5S&Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA&cat=HTS&ser=SCS

Thanks Joe, But not really what I'm looking for...

Now this is more like it!!!
http://www.infinitysystems.com/homeaudio/series.aspx?SerId=BET :nod2:

[Redlinerider]

i thought of doing a HDMI hook up as well but, the difference that u are going to notice between a good set of monster "component" wires and the HDMI will not be noticed, besides a regular HD cable box does not have a regular MI hook up, you need to upgrade your cable box for another 10 bucks a month (depending on the cable company).

must understand that a small percent of channels transmitt in 1080i, and most HD right now are running at 720p, if you want to run or have running 1080i, you would have to have a tv with at least a minimun of 8k of contrast or the best of 10k (the picture does look different at the 8k or below, when fast action happens you lose the crisp look until the digital contrast catches up to the motion. sony is the best way to go as far a tv is concerned, they make the best plasma out there but you are gonna pay for it.

i just bought a Sharp 42' LCD Aqous, 8k contrast and full HD at 1080i, got it for under 2k. have hooked up to it a yamaha surround (under 500 bucks) and it kicks some serious ass for sure!! NFL never looked better!!

the choices are endless my friend! if you have any qurstions please let me know, i did alot of shopping before i commited to what i wanted. choices are endless for sure, but they could be made easy if you have an idea of whats involved. location of mounting makes a difference as well, i have mine placed on top of the fire place, so you want an LCD not a plasma (plasma cant take the heat, and will melt)

[RCM78]

i thought of doing a HDMI hook up as well but, the difference that u are going to notice between a good set of monster "component" wires and the HDMI will not be noticed, besides a regular HD cable box does not have a regular MI hook up, you need to upgrade your cable box for another 10 bucks a month (depending on the cable company).

must understand that a small percent of channels transmitt in 1080i, and most HD right now are running at 720p, if you want to run or have running 1080i, you would have to have a tv with at least a minimun of 8k of contrast or the best of 10k (the picture does look different at the 8k or below, when fast action happens you lose the crisp look until the digital contrast catches up to the motion. sony is the best way to go as far a tv is concerned, they make the best plasma out there but you are gonna pay for it.

i just bought a Sharp 42' LCD Aqous, 8k contrast and full HD at 1080i, got it for under 2k. have hooked up to it a yamaha surround (under 500 bucks) and it kicks some serious ass for sure!! NFL never looked better!!

the choices are endless my friend! if you have any qurstions please let me know, i did alot of shopping before i commited to what i wanted. choices are endless for sure, but they could be made easy if you have an idea of whats involved. location of mounting makes a difference as well, i have mine placed on top of the fire place, so you want an LCD not a plasma (plasma cant take the heat, and will melt)


No offense man, but did you read my initial post? Or the post's after that?

I have a 46" Sony Flat panel LCD TV. It's 1080p native resolution and I also have an HD cable box with HDMI output...

BTW, The Aquos is a nice TV. I just liked the style of the new Sony XBR...

[RCM78]

Well... if you ask me, theres no substitute for a good reciever. As far as i know, the HDMI is only slightly better than a DVI, however, im pretty sure price wise, there isnt much of a difference between the 2 at this point. Plus, a good reciever will last you a long time, so spending a bit more for future compatibility isnt a bad idea.

Denon makes great stuff, id go with that.

Plus with the increased signal clarity and the noise filters they use, you can afford to make go a little less high end on your speakers and woofer.


Hey Shmokey... My TV doesnt even have a DVI input. They're all moving to HDMI. The video feed is pretty much the same but I dont think DVI can pass a 1080p signal. The big difference is HDMI is audio and video all in one connection...

[Redlinerider]

No offense man, but did you read my initial post? Or the post's after that?

I have a 46" Sony Flat panel LCD TV. It's 1080p native resolution and I also have an HD cable box with HDMI output...

BTW, The Aquos is a nice TV. I just liked the style of the new Sony XBR...

no offense taken, i did read the posts, i believe if someone was reading this and might have other questions about HD or wires or cable boxes i decided to offer a bit more of imforamtion just cause.

i know that if i had read things like that early. it could have made my decision making easier. then again thats what i felt like writing. (no offense man):drink:

[Rev]

Overkill for the size of the room.

some people like to be deaf :doh:

[Rev]

Hey Shmokey... My TV doesnt even have a DVI input. They're all moving to HDMI. The video feed is pretty much the same but I dont think DVI can pass a 1080p signal. The big difference is HDMI is audio and video all in one connection...

Yeah.HDMI rawks....although DVI isn't far from it...

[RCM78]

Overkill for the size of the room.

Whats that got to do with it? It will sound better at any volume...

I just have better taste then you thats all...:nod2:

[RCM78]

If you think so ;)


I'm curious Joe, Why did you even respond in this thread at all? You've given me absolutely no usefull information at all.

My initial question was if anyone had EXPERIENCE with HDMI upscaling on a certain model Denon receiver. You tell me all I NEED is some cheap ass JBL system thats worse then the system I have now...

Honestly man, Save your breath... And why are you like this ONLY on the internet? Your a different person face to face. I allways thought we got along great at the track...

[Cakes206]

I'm curious Joe, Why did you even respond in this thread at all? You've given me absolutely no usefull information at all.

My initial question was if anyone had EXPERIENCE with HDMI upscaling on a certain model Denon receiver. You tell me all I NEED is some cheap ass JBL system thats worse then the system I have now...

Honestly man, Save your breath... And why are you like this ONLY on the internet? Your a different person face to face. I allways thought we got along great at the track...
I'm no different in person man, I'd say the same thing in conversation. The room you have isn't h u g e, a nice small set up would be fine, then again maybe you need a system that goes to 11? :jerkit:

[jcblitz]

Whats that got to do with it? It will sound better at any volume...

I just have better taste then you thats all...:nod2:

wow, you need to do some research. You need to match systems to rooms, not brand names. Unless you get more joy out of people knowing you spent a lot of money on a system / saying "I got a 18" sub!!!" vs spent a lot of time building a quality system for your needs. And by needs I don't mean knocking the neighbors pictures off the wall, I mean room dimensions and intended use.

[RCM78]

wow, you need to do some research. You need to match systems to rooms, not brand names. Unless you get more joy out of people knowing you spent a lot of money on a system / saying "I got a 18" sub!!!" vs spent a lot of time building a quality system for your needs. And by needs I don't mean knocking the neighbors pictures off the wall, I mean room dimensions and intended use.


I hear ya. I'm not looking for HUGE speakers. Look at the specs for the system I posted. The front towers are available in 6" or 8". The onkyo system I have now has front towers with 12" woofers.

I'm planning on building the system piece by piece. Starting with the receiver, then the center channel, then rear's. If the front towers sound good with the new receiver then I'll keep them. I'll need a sub also since my current system doesnt have one.

The main thing I'm looking for is to fill the room with sound so I cant even tell where the speakers are. You need good speakers to acomplish that. Most HTIB sets sound very good but you can tell exactly where the sound is coming from. Thats what I have now.

I just want something that will compliment the TV we just bought...