Another surround system question

[stormy]

it's also nice to have all the audio and video switching together through one box

[Rumpy]

Glad to hear you're happy with it. It really is an awesome little receiver. Most of the other receivers out there just have features I'll never use, or more power than I'll ever need. For me the Yamaha just hit the perfect balance of features and power for my needs. I think it's a highly underrated receiver.

For awhile I've been getting this shitty buzzing sound when watching TV. All of my sources are fine but the cable box so I'm thinking the problem is the cable box I have is screwy or it's the feed that shitty Cablevision is giving me. It's weird, it seems to come and go at random.

As for running video through a receiver I can think of 2 main points

1) Your TV doesn't have enough inputs for all the shit you have.
2) Since HDMI is both audio and video all you need to do is pop that cable into a receiver and your good to go for surround and video. Can make things a bit cleaner and simpler.

[Othello Harrington]

Denon is all I really know for surround sound. I really endorse it, it is amazing.

[Shin Johnpv]

For awhile I've been getting this shitty buzzing sound when watching TV. All of my sources are fine but the cable box so I'm thinking the problem is the cable box I have is screwy or it's the feed that shitty Cablevision is giving me. It's weird, it seems to come and go at random.

How do you have it hooked up to the receiver? If it's just regular RCA lines just double check they're not getting interference from any power cables or other RCA lines.


I have to say I agree with Haoh, while I understand why people run their video through their receiver I personally like keeping them separate. Specially when you can get the same receiver with out HDMI switching for hundreds less.

[GohanX]

Another reason for running stuff through the receiver-easy for the girlfriend. My girl gets confused on which buttons on the switchbox she needs to hit in the right combination to play a dvd. With a receiver with video ins, , it's turn on the tv, hit the "DVD" button on the receiver, watch movie.

Of course, with me it's turn the TV on, turn the receiver on, go into DVD menu and make sure it's set for surround, fiddle with the subwoofer/center speakers a bit, get up and down a lot since the remote stopped working.

By the way, I got a kick-ass deal today on an Onkyo surround setup. Early impressions seem like the receiver is badass, and the speakers are good. Better than my old set, and most of the crap that I was looking at for $200. I haven't actually hooked it up here though.

[Shin Johnpv]

Another reason for running stuff through the receiver-easy for the girlfriend. My girl gets confused on which buttons on the switchbox she needs to hit in the right combination to play a dvd. With a receiver with video ins, , it's turn on the tv, hit the "DVD" button on the receiver, watch movie.

Some of the newer switch boxes have remotes. I know the new Pelican component switch box has a remote, and all of the Harmony and Logitech universal remotes support it. See that's the key for the GF/Wife/Kids, getting a good universal remote.

By the way, I got a kick-ass deal today on an Onkyo surround setup. Early impressions seem like the receiver is badass, and the speakers are good. Better than my old set, and most of the crap that I was looking at for $200. I haven't actually hooked it up here though.

Nice nice, congrats, Onkyo is good stuff from what I've heard.

[GohanX]

My Pelican switchbox does have a remote, but I've never put a battery in it. Oops.

This is what I ended up getting:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onkyo...oductDetail.do

It was on sale and I got a AAA discount, it made it only slightly more expensive than the Sony thing I was looking at.

The receiver is awesome, it has features in it I wouldn't have even thought of looking for. The sound is very balanced, and unlike my old system you can turn it up so that sound fills the room without really seeming loud. The highs aren't quite as pronounced as my old setup, but it fills out the midranges nicely. I will probably replace the fronts and center channel at some point though.

The only real bad thing about it is the subwoofer. It's actually pretty good in analog modes, but when using a Dolby Digital setup it doesn't send nearly enough power to it. If it is a stereo source though, you can change it to Pro Logic Music mode and the sub gives more than enough good, clean bass. This isn't a big deal to me though, I'd rather it be like this and have a balanced sound than be like most HTIAB's that have a sub that just completely overpowers the other tiny speakers.

A final unexpected bonus-it has 3 component inputs, and the signal it sends out is cleaner than my Pelican switch. That was pretty surprising.

[Wildkat]

I've never really understood running the video through your receiver. Can someone explain this to me? Why would that be an advantage over directly connecting your DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray/Xbox/etc... to your television set? I was looking at a few ~$1000 receivers with HDMI ports, etc... and I don't understand what the advantages of that are.

it's also nice to have all the audio and video switching together through one box

This is pretty much it, a lot easier to just have to select inputs on the reciever and pretty much leave the TV on one input for the rest of its life.

Gohanx: stay the fuck away from Sony audio, it is about the worst name brand shit out there. Look for Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon, or Harman Kardon. They all can be found for pretty good prices if especially if you look at refurbs, H/K sells its refurbs direct on ebay for killer prices with an warranty..
http://search.stores.ebay.com/Harman...519532QQsofpZ0

Too late...ah well