Sony Debuts New Home Theater Receivers to Support 1080P/HDMI

[Chris Boylan]

As the inevitable launch of their first Blu-ray Disc player finally draws near, Sony introduces two new HDMI-switching 1080p-compatible receivers designed to take full advantage of the audio and video capabilities of the new format.

Link to full article...

[Wayde]

I am still waiting for the HD DVD / Blu-Ray Combo player.

Well, I guess it'll be a long wait according to this bad news

[Tommy]

A 1080p receiver isnt going to help much unless you have a 1080p display. Everyone I know runs there video directly to there display anyway and uses the receiver for control of audio. I just dont see this helping at all, whether the Bluray player or HD DVD player converts it to 1080p or display itself converts it to 1080p, no need for the receiver to do it. Am I missing something?

Wayde, I wouldnt expect to see a combo player anytime in the near future. I think most are waiting to see one format or the other (or both) flop and combo players will only be taken seriously if in the future it is realized that both formats are here to stay.

With the coming of 2nd gen players for HD DVD, I would think discounts on 1st gen players will be available and affordable. I'm thinking about picking up a second 1st gen player before 2nd gen gets released. I'm going to wait on Bluray a bit longer till they straighten out some of there standing issues and also lower there prices.

[Sonnie]

Tommy wrote:

A 1080p receiver isnt going to help much unless you have a 1080p display. Everyone I know runs there video directly to there display anyway and uses the receiver for control of audio. I just dont see this helping at all, whether the Bluray player or HD DVD player converts it to 1080p or display itself converts it to 1080p, no need for the receiver to do it. Am I missing something?

They are producing these for those who will own 1080p displays. Obviously there is no benefit if you don't own a 1080p display. The receiver doesn't convert the signal... it simply handles the switching... which is needed if you have more than one video source, such as an HD-DVD player and a Blu-Ray player, which one or more might be 1080p. Or you may have one or both of those with satellite or cable receivers that use HDMI. In this case you most likely won't have enough inputs on your display, especially if you have projector. My Z4 only has one HDMI input... if I had more than one source, I would need to use my receiver or pre-pro HDMI switching.

[Chris Boylan]

Sonnie wrote:

They are producing these for those who will own 1080p displays. Obviously there is no benefit if you don't own a 1080p display. The receiver doesn't convert the signal... it simply handles the switching... which is needed if you have more than one video source, such as an HD-DVD player and a Blu-Ray player, which one or more might be 1080p. Or you may have one or both of those with satellite or cable receivers that use HDMI. In this case you most likely won't have enough inputs on your display, especially if you have projector. My Z4 only has one HDMI input... if I had more than one source, I would need to use my receiver or pre-pro HDMI switching.

Thanks, Sonnie (as always) for the links to our articles. Actually the good receivers (including the 5200ES) do convert the signal, both up-convert and down-convert. You would select the HDMI output resolution in the menu and the receiver will both upconvert and downconvert the various video signals to the appropriate resolution.

This would allow you to hook up a game system via composite video, LD player via S-Video, DVD player via component, HD-DVD player via HDMI 1080i (or 1080p with the XA2), and cable box via HDMI 1080i, allow the receiver to do the audio AND video switching and just send the video signal to your display device via a single thin HDMI cable, instead of the "cable wad to choke a horse" that I know *I* currently have. If your current monitor only supports up to a 1080i or 720p input, then set the Sony's HDMI output to that resolution until you upgrade to a 1080p display device.

Regards,

-Chris

[Sonnie]

Hi Chris... good to see you chiming in and I hope you'll do more of it.

Yeah... I see what you mean. I guess I was thinking more on the lines of it not really mattering whethere it did or didn't... but after you explaining it more... I see where it could actually be a benefit in some cases.