Receiver upgrade

[Jonnyozero3]

Another point i didnt mention previously about component/hdmi switching, is that sometimes, some receivers will have the actual jacks, but might lack adequate bandwidth to pass the signal completely unaffected. So, again, my thought is if you want to increase your chances for a degraded signal, then by all means use your component/hdmi switching feature on your receiver.

...Or just do your research before you buy said receiever...

[curtis]

Another point i didnt mention previously about component/hdmi switching, is that sometimes, some receivers will have the actual jacks, but might lack adequate bandwidth to pass the signal completely unaffected. So, again, my thought is if you want to increase your chances for a degraded signal, then by all means use your component/hdmi switching feature on your receiver.

While this may be a problem with component, it is not with HDMI. HDMI has standards it must adhere to for compliance....bandwidth is one of them. HDMI is also a digital medium, so the degradation of the signal is unlikely.

[BradJudy]

I think those two covered the points I would have made. The biggest one is that the potential for a problem is not the same thing as the existence of the problem. If the problem doesn't actually exist, then great. If it does, then get a different product because there are plenty that don't have these problems.

There are motivating reasons for HDMI, although some aren't yet realized. I expect once things settle out more in another year or two, HDMI will be quite dominant. It doesn't mean you can't continue to use component, although it does mean that you may need to use multichannel analog connections for audio in order to handle the new HD-DVD/Bluray audio standards.

[kindredspirit]

Can someone tell me the difference between the xr55 and the xr57??? The price looks great. Think it would be an upgrade to my 656?

[azanon]

What about high-resolution 6ch DVD-A and SACD? Optical and coaxial digital connections can't handle that kind of bandwidth. Also, HDMI 1.3 will be able to carry lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD (natively rather than in PCM) with automatic lip synchronization. Plus, it's just one cable, rather than two. That has to be a plus right?

What about them? They're not used for DD 5.1 sound. I have both a digital connection and a 5.1 analog connection for my dvd-a's/sacd, and i just have a cheap 200 dollar sony. When i play dvd-as/sacds, i press multichannel, and it uses the 5.1 analog cables.

Optical and coaxial digital cables can carry Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD sound.

I find it odd that you're all spun up about not switching a signal, but you don't have a problem using component and choose to miss out on the benefits of an all-digital signal path. It seems to me that the using component instead of HDMI would have a greater visual impact than that of a properly switched signal. I dunno.

The benefits of an all-digital signal path are currently open to debate. I can point you to articles that actually argue that the component often gives the better picture over the HDMI/(or DVI). Remember though, we're not comparing 1 HDMI cable versus 1 Component cable, we're comparing 2 separately linked HDMI cables (either of which could have issues with the cables or their connections) and we're also dealing with the receiver's ability to pass the signal on to the TV undegraded. Lot of if's there....... And to respond to Johnny, sometimes what receivers end up doing and what they're spec'ed to do are not always the same. I'd rather not worry about it unless i had no other option.

If it was simply 1 HDMI cable vs 1 component video, i'd probably opt for the HDMI. But that's not what we're discussing here.

[Eddie]

Can someone tell me the difference between the xr55 and the xr57??? The price looks great.

xr57 just has a few things the xr55 doesn't: mainly, HDMI. Others: dual-amping of mains during 5.1 playback, all-channel stereo mode, I think a slightly different remote. A few other very minor things, not real significant, can't quite remember them. Dig through the huge xr-57 thread on avsforum.com

IMO if you don't need HDMI the xr55 would be fine.

Think it would be an upgrade to my 656?

Absolutely. Much more power and clarity.