Audio only processor - without video?

I did not say you cannot get the HD codecs; I said you cannot get the best of them which means effective bass/level/delay management and DSP (including room EQ). With analog, you can only approximate since these are not as well implemented in players (with few exceptions).

Kal

The Bryston series like the SP 1.7, outstanding peformance. Oldee but goodie the Acurus ACT 3, however does not have all the very latest audio formats. All you may really need, and sounds great, and priced great on used market. IMO getting audio right,much more important than video once you have a decent picture. All the more so if you will be using your unit for both music and video playback.

I agree, Glen. What video processing/adjustments do newer processors make?

I would expect your question to be the other way around: What processors do video processing without having to do audio. Most good processors either have video conversion chips better than your BD/DVD player (Realta, Reon, etc) for improved picture quality and/or they have a bypass where the video signal is passed unaltered to your display with little if any degradation to the video quality.

However, the same cannot be said for the audio. Even fairly good processors (Integra/Onkyo Pro for example) have less-than-pristine analog audio sections that cannot be entirely bypassed when feeding audio signals to a good quality two channel preamp. There are situations where running balanced (or unbalanced) analog signals directly from a Marantz UD9004 or Denon A1UDCI BD/DVD player (for example) to a good balanced (or unbalanced) 2 channel preamp will result in improved sound quality. To do this, you have to add yet another pair of (expensive) interconnects from the BD/CDP to the 2 channel preamp. Interestingly, many current 2 channel preamps do have such a bypass for use in HT applications.

Well, I just bought (on Audiogon) a Placette passive preamp for 2-channel use. It also has a set of inputs I can use for the front L/R home theater setup. So the only issue I have regarding audio is home theater processing.

The fact that most better HT processors have better video conversion chips is interesting, and the sort of info I'm looking for. I'm currently using an Outlaw 990 but have the video directly to the TV. Should I be going through the processor?

The other point of my question is that I may be looking to upgrade, and wondered if I needed a unit with video inputs at all.

Thanks to everyone so far, and if you all can add anything, great!