Starting small home theater, need advice

I rent Blu-rays all the time from Redbox, can't beat the convenience and at $1.50 each, very cost effective. Use the iphone app and it's easy to find and reserve a title. They often run specials for free or discounted rentals.

Is there a current push to have higher quality audio broadcast on HD channels? Or is that not really important because of the increased cost and bandwidth associated with it? And probably the few people that would actually take advantage of it....

I will say, the Onkyo receiver that Realremo suggested does have the internet capability, and the Android app for playing music through a smartphone/tablet. I do really like that....

it is my understanding that high definition audio requires too high a bandwidth to stream via cable/satellite/over the air. I don't know when or if this will happen; it depends in a BIG way on our infrastructure. The network gear most cities have in place right now was not designed to handle this bandwidth.

The thing about Dolby TrueHD and DTS master audio is that you are hearing pretty much what the engineer heard when he mixed down the final track on the movie. I think that's pretty cool!

Video-wise, blu-ray is the only source for HD content if you rent a shiny disc. You can also rent HD movies through Apple TV, and your cable/satellite provider will have HD Pay-Per-View, I'm sure. These are more expensive options than Redbox.

To my knowledge, HDMI is the only way to get high def audio. HDMI is not required to get the HD video source to your flat screen TV tho, you can get a high-def video signal over component cable, which splits the video signal into three cables, one each for red, blue and green. Pretty much all blu-ray players have these outputs. DVI connections can also provide high def signals. Not sure if all HD cable or satellite TV boxes have DVI/component outputs, check the back panel drawings in the user manuals online before you sign that contract.

"I'm a blu ray fan, and I don't have to buy them. blu ray is readily available at any number of mail-only outlets. high definition video and audio is here to stay, it isn't going anywhere. If you haven't gotten on the wagon, and don't intend to, well, OK."

That sounds like a response to my post, and not the original poster. If so, my point is to not project your needs, availability, and bias on the original poster who states his system will see 5% of "movie use". Of that a percentage might be blu-ray, of that percentage, what content will offer a big enough audio advantage (video quality is not lost without the miracle of HDMI) to warrant purchasing (on his limited budget) a more expensive receiver because he'll get some added benefit a fraction of the time?

For the record, I own several Blu-Ray movies, and have HDMI capability in my system. Its nice, its just not as important as component selection...especially in the case of the original poster.

I'm projecting bias? Are you serious? I am making recommendations based upon years of purchasing thousands of $$$ of used gear on this site. I haven't even gotten into the warranty issue, a 2 year parts and labor warranty is very desirable on a piece of complex electronics like an AVR. Buying used AVRs presents considerable risk, even with really nice used gear. Some AVRs on this site are 4-8 years old, what happens when a rail fuse blows, or a cap needs replacing, much less the video board or DAC board goes out? Finding a tech to work on an external amp or a CD player is easy, finding one to work on an older AVR is much more difficult. I speak from experience on this. Repair on used gear is time consuming and expensive. Why wouldn't you want the heart of your entertainment center to have a warranty? How about shipping your gear all over the country without the original box or packing materials? Not all used gear has this. That presents considerable risk by itself. How many packages have I received from UPS that have been mangled and crushed, with holes punched in them? Nearly ALL of them...! Original packaging greatly reduces the risk of damage in these cases. What about integration with other modern networking electronics, like iPads, iPhones, Android phones...today's AVRs can attach to your network and play music directly from your internal or external hard drive...What about services like Spotify, Netflix, Pandora, internet radio, Sirius XM, HD Radio, Rhapsody, or playing music from USB thumb drives? The OP alluded to tech like this in an earlier post. Sure you can get this with an older AVR, if you want to clutter up your rack with numerous additional black boxes. The OP asked for recommendations, I made one, you can agree to disagree without making accusations about my motives.