Starting small home theater, need advice

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.

Realremo is right. Why complicate things by buying a used receiver? Unlike Realremo, I've not spent thousands on used equipment. Instead, I'm an audio industry veteran who has repped for and consulted for dozens of manufacturers. From Kenwood to Sherwood, Denon to Yamaha, apogee to Bose, VPI to Counterpoint, Arcam to Totem and so on. While this is not about me, I wanted to establish some credibility to ease Brian's anxiety. Why are you guys harping about arcane digital technology like 44/192 when he's obviously a casual user on a tight budget who would value utility and reliability. While Realremo's system would work just fine, given the nature of the average Audiogon user, I think you'll appreciate some facts.
When I started Onkyo USA Corp in 1976, power supply was a big issue at Onkyo. We had our own transformer factory and spent plenty on design. The receivers would drive any load you'd be likely to run across in the real world, held up superbly and had a sweet detailed, robust sound. As the years went by, my colleagues damaged the company's image by selling giant discount chains. As sales dropped every time a chain failed, and they all did, Onkyo began building poorer product. It would become load-sensitive and we had a lot of shutting down (Brian, that means it would stop playing), hence the establishment of the Integra brand (Integra was part of the US line from 1978 on but now Onkyo redefined the main brand as a big-box item and it's heavily discounted while Integra is tageted towrd specialists. in any event, an Onkyo is feature rich and pretty reliable too. Still, it won't do well under 6 ohms and its sound is average. Burr Brown, Shmerr Brown: most of the Burr Brown chips we used varied sonically from sharp and detailed (and a bit fatiguing) to smooth with less intimacy). I assure you, the collateral circuitry and build budget precludes a sophisticated digital section. Now, onward:BUY NEW. Caps age (internal parts) especially on receivers, due to their price range and they slowly degrade the sound. You must have HDMI which many of us detest for reasons not germane, but if you want easy hook up of things you'll buy in the future, you'll need HDMI. With a Yamaha, you'll get HDMI pass through and even HDMI switching even when the unit is off! He might simply want to watch the news without the system being on. It will drive any load, has no HDMI handshake issues like the Onkyo, is more reliable than the Denon and all these are the same price. The Yamaha comes with four pre-programmed macros so you can, say, watch a movie with the press of a single button. NAD stands for "Not ALWAYS defective"...and they're not but they do have the poorest reliability of the group--sound good though but simply uncompetitive. Forget about preamp outputs. The preamp sections in these cheap receivers ain't that great. Later, buy an over-$1000 receiver and hear an immediate difference. All these brands make fine upper end units. Follow Realremo's sage advice and start enjoying your system--no convoluted configuration or sacrifice.