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Should I upgrade home theatre to one with HDMI?

Hello - I was wondering if someone could give me some advice. I have a Denon 5.1 channel amp and pre amp that does not have an HDMI input. I recently got a plasma TV and wanted to hook up the home theatre setup, but was dismayed to find that the input and outputs on the directtv receiver don't correlate with the inputs and outputs on the Denon. Currently the television is connected only to the directtv receiver with the HDMI cable; i.e. only sound coming from the television. Is it time for an upgrade to a receiver with HDMI inputs and pass through or can I still get high def television and quality audio with an optical video feed and a coaxial digital audio feed? Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks, KMW
kmw614214
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,677 posts
 
Inevitably. HDMI to the TV and digital coax/optical will get you HD for now but, if/when you add a BD player, you will be better off with a new AVR or prepro with HDMI.
plato
1,543 posts
 
Kr4 is correct but let me elaborate by saying that you need HDMI to get the highest quality audio meaning Dolby TruHD and DTS HD Master Audio playback. These formats are commonly found on many available Blu-ray discs and do sound considerably better than the lower resolution Dolby and DTS formats you can get with the Toslink optical or coaxial S/PDIF-RCA digital connections.

I also found recently that my AVR's HDMI 1.3 inputs will not pass 3D signals from a Blu-ray player although they have no trouble delivering hi-def 3D from Comcast Cable. If I plug the Blu-ray player directly into the TV and bypass the receiver then I can get 3D but have to settle for lower quality audio via Toslink or RCA S/PDIF. Blu-ray players and 3D tv's use the HDMI version 1.4.

I'll probably spring for a blu-ray player with 2 HDMI outputs in the future to circumvent this minor issue.
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dbphd
1,628 posts
 
If a Blue-ray player like an Oppo 95 is connected via 5.1 analog and the prepro set to bypass aren't Dolby TruHD and DTS HD MA passed through without HDMI?

db
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