Thought on impact of HDMI on receiver design

[brian.hillier]

Hey all,

I am interested in your opinions on what impact, if any, the new HMDI specs will have on receiver design.

Granted that Dolby HD and other new audio codecs have not yet been included in any of the new receivers I am looking at, but the question has been posed to me by many friends - will I need any analog inputs in the future. To me the answer is no - given that HDMI will be the predominant transmission choice in the next 5 years. Currently I only use digital input for my TV with the sole exception of my PS2 (which I hope to correct with a HDMI PS3 shortly)

As my current setup only uses HDMI, the thought has occured to me on many occasions that what would be perfect for my uses, and a growing number of high-def enthusiasts, is a receiver with 4 ports in and 1 port out for hdmi, optical and 1394 a/v, cat5, and standard pre and amp'd outputs for 7.1 surround sound (nice to have 2 sub outputs as well)

A growing number of people have no need for 12 S-video inputs, composite, and component inputs - all of which simply add to the cost of the receiver. Digital signal switching do not require digital-analog nor analog-digital conversion chips either. Do others out there feel the same?

Brian

[CP-Mike]

Yeah, I for sure could do without the bajillion composite and s-video inputs on most receivers/processors. Maybe three sets of each, tops, not the SIX of each on the C1/C2. What possessed Parasound to put TEN sets of 2-channel analog audio inputs on there?? Is there anybody out there who comes CLOSE to using all ten inputs? If they cut out some of that unnecessary extra crap they'd have plenty of space for a bunch of HDMI ins/outs, more component ins, 1394, cat5, etc. They should also somehow implement upconversion/downconversion from any input to any other output. So an s-video signal in can be output through the HDMI plug, albeit at SD levels. That would be far more useful, I think, than just throwing a bunch of "legacy" inputs and outputs on there.

[Kevin P]

Well, the legacy inputs are far from obsolete, and if you ask me, you can never have too many of them. As a corollary to Murphy's Law states, a system will expand to fill all available inputs, and then some. Wide-scale adoption of HDMI will likely take years, especially considering that 99% of the existing equipment in people's home have no HDMI at all.

Of course that's not to say that multiple HDMI inputs, switching, and upconversion wouldn't be a good thing, even now. The big issue is that the HDMI spec is still in flux and being updated, so upgradability of any receiver/preamp that supports HDMI is crucial.

I would love to see HDMI on everything down the road. It would make hookups so much simpler. Better yet, some sort of networking scheme to hook components together, like an Ethernet switch, would be perfect. I doubt we'll see that anytime soon though.

[Bob Jackson]

I'm also tired of the array of various connections on the back of my 7.1 receiver, although I understand why we have to have it. What would be nice would be total wireless to all inputs / outputs. Or optical video....imagine, no more electrons. Hey, a guy can dream can't he?

Bob

[locomk]

From what i read, the only way of getting dolby Hd and dts Hd is either going thru the analog outs of the player or using the hdmi port, but that means the receiver will have to have HDMI version 1.3 . and built in dolby hd/plus and dts hd/plus decoders. Many displays (plasmas, lcds, Rptv) wont except a Sd Hdmi/dvi image. so many receivers and processors now take a sd image and scale it to 480p/720p/1080i in the receiver.

so when a receiver/pro comes out with all the new audio codes, Hdmi that will support Dolby HD and DTS hd and have analog to digital video up conversion, it will time to upgrade, but buying anything now will be obsolete quick.

[Azeke]

I found this press release by HDMI to be interesting and informative.

HDMI Press Release

I am certainly hope for standardization of the process here in the US and further refinements, to minimize my cable quagmire, while also, providing better overall video and audio quality. We shall see, said the blind man.

Best regards,

Azeke