Time To Step It Up A Bit. Help Me Spend My Cash.

[therock]

Hi Folks,

If you have suggestions you can see my current setup in my signature. A picture of it is at the very bottom.
I want to bump things up a tad. I can't keep up with the current industry but need to improve on things a bit.
Keeping the speakers. No complaints there.
What I want to do is have XM included and possibly go with separates but am eye-balling another Onkyo A\V receiver the TX-SR803. But only if the music output has been improved over the TX-SR800 I now have.
I believe I may get better bass handling with separates but.......
I also want to improve on my DVD player. It's 480i as you can see. I may just go with an Oppo but am not sure I'll get the audio I want out of it. I need your help on that.
Another reason I will not be able to go super current is my HDMI will not be 1.3. The TV is new and I am going to have it a while.
The TV has 2 HDMI inputs so a receiver with HDMI is not mandatory but not exempt either. By the way the Hitachi TV is really nice.

So what would be the smart thing to do besides wait for HDMI 1.3 to come out and drop the prices on the previous HDMI standard stuff?

[Chris D]

heya, therock! I'm a big advocate of the principle that "if you're going to upgrade, make a QUANTUM jump in performance. Going from the Onkyo 800 to the 803 will give you a few new features and maybe a bit better performance, but you'd be spending a whole bunch more money to buy the exact same thing you already have with a few extra bells and whistles. If you're going to spend money, why not save up, spend a bit more, but get a BIG jump in performance by going with separates? If you want XM, you could get a dedicated XM receiver.

On HDMI, unless you get a new video display and wait for a 1.3 compliant new DVD player AND receiver or pre/pro with 1.3 decoding, HDMI 1.3 won't do you any good. 1.3 was just released last week, so no equipment is out yet supporting that protocol. You're talking big $$$ when it does come out, too. Don't forget that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are coming out.

Optimal - wait 6 months, spend big $$$, and buy a new TV, receiver, and DVD player that are 1.3 compliant. (or Blu-Ray AND HD-DVD)

Best solution now - spend some okay $$, buy separates now, upconverting DVD player.

Cheap solution now - spend a bit of $ and buy an Oppo DVD player and good amplifier, use the processing from the Onkyo to the amplifier. Wait for next year and buy a great pre/pro, TV, and HDMI 1.3 DVD player. (or Blu-Ray and HD-DVD)

[therock]

Thanks Chris

Sounds like I will be waiting and perhaps going with a separate amp, XM and an Oppo.
Any suggestions on the Amp? I have only seen one XM reference home tuner, being the Polk XRt12. Is there anything else out there?

[aud19]

Optimal - wait 6 months, spend big $$$, and buy a new TV, receiver, and DVD player that are 1.3 compliant. (or Blu-Ray AND HD-DVD)

Just to clarify, HDMI 1.3 has nothing to do with video and is almost all about HD audio formats (among a couple other things). In other words your current TV with HDMI 1.1 or 1.2 is fine

I agree with pretty much everything else Chris suggested though :T

I say if you've got the itch to spend right now, get an amp to improve on your Onkyo's power and prepare you for a dedicated pre/pro in a year'ish when they support HDMI 1.3 and the HD audio formats.

Get the Oppo for better DVD video performance and if 2-ch and/or DVD-A/SACD is a priority you can look in to a dedicated CD player or a universal player that's noted for better musical performance (with CD's and DVD-A/SACD). A Benchmark DAC1 would be a great addition to any of that as well :T In a year or so you can add a second generation HD/BD player that works with your new pre/pro.

[P-Dub]

I will concur with my fellow mods. Look for a good amp, that will be the question as I have no experience in that area. The Oppo sounds like a good upgrade for better video performance.

[therock]

I'm Getting There.............

I'm Getting There.............just one more question.
Before I ask, I want to add that my Onkyo DVD player is killer at SACD and DVD-A and more so I guess that is covered and it has multichannel output too. See particulars. So she will stay and the Oppo most likely will accompany.

The question is, what other options or alternative if any do I have for now for adding a dedicated home XM tuner, other than the "Polk XRt12" unit?

Any feedback on it?

[gd]

I agree with the others... your Onkyo player is very fine... add an outboard power amp... maybe a DAC to up the redbook performance... and sit out the pre-pro for a while.

XM... don't know anything about the Polk, but Marantz makes one, and AA is a reputable online retailer: http://makeashorterlink.com/?N26516A5D

[Chris D]

Jason - doesn't HDMI 1.3 up the bandwith for 1080p, or support a wider variance of colors? I thought I had read something like that. In any case, you're right that the FOCUS of 1.3 was on the audio side. I thought it did some video too, though.

[aud19]

Jason - doesn't HDMI 1.3 up the bandwith for 1080p, or support a wider variance of colors? I thought I had read something like that. In any case, you're right that the FOCUS of 1.3 was on the audio side. I thought it did some video too, though.

1.1 and 1.2 are both compatible with 1080p

[Azeke]

Chris and Jason,

This is from the HDMI site in reference to the 1.3 video specs:

Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth from 165MHz (4.95 gigabits per second) to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future high definition display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.

Deep Color: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification.

Lets HDTVs and other displays go from million of colors to billions of colors.
Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors.
Enables increased contrast ratio
Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white
At 30-bit pixel depth, a four times improvement would be the minimum, and the typical improvement would be eight times or more.
Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 removes all limits on color selection

Next-generation “xvYCC” color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals
Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately
Enables displays with natural, vivid colors

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[Chris D]

Aha! Thanks, Azeke, I knew I had read that somewhere. To decode all that for the average Joe, for VIDEO, HDMI 1.3 adds capabilities virtually all acheived by future technologies, not current video displays.

Good to know poop, though.