New AV amp..not enough HDMI's?
Discussion
Anyone agree? I'm looking at new AV amp/Bluray units, want to pay a bit for something good with long-term potential.
Now the typical AV amp in the £2k arena seems to have a around 4 or 5 HDMI sockets.. and about 6 composite, 6 svideo, 4 component
Why does need 6 composite video inputs? I appreciate the need for backward-compatibility with existing equpment but anyone buying into HD will be owning/looking to go predominately HDMI surely?
I'll need 4 HDMI's to begin with- BDP, V+, network player and PC. And a freeview/freesat PVR is likely. thats all the HDMI's gone and I don't evan have any consoles. As for the square yard of analougue inputs... I have 1 VHS deck, at least until I digitise or download the few video cassettes I still have and dump it. And then these things are supposedly multi zone capable.. so you'd want a second BDP for that right?
Seems to me that all the manufacturers are giving us just enough for now... but not enough for tomorrow. So time to upgrade again
Now the typical AV amp in the £2k arena seems to have a around 4 or 5 HDMI sockets.. and about 6 composite, 6 svideo, 4 component
Why does need 6 composite video inputs? I appreciate the need for backward-compatibility with existing equpment but anyone buying into HD will be owning/looking to go predominately HDMI surely?
I'll need 4 HDMI's to begin with- BDP, V+, network player and PC. And a freeview/freesat PVR is likely. thats all the HDMI's gone and I don't evan have any consoles. As for the square yard of analougue inputs... I have 1 VHS deck, at least until I digitise or download the few video cassettes I still have and dump it. And then these things are supposedly multi zone capable.. so you'd want a second BDP for that right?
Seems to me that all the manufacturers are giving us just enough for now... but not enough for tomorrow. So time to upgrade again
DavidY said:
Why not use an HDMI switch in addition, a decent 4-1 switch will cosy around £100-£150 and with an all in one remote you can get it to switch automatically when you select that function.
davidy
Of course thats what it'll come to. just not an elegant solution, you think with HDMI being the future-format of choice it'd be better supported by the AV "hubs". Even items like boggo DVD players that don't "need" it are being built with it.davidy
hairyben said:
Why does need 6 composite video inputs? I appreciate the need for backward-compatibility with existing equpment but anyone buying into HD will be owning/looking to go predominately HDMI surely?
I completely agree, and I don't understand why this is the case.The only reason I can think of for them keeping the number of HDMI inputs low is so that year on year the manufacturers can bring out new a/v receivers gradually increasing the number of HDMI sockets and to encourage people to keep buying the latest and greatest.
I have an AMP with 4 HDMI inputs and I'm already using 3 of them, and I don't use much kit. I can easily see many many people maxxing out their HDMIs immediately.
Lol.
There is no great conspiracy behind the choice to have fewer HDMi interfaces - it's cost. If it was cheap to do, everyone would do it, as it would be a competitive advantage.
These day, the average consumer wants their av amp to be:
A video source switcher
A video upscaler
Have 2 or more zones for audio
Decode HD audio in every conceivable format
Have a THX sticker for no apparent reason
Set itself up so you don't have to read the book
Have full "room EQ" features, or at a minimum a set of filters for the LFE channel.
Unfortunately, "we" also want the same or better quality from the (now 7) channles on board - in a form factor smaller than in the early 2000's.
To do this, the manufacturors have to compromise somewhare - be that features to hit the price, or standard of amplification per channel. To have 2 more HDMi's in, inc. processing etc would be nice, but is it worth "downgrading" the rest of the unit to in effect do the job of a video switcher, or the "input" button on the telly?
There is no great conspiracy behind the choice to have fewer HDMi interfaces - it's cost. If it was cheap to do, everyone would do it, as it would be a competitive advantage.
These day, the average consumer wants their av amp to be:
A video source switcher
A video upscaler
Have 2 or more zones for audio
Decode HD audio in every conceivable format
Have a THX sticker for no apparent reason
Set itself up so you don't have to read the book
Have full "room EQ" features, or at a minimum a set of filters for the LFE channel.
Unfortunately, "we" also want the same or better quality from the (now 7) channles on board - in a form factor smaller than in the early 2000's.
To do this, the manufacturors have to compromise somewhare - be that features to hit the price, or standard of amplification per channel. To have 2 more HDMi's in, inc. processing etc would be nice, but is it worth "downgrading" the rest of the unit to in effect do the job of a video switcher, or the "input" button on the telly?
Graham E said:
Lol.
There is no great conspiracy behind the choice to have fewer HDMi interfaces - it's cost. If it was cheap to do, everyone would do it, as it would be a competitive advantage.
These day, the average consumer wants their av amp to be:
A video source switcher
A video upscaler
Have 2 or more zones for audio
Decode HD audio in every conceivable format
Have a THX sticker for no apparent reason
Set itself up so you don't have to read the book
Have full "room EQ" features, or at a minimum a set of filters for the LFE channel.
Unfortunately, "we" also want the same or better quality from the (now 7) channles on board - in a form factor smaller than in the early 2000's.
To do this, the manufacturors have to compromise somewhare - be that features to hit the price, or standard of amplification per channel. To have 2 more HDMi's in, inc. processing etc would be nice, but is it worth "downgrading" the rest of the unit to in effect do the job of a video switcher, or the "input" button on the telly?
I can't see that a couple more HDMI sockets would be expensive to implement, especially in place of a few analogues?There is no great conspiracy behind the choice to have fewer HDMi interfaces - it's cost. If it was cheap to do, everyone would do it, as it would be a competitive advantage.
These day, the average consumer wants their av amp to be:
A video source switcher
A video upscaler
Have 2 or more zones for audio
Decode HD audio in every conceivable format
Have a THX sticker for no apparent reason
Set itself up so you don't have to read the book
Have full "room EQ" features, or at a minimum a set of filters for the LFE channel.
Unfortunately, "we" also want the same or better quality from the (now 7) channles on board - in a form factor smaller than in the early 2000's.
To do this, the manufacturors have to compromise somewhare - be that features to hit the price, or standard of amplification per channel. To have 2 more HDMi's in, inc. processing etc would be nice, but is it worth "downgrading" the rest of the unit to in effect do the job of a video switcher, or the "input" button on the telly?
Has anyone ever used the multi-zone capabilities? I've never seen one, seen a few "proper" networked music/media servers but never an AV amp used as the basis for one. Why does every amp over about £1k seem to offer this? They seem to me to be a wow-factor add-on that may-or-may-not fit your needs even if you did decide to go multizone, which I bet 98%+ don't.
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