Cinema Amps

[kev g]

First of all I must say that I am looking forward to reading reviews of the Sony 32w5500 & 32" Panasonic LCD`s. I am so desparate to replace a 21" CRT.

I have also been looking at the latest home cinema amps & watched the help videos as I don`t know much about them. I am bewildered by the number of sockets on the back panels. I have no intention of connecting one up to a CD player or tuner but only to a dvd player/recorder, possible future blue-ray player, LCD tv & 5.1 speaker package.

Are there any home cinema amps with just HDMI, speaker & sub-woofer sockets only available ?

 

[Sorreltiger]

You don't need to worry, kev! ÿJust plug in your DVD player to the HDMI input marked "DVD" and your Blu-ray player into "Blu-ray" etc. You might also need an optical cable for the DVD, of course. ÿYou'll need another HDMI cable out to the TV, that's all. ÿJust ignore all the other sockets that you don't need!

 

[kev g]

Thanks for the reply. I will make a note of that.

You would of thought a manufacturer would of come up with a "simplified" cinema amp, making it smaller, lighter & cheaper.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Unfortunately, it's a market where more, not less, is more, as I explained here.

And making a stripped-down model for a relatively small number of people would probably be more expensive than simply delivering what the majority of the market wants.

 

[Anonymous]

Its cheaper to cover all bases

 

[Anonymous]

I suppose it's still reasonable to cover legacy connections, but at some point someone will surely come out with an amp that just has HDMI connections. Similarly, I would expect more Blu ray players that don't do any decoding of audio as virtually all the amps do that anyway. It seems silly to be paying for lots of old connections and duplicated decoding. Then somone can make a wee black box that takes all the olde worlde stuff and converts it to HDMI.

 

[AndrewFG]

johna11:I would expect more Blu ray players that don't do any decoding of audio as virtually all the amps do that anyway.

Well for example the Sony BDP-S350 alreadys skips the audio decoding; but its big brother the S550 has audio decoding built in.

 

[Alec]

Andrew Everard:

Unfortunately, it's a market where more, not less, is more, as I explained here.

And making a stripped-down model for a relatively small number of people would probably be more expensive than simply delivering what the majority of the market wants.

Good point.

Shame, as i share greg g's dissappointment, but i apply it to mobile phones.

Apologies for the interruption folks.

 

[kev g]

Andrew, I missed your article on Home Cinema when it was posted. Thanks for the link.

 

[kev g]

johna11 -

Yes, my sentiments exactly.

I think it`s now time to strip down these amps. HDMI is the only way to go. The savings in losing other connections could be used to improve other areas.

 

[cram]

but how will I connect my WII, DVD Player, IPOD, Non HD Sky Box, CD Player. I like having lots of connections. And if we do end up in a place where we have 1 universal connection across multiple devices please don't let it be HDMI.

 

[kev g]

I would just like to see a choice of models being available (using HDMI only) with just the home cinema in mind & not other devices. I notice alot of these amps are very power hungry. A basic model would perhaps reduce energy costs too ?

 

[ElectroMan]

Maybe manufacturers could include a removeable back plate that would cover up all the 'legacy' sockets for those who don't want to use them.