Help on home cinema

[admin_exported]

I have a Sony KDL -40W2000 LCD tv to which i want to add home cinema to. After reading the Latest What Hi Fi i think i have settled for either the Onkyo 505 or 605. I have a smallish room so would the 505 be ok or would it be better to invest in the 605. If i got the 605 what benefits would i be getting for the extra outlay. Could anyone then suggest what speakers would go with either of the onkyo's but i would prefer smaller ones with it only being a small room. Finally what speaker wires would ok to hook it all together and any interconnects between the receiver and tv. As i am a novice in home cinema any thoughts would be really appreciated.

 

[professorhat]

The main question here really is what is your budget? The 605 / 606 will offer you hi-def sound formats which are available from Blu-Ray discs, so if you are thinking of moving to Blu-Ray any time before you next upgrade your amp, you should go for these models. The 606 (new version of the 605 due out imminently) also offers upscaling of standard definition sources (such as older DVD players) to 1080i which might also interest you.

 

[Andy Grange]

Can I ask a bit of a dumbo question, following on from your last post. As you mention, the 606 is able to upscale standard def sources. If I was to get Sky HD, would the 606 be able to distinguish the SD channels from the HD and upscale accordingly? Or are you only able to select one setting per source (i.e. this dvd player is SD, upcale)?

Thanks in advance

 

[professorhat]

I don't actually have Sky HD, but my understanding is, if you put the box in Automatic mode (rather than any specific resolution such as 720p or 1080i), it will output whatever resolution that program is in i.e. standard SD programs would get sent as 576i whereas HD would be sent as 1080i. In this case therefore, the Onkyo would receive the programs sent in 576i and upscale them to 1080i, whereas HD programs sent in 1080i would not need any upscaling so this would just passthrough.

I think I have this right, in which case, the best thing to do would be to try sending SD signals from the Sky box as 1080i and let the Sky box do the upscaling, then try sending them as 576i and let the Onkyo do the upscaling and finally send them as 576i straight to the TV and let the TV do the upscaling and see in each instance which produces the best picture.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="professorhat"]
I don't actually have Sky HD, but my understanding is, if you put the box in Automatic mode (rather than any specific resolution such as 720p or 1080i), it will output whatever resolution that program is in i.e. standard SD programs would get sent as 576i whereas HD would be sent as 1080i. In this case therefore, the Onkyo would receive the programs sent in 576i and upscale them to 1080i, whereas HD programs sent in 1080i would not need any upscaling so this would just passthrough.

I think I have this right, in which case, the best thing to do would be to try sending SD signals from the Sky box as 1080i and let the Sky box do the upscaling, then try sending them as 576i and let the Onkyo do the upscaling and finally send them as 576i straight to the TV and let the TV do the upscaling and see in each instance which produces the best picture.

[/quote]

Are you saying that the Onkyo upscales picture as well as sound? I always thought amps/receivers only upgraded sound... Sorry, very new to this stuff...

 

[professorhat]

No need to apologise - indeed it does, the new Onkyo 606 has the Faroudja DCDi Edge chip in it which will upscale any video connection into it i.e. via Composite, S-Video, Component or HDMI connections to 1080i and output this via its own HDMI output. The 605 does not have this, so if this interests you, it's worth waiting for the review of the 606 due sometime next week I think on this very site!

 

[Anonymous]

Will the 606 be more expensive than the 605 and do you think the 605 would be discounted much by the release of a new model ?

 

[professorhat]

Confirmed at £400 - WHF's News Story. I'd say there's a good chance the 605 will be discounted (someone's already seen at £320 somewhere else in the forums). I guess the main thing will be if it gets a good or a bad review - if it isn't much good, expect prices of the old 605 to possibly go up! I'd say this is unlikely though.