onkyo tx-sr875

[admin_exported]

ive just read the latest edition of the mag and I am interested in the above receiver. However I am a lay person so I dont understand why I need a decent dvd player if this receiver has upscaling capabilities? Could someone please explain how the whole home cinema thing works. I own no "state of the art" equipment as yet (I have just an ordinary dvd player and ordinary dvds) so I am looking to buy from scratch - but before I part with lots of money - i would like to understand what my equipment will do. Will I need to upgrade my dvd player to an upscaling one?

Thanks

 

[jetjohnson]

Hi

I guess Andrew or others will give you a better technical reply than myself ..but in a nutshell (& assuming you already have a HD equipped TV) a DVD player with a HDMI output connected to the Onkyo will give you the best possible picture quality from standard DVD's ..many people mention how good a "normal" DVD player's pics can look when connected via HDMI and subsequently upscaled.

In a nutshell you don't "need" to buy a new DVD player but there are plenty of low cost (under £200) HDMI equipped DVD players available that will bring the best out of standard DVDs.

 

[Andrew Everard]

And note, too, that the Onkyo will also upconvert and upscale from other connections. So if your player 'only' has component video output, not HDMI, it'll work well with that, too.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]

And note, too, that the Onkyo will also upconvert and upscale from other connections. So if your player 'only' has component video output, not HDMI, it'll work well with that, too.

[/quote]so does that mean I can keep my existing dvd player - hook it up to the onkyo and get the same quality as hooking up a £250 - £500 dvd player to the onkyo?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Well, it depends how good the video output from your existing player is...

 

[Anonymous]

thank you Andrew

so can i connect a ps3 to the onkyo as well as a sky hd box?

if so what are the best cables to use?

thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yup! Just a standard HDMI connection. But for Sky HD you'll also need optical audio for surround, as the sound on the Sky's HDMI is stereo only

 

[Anonymous]

so just to confirm - cos i am new to this - i connect my ps3 and new dvd player to receiver with hdmi, connect my sky hd box to receiver with optical - then one hdmi lead goes from the receiver to my tv.

thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yup!

 

[Anonymous]

cheers Andrew - i am having trouble buying the tannoy mercury f1 speakers that are listed in the best buy section of the mag ( i went for the onkyo tx-sr605 in gold in the end). everytime i think ive found them the picture looks different or they have slightly different product numbers. i am not confident enough to buy the speakers seperately so wish to buy them as a package.

cheers

 

[Anonymous]

I have another question hopefully someone can help me out with. i know i connect my sky hd bx to the receiver with optical but do i also connect it with hdmi - or does the hdmi from the sky box go straight to tv?

thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Either way works fine. For convenience I have mine connected via the amp purely for convenience of switching.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks again Andrew - sorry you are having to do this much hand holding for me but i am new to this calibre of av equipment and i want to put together a solid kit.

bought so far - sony kdl40d3000, Onkyo TX-SR605 Gold, ps3, 2 x Qed HDMI-P-1.

i now need a speaker package and appropriate cabling. the mag suggests adding the new KEF KHT3005SE package or in the best buys section lists the TANNOY MERCURY F1 package. I cannot find neither of these packages available to buy online and apparently KEF equipment cannot be purchased this method either. was wondering if you could confirm that the QED SILVER ANNIVERSARY XT is an appropriate choice of cable to connect my speakers to my receiver.

cheers