In1999 when I started home theater I bought a Yamaha DSP-A1 amplifier. I had waited to get DTS digital capability and this was my only choice at the time. I soon learned it was obsolete right out of the box. It had a full complement of S-video internal switching, but I was using component video. Ever since it has been an annoying problem to keep the picture on the monitor and the audio on the same channel and the right audio decoding- analog, PCM, DTS, DD etc. I vowed I will not replace this unit until I can get a combined amplifier-receiver with all the inputs and switching built in. I want the receiver be the brains on moving all the audio and video bits through the right decoders and out to one HDMI (or DVI?) input to the display and have it remember how to connect the right video with the right audio upon command.

I find more people (including my wife) are turned off by the complexity of multiple switching or multiple remotes than by the cost of home theater. I have a Pronto. Until the industry gets it to a simple one remote operation to change channels or function or adjust the volume this problem remains. A very smart receiver could be the answer.

I started looking at the new receiver models with built in component video switching and almost had my checkbook out last year when it hit me. Component video is as obsolete now as S-video was in 1999. The new video monitors and DVD players are using DVI or HDMI and Hollywood is succeeding in their effort to kill analog component connections.

I can foresee needing two-possibly 3 or more HDMI(DVI?) inputs to the amplifier/receiver along with 1394 switching of HD recorder inputs of both video and audio. It has to handle all the digital copy protection rules, and if they are smart have a way to upgrade the internal software. It has to match the digital audio of all connected devices with digital audio input (part of HDMI?) It also needs at least two component switched inputs for backwards compatabilty.

I did a check at Crutchfield and saw a just one Sony receiver at about (Wow!) $4600. It had just two DVI switched inputs.

Folks, HDTV and the digital HDMI age are never going to be a mass market until both this price and the technical need is better satisfied. I read with interest in the May WideScreen review that HDMI receivers are "coming" and "in another birthday or two HDMI may (note the may!) become the premier digital A/V for consumer electronics."

I don't live as close to the action as those of you in metro areas. What is coming down the pike that will be a very smart HDMI/DVI switching receiver my wife can fully use with one remote? Pie in the Sky for years to come? Or is this industry serious in creating a mass market for HDMI/DVI displays?

I think the receivers will be out next year with hdmi inputs...I personally would just as soon go straight to the source and have a cleaner connection (TV with 3 hdmi/dvi inputs) and use the tv for switching...until then my little dvi switcher works just fine.

>I personally would just as soon go straight to the source and have a cleaner connection (TV with 3 hdmi/dvi inputs) and use the tv for switching>

I am groping in the dark here to try to understand how the new HDMI interface is going to work and if it will solve the multiple remote nightmare using multiple IR commands. I am not locked in to only a Receiver switching solution. In the May WideScreen Review is a short article on HDMI that was what prompted my question above. WSR points out the HDMI has built in control capability. A quote:

"Making it even more practical as a consumer interface, HDMI can distribute basic control data BETWEEN (my emphasis) A/V components, which could potentially make universal remotes, well, universal". Unfortunately WSR did not discuss this further, but they peaked my interest.

I could consider the TV display as the "control" Master and Commander. I could live with 3 HDMI/DVI inputs on the TV if, when I selected the DVD input the TV sent commands over HDMI to the DVD player and also to the Receiver/Amplifer to wake up and set themselves to the right configuration, so when I push play a second later I get the DVD picture and the DTS sound I picked from the DVD display on the screen. I don't want to configure the DVD player and Receiver sound with additional IR commands from the 2 additional remotes or a complicated universal remote. I want the TV display to know the Receiver needs input changing and do it and set DTS sound without my additional input.

This kind of performance and simplicity is well within the capabilities of today's computer networks. I have home network with two USB printers on an ethernet system. When I say "print" from a computer both printers report in with their Name and model number and are ready to handshake the details so when I click OK ink flows to paper on the printer I pick.

I am wondering when the home theater industry is going to provide a replacement (or crutch?) for multiple IR remotes and hardwire the control system. Is HDMI the beginning of a universal control networking system between multiple A/V components? I know some manufacturers have something like this, but only if every item is their brand. I need a universal system and my checkbook will open when I see it happen.

Let me rephrase my question: Does HDMI have the potential to solve the multiple remote problem in home theater?

The answer is probably yes. The timeframe is a different story. I don't expect HDMI capable components across the board for another year or two at least. Then all the mfrs have to conform all their A/V products to that standard for control. True universal control for multiple brands is at least 2-3 years out IMO.

Actually, wasn't firewire supposed to do this (Audio, video and control along with daisychaining)? Why the switch to HDMI/DVI? Compression? Piracy?

Allen
>Actually, wasn't firewire supposed to do this (Audio, video and control along with daisychaining)? Why the switch to HDMI/DVI? Compression? Piracy?>

Yes Firewire would be a perfect interface system- and that was the problem for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Firewire would let Set top boxes, DVD players, recorders etc. interface with computers and all their power to hack, copy and transmit to the internet. MPAA did not want the industry standard 1394 interface with 5 C copy protection, but instead pushed DVI and now HDMI which is a "hardware safe" system. I am just learning, but as I understand it, to use DVI and HDMI, hardware manufacturers have to sign legal license agreements that their products will meet the MPAA wishes on copying. I believe two HDMI devices have to " handshake" to certify each meets the copy protection standards before any data will flow. This prevents an unauthorized computer from connecting to a HDMI connection. I may be wrong so anyone enlighten me further!.

As I see the issue I have over $10,000 in a 5 year old system that is now obsolete. I want to upgrade a piece at a time as I can afford it, looking to get one of those beautiful new flat displays in a couple of years. But first component connections came and went, then 1394 started and sputtered, now I am told it is DVI/HDMI that is the future. I bought my first upgrade last year- a Sony DirecTV HD receiver with DVI and it came with the DVI cable to connect to my flat panel display 2 years from now. Will that display have a DVI input? I don't trust them anymore. My other rant is on the current thread "FCC to rule on down resolution" where MPAA proposes killing my HD reception to "encourage" me to replace everything with DVI/HDMI.

Except it is still "wait until next year" for the right products.

I also want to warn everyone that some of the equipment now being sold(like receivers with component switching) will soon be a throwaway in just a few years, like my $2000 Yamaha DSP-A1. It may pay to wait until these issues are really final and you get the RIGHT product. Very hard to do. Best to think -use it 2 yrs and buy yet another one. Maybe Bill Gates or the MPAA lawyers can afford this.

Don,

You have it nailed.

As far as what to buy and how much to spend for myself I went with a cheapy HT receiver, $600, and am waiting on the real McCoy that will stay planted for over 5 years...