HD-friendly A/V receivers

Updated February 2, 2006

HDTV: check. High-def DVR: check. Surround-sound speaker system: check. Upscaling DVD player: check. You're fully stocked with a formidable lineup of bleeding-edge components but lacking the one that ties them all together: an A/V receiver. But any old receiver won't do; you need one that can maximize the high-definition digital power of your system. For the past couple of years, the Holy Grail of the home theater has been an A/V receiver with support for the HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) connection standard. In theory, there's a lot to like about HDMI: it's all digital, it has the capability to carry multichannel audio and high-definition video signals on a single cable, and it's small, with a plug is roughly the same size as USB. Toss in an inexpensive cable or adapter, and HDMI is even backward compatible with its digital video predecessor, DVI. The first generation of HDMI-compatible receivers seemed to be hobbled with one compromise or another. Either they used an older version of the HDMI specification that won't pass multichannel audio (the Onkyo TX-NR1000), or they provided only a single HDMI input and output (the Panasonic SA-XR70). But things are finally look up on the HDMI front: the latest high-end models from Sony, Pioneer, and Denon each offer improved support for HDMI, and the affordable JVC RX-D702B even converts incoming analog video to HDTV-friendly 480p HDMI output. Look for more receiver models with similarly advanced HDMI capabilities, such as Denon's AVR-2807, to become available as 2006 progresses.

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