Yamaha takes a 24-hour lead in AV receiver war
Yamaha RX-V861: a great receiver for $1,000--at least until Onkyo shows its hand
(Credit: Yamaha)For better or worse, most consumer electronics companies don't announce products with Apple-like fanfare. There's no gilded invite, no glitzy PR event at the Moscone Center, no 90-minute Steve Jobs presentation. For most companies, it's a booth at CES in January, and a press release. Three to eight months later, the product pops up at Amazon, Best Buy, or J&R, often with more of a whimper than a bang.
Take the new AV receivers from Yamaha and Onkyo. Keen eyes at AVS Forum and other enthusiast sites began noticing that new entry- and midlevel receivers from both companies started appearing on their respective Web sites (Onkyo USA and Yamaha). But Yamaha fired off a press release this morning to highlight the imminent release of the RX-V861 receiver, a $1,000 model that it says offers "unprecedented high end features" for that price point. Perusing the spec sheet, it certainly appears that the RX-V861 is no slouch: -n addition to the usual assortment of high-end audio goodies (automatic speaker calibration, multizone operation, built-in XM satellite capability, 105 watts per channel), it's got two Simplay HD-certified, 1080p-capable, HDMI inputs, and--just as importantly--it can upscale analog video sources to high-definition resolutions. What it's missing, of course, is a few of the keystone features we're expecting in the true "next-gen" receivers due later this year: namely, HDMI 1.3 and built-in support for Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS HD Master Audio (the super-high-def soundtracks found on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs).
To date, the only announced receiver that includes those features is the Sherwood Newcastle model we saw at the Consumer Electronics Show. But tomorrow could be another story: Onkyo has scheduled a press event in Jersey City where the company is expected to unveil its 2007 line of receivers and home theater products. In fact, the odds are that they'll be these products, which were leaked via the Web earlier this month. So while we can't blame Yamaha for launching a shot across Onkyo's bow, we have to say that--on paper, at least--the rumored Onkyo TX-SR805 seems to be offering a lot more for $1,000 than the Yamaha RX-V861, including a third HDMI input, HDMI 1.3a (instead of the Yamaha's 1.2a), and on-board decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
We'll have a full report on Crave as soon as we know the details from the Onkyo event (tomorrow, April 24), but the audio geeks in us have high hopes that the leaked specs--and prices--are right on the money. Meanwhile, don't expect the competition to be far behind: we'll know in a few months how close Denon's 2007-2008 line-up is to the rumored specs for that manufacturer, and we suspect that Yamaha itself will soon be releasing details regarding successors to last year's high-end RX-V1700 and RX-V2700. And by September's CEDIA show, every big-name manufacturer should have at least one HDMI 1.3/Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD ready to roll--if not already in stores.
John P. Falcone covers home theater and network entertainment products. He's been writing for CNET since 2002. 
For receivers that do offer upscaling, we've been making sure to test it just as rigorously as we do with upscaling DVD players and HDTVs. And fortunately, the scaling can usually be switched off if you prefer native resolution.
Also, if it wasn't already clear in the post--the upscaling is available only on incoming analog content (composite, S-video, and possibly component)--HDMI inputs are always straight passthrough, without any scaling involved.
Buying a first rate receiver is high on my list of components to gather for my new home theater. But I admit the details are confusing, and this question of "what won't be outmoded immediately?" is something I keep asking myself.
Is there a comprehensive document that covers the issues and controversies of choosing a receiver? I have already been reading Shelly's ?Building a Great Home Theater System? (http://www.dvrplayground.com/article/14907/Building-a-Great-Home-Theater-System/) -- but though it covers the overview and basics of many components, it doesn't address the questions on receiver innovations that you are raising.
Analog, on the other hand, instead of the standard upconversion, should be processed...as in converted to 480p and cleaned. Yes, that would be nice; take all the money used to provide upconversion and then invest it in digital signal processing for a cleaner video image from analog.
If there's any savings from that, then the rest should be used for up to date HDMI and high-def audio protocols.
- by unclevike January 7, 2009 4:28 PM PST
- i have arx-v1900 and i cant seam to get it to stay on a pre set sound or parameter. i will set up a sound memory 1 and it w have the same on 3 and 4 i have went by the book but i just cant get it to work can you help.
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