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Wasn't sure if this belonged in Visual Haven, or Echo Vale... so I put it in neither! Feel free to move it where it belongs.

So, I need a new receiver. The woman came home with a BluRay player yesterday, and I'm out of digital inputs, plus my receiver is kind of old, doesn't have HDMI, and the right rear channel doesn't work. In looking at receivers, I'm noticing that most have 2 or 3 HDMI inputs, and 2 optical and 2 Coax digital inputs. If I plug the HDMI cable from the BluRay, and my HD-DVR into the receiver, will it take the audio from the HDMI, or must I use a separate digital audio cable to get proper surround sound?

I have a semi-decent speaker setup with JBL mid level components (ES3s for the fronts, JBL Balboa dual 5.25" 4 way center, ES250E sub and some Klipsch Quintets for the surrounds), but nothing too fancy, and I don't plan on doing a 7.1 just yet, but I do want the capability, but I'm limiting myself to about $250US. I've found a few receivers that have caught my eye, but wanted to make sure I can use the digital audio from the HDMI and not have to run the separate cable first. Thanks!

Moved to Echo Vale.

I can use the digital audio from the HDMI and not have to run the separate cable first.

You are correct. You can definitely run sound through HDMI to your receiver. Just make sure that the receiver is connected to the TV via HDMI to ensure optimal quality. Also, if you are looking for a bunch of cheap and high quality cables try http://www.monoprice.com

HDMI can handle up to 8 channels of audio.

Also, check this thread at SlickDeals for a very nice receiver in your price range: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... &t=1461347

JJCDAD wrote:

HDMI can handle up to 8 channels of audio.

Also, check this thread at SlickDeals for a very nice receiver in your price range: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... &t=1461347

Thats the one I was looking at actually THanks for the make an offer tip.

As for HDMI cables, my best friend is a comcast cable guy. He has boxes upon boxes of any kind of cable I could possibly want.

corrado, there was a Pioneer receiver on sale today for $300 with free shipping. it decodes all the new HD audio formats and is probably perfect for you considering you wont find any receivers that can decode the new HD audio formats for $300.

its a Pioneer VSX-919AH 840 watt receiver being sold by Newegg.com

go to http://dealnews.com, scroll down the page to the electronics section

I'm hesitant to buy another Pioneer. Its what I have now and its only 2 years old. If I turn it off, the center channel and right front channel don't work, i have to turn the volume up almost all the way and those 2 channels will 'pop' and start working again after the unit warms up, the right rear channel doesn't work no matter what, and 1 of the coax digital inputs and 1 of the optical digital inputs don't work and the remote stopped working for no reason, and this was a $400+ receiver just 2 years ago.

That seriously sound like broken solder joints.

morphine wrote:

That seriously sound like broken solder joints.

Yeah, and I can solder pretty well by this point... but i took the cover off this thing and my eyes glazed over. Not a clue what i was looking at. Maybe I should pay someone to refurb this one instead?

Corrado wrote:

morphine wrote:

That seriously sound like broken solder joints.

Yeah, and I can solder pretty well by this point... but i took the cover off this thing and my eyes glazed over. Not a clue what i was looking at. Maybe I should pay someone to refurb this one instead?

You can do it yourself -- solder joints tend to crack at the point where they receive the most abuse, which is usually right at the jack assembly -- but newer receivers can be as fidgety to disassemble as a laptop. Standard protocol applies: Watch out for hidden clips and screws, and whip out your trusty digital camera and take a million shots from every angle, just in case you forget how a couple pieces go back together. I also like to use a Sharpie marker to number and mark polarity for any cables that I have to unplug, miniature ribbon cables especially, just in case there's ever any question of which one went where which way.