Recommended receiver for Panasonic DMP-BD60? (Good and Cheap even if it´s 5.1)

[Omix]

Hi to all,
I am looking for a cheap and good receiver for my little house even if it has to be 5.1 only.

Could you suggest one please?

Thanks in advanced.

[callas01]

how much do you want to spend?

[Omix]

Originally Posted by callas01

how much do you want to spend?

Good question.

If it´s possible, I want to spend less than $150 usd. (This is the part when you laugh...)

[callas01]

I won't laugh...... I used to have an older version of this receiver, slightly over your budget, but a great performer and will give you the Lossless audio you want from Blu-ray. You will want to set the Panny BD60 to PCM, and the Blu-ray player will convert dts-HD and Dolby True HD into a PCM signal and the receiver will play it as Lossless audio.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DH700...014807&sr=1-57

It costs $199 brand new, free ground shipping.

[Omix]

Originally Posted by callas01

I won't laugh...... I used to have an older version of this receiver, slightly over your budget, but a great performer and will give you the Lossless audio you want from Blu-ray. You will want to set the Panny BD60 to PCM, and the Blu-ray player will convert dts-HD and Dolby True HD into a PCM signal and the receiver will play it as Lossless audio.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DH700...014807&sr=1-57

It costs $199 brand new, free ground shipping.

Thanks again for your support.

WOW, you replied too fast with a best option that I have seen in a while.

I have to connect my bd to this receiver with the HDMI cable, right?
And It will give the 7.1 channels?

BTW, Nice HT setup.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by Omix

Thanks again for your support.

WOW, you replied too fast with a best option that I have seen in a while.

I have to connect my bd to this receiver with the HDMI cable, right?
And It will give the 7.1 channels?

BTW, Nice HT setup.

Thanks, It took some time to get the setup I have, I started with the STR-DG710, the same model as yours just 2 years older... Take time to getting your setup together and buy the best you can each time, there will be less upgrades if you do it that way.

yes you will need an HDMI cable and you will get 7.1. For the price of the unit it works good and should keep you happy until one day when you want to upgrade.

What speakers are you going to be using???

[callas01]

here is another one you could look at, but I think the Sony is a little bit of a step up over this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882117303

[Omix]

Originally Posted by callas01

Thanks, It took some time to get the setup I have, I started with the STR-DG710, the same model as yours just 2 years older... Take time to getting your setup together and buy the best you can each time, there will be less upgrades if you do it that way.

yes you will need an HDMI cable and you will get 7.1. For the price of the unit it works good and should keep you happy until one day when you want to upgrade.

What speakers are you going to be using???

Right now I am in my job and I cannot see the brand of my 2 speakers that I have now. These speakers were made for studio, they have a crossover and

I am starting to get the rest of the speakers.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by Omix

Right now I am in my job and I cannot see the brand of my 2 speakers that I have now. These speakers were made for studio, they have a crossover and

I am starting to get the rest of the speakers.

just make sure that your speakers are 8 ohms not 3 or 4 ohms.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by callas01

just make sure that your speakers are 8 ohms not 3 or 4 ohms.

Good advice, and sometimes overlooked when someone recommends a receiver in these threads.

[Omix]

Originally Posted by callas01

just make sure that your speakers are 8 ohms not 3 or 4 ohms.

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Good advice, and sometimes overlooked when someone recommends a receiver in these threads.

While I save some money for the Sony receiver that "callas01" suggested, my uncle borrowed me an old Kenwood receiver for the rest of the year. Unfortunaly it doesn´t have HDMI port. It has only an Optical port.

After reading a post here, I found the following:
Before I go any further, I would like to note that Optical and Digital Coaxial cables are insufficient and will only transmit 2.0 PCM audio. In other words, only stereo...they are not capable of delivering Lossless 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.

**If you are using an Optical cable or Digital Coax cable, you should have your Player set to Bitstream to avoid any issues.

The only way to hear 5.1/7.1 Uncompressed PCM, Dolby TrueHD & Dts-HD Master is to use either an HDMI or Multichannel Analog cable.

So, without the 7.1 Analog out from my DMP-BD60 and without the HDMI port in my uncle's receiver, it is not possible to get a 5.1 sound, right?

Thks.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by Omix

While I save some money for the Sony receiver that "callas01" suggested, my uncle borrowed me an old Kenwood receiver for the rest of the year. Unfortunaly it doesn´t have HDMI port. It has only an Optical port.

After reading a post here, I found the following:
Before I go any further, I would like to note that Optical and Digital Coaxial cables are insufficient and will only transmit 2.0 PCM audio. In other words, only stereo...they are not capable of delivering Lossless 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.

**If you are using an Optical cable or Digital Coax cable, you should have your Player set to Bitstream to avoid any issues.

The only way to hear 5.1/7.1 Uncompressed PCM, Dolby TrueHD & Dts-HD Master is to use either an HDMI or Multichannel Analog cable.

So, without the 7.1 Analog out from my DMP-BD60 and without the HDMI port in my uncle's receiver, it is not possible to get a 5.1 sound, right?

Thks.

you can get 5.1 surround sound from either an optical or digital coaxial audio output. You bd-60 should have an optical out and the Kenwood... I hope would have an optical in. Then set the BD-60 to bitstream so that the DD and dts standard tracks play.

[Omix]

Originally Posted by callas01

you can get 5.1 surround sound from either an optical or digital coaxial audio output. You bd-60 should have an optical out and the Kenwood... I hope would have an optical in. Then set the BD-60 to bitstream so that the DD and dts standard tracks play.

PERFECT !!!

I was like questioning what I read because I have a 6.1 in my Mom's house and we were using an Optical cable.

After reading a little more I see that, as you say, I can get 5.1 sound with Optical cable but It will not sound as 'natural' as a 5.1/7.1 with PCM, right?

So, with Optical cable, I will get these, right?:
- 2.0 PCM
- 5.1 Bitstream

And with a New receiver with HDMI, these:
- 5.1/7.1 PCM (TrueHD)

[callas01]

Originally Posted by Omix

PERFECT !!!

I was like questioning what I read because I have a 6.1 in my Mom's house and we were using an Optical cable.

After reading a little more I see that, as you say, I can get 5.1 sound with Optical cable but It will not sound as 'natural' as a 5.1/7.1 with PCM, right?

So, with Optical cable, I will get these, right?:
- 2.0 PCM
- 5.1 Bitstream

And with a New receiver with HDMI, these:
- 5.1/7.1 PCM (TrueHD)

Yes, basically.... as long as you understand that bitstreaming with optical is only giving you the lossy audio.... with a receiver that can decode HD audio you can still bitstream the audio via HDMI to the receiver and get HD/Lossless audio, if your receiver can decode the signal. In your case the STR-DH700 can only process LPCM(linear PCM), so you will have your blu-ray player do the decoding(meaning sending a PCM signal). On my receiver the STR-DG920/STR-DN100 the receiver can receive both a LPCM and Bitstream signal and still produce HD/Lossless audio.

Understand it like this(i Hope)... with optical you get dolby digital and dts lossy, same as you would from a DVD, think of it like this, you have a file that you want to email but its too big, so you shrink it down as a .zip file, but when the person that receivers the email gets it they open it and only get 90% of what you sent, there are a few details missing in the attachment you sent, the person understand the email and what you meant, but there were some minor details that you they missed.... this is called Lossy audio

With HDMI and a compatable reciever you can get Dolby Digital HD and dts-HD via HDMI and Linear PCM(linear meaning discrete audio to 5 or more channels) via HDMI, this is called lossless audio..... take the example above, but this time the person you sent the .zip file too opens it and there isn't anything missing it is 100% the way you initially wrote the email........ that is called Lossless audio or HD audio if you will.

[Omix]

Originally Posted by callas01

Yes, basically.... as long as you understand that bitstreaming with optical is only giving you the lossy audio.... with a receiver that can decode HD audio you can still bitstream the audio via HDMI to the receiver and get HD/Lossless audio, if your receiver can decode the signal. In your case the STR-DH700 can only process LPCM(linear PCM), so you will have your blu-ray player do the decoding(meaning sending a PCM signal). On my receiver the STR-DG920/STR-DN100 the receiver can receive both a LPCM and Bitstream signal and still produce HD/Lossless audio.

Understand it like this(i Hope)... with optical you get dolby digital and dts lossy, same as you would from a DVD, think of it like this, you have a file that you want to email but its too big, so you shrink it down as a .zip file, but when the person that receivers the email gets it they open it and only get 90% of what you sent, there are a few details missing in the attachment you sent, the person understand the email and what you meant, but there were some minor details that you they missed.... this is called Lossy audio

With HDMI and a compatable reciever you can get Dolby Digital HD and dts-HD via HDMI and Linear PCM(linear meaning discrete audio to 5 or more channels) via HDMI, this is called lossless audio..... take the example above, but this time the person you sent the .zip file too opens it and there isn't anything missing it is 100% the way you initially wrote the email........ that is called Lossless audio or HD audio if you will.

Ok, I got it more clear "callas01". It is a great example to understand.

I´ll work on my uncle's receiver and complete my setup meanwhile I save for the STR-DH700 one.

I have learned too much today about this thanks to You and Blu-ray.com.

Thanks again for all your comments, samples and explanations.

[Fors*]

It's too bad members can't give out little "bronze, silver or gold stars" for each time a member helps another member....sort of like the stickers on college football helmets. You know, bronze for a little help, silver for good help and gold for providing a lot of help. It would be interesting to see how they accumulate and to which members receive them.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

It's too bad members can't give out little "bronze, silver or gold stars" for each time a member helps another member....sort of like the stickers on college football helmets. You know, bronze for a little help, silver for good help and gold for providing a lot of help. It would be interesting to see how they accumulate and to which members receive them.

dude, so what sticker did I just get...

[Living Near Shamu]

This thread has helped a lot too! Thanks guys!

[Living Near Shamu]

Originally Posted by callas01

just make sure that your speakers are 8 ohms not 3 or 4 ohms.

How can I find out about this? Will it be on my speaker set?

EDIT: Btw, I'm hooking up a PS3 to this one

[Omix]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

It's too bad members can't give out little "bronze, silver or gold stars" for each time a member helps another member....sort of like the stickers on college football helmets. You know, bronze for a little help, silver for good help and gold for providing a lot of help. It would be interesting to see how they accumulate and to which members receive them.

Originally Posted by callas01

dude, so what sticker did I just get...

I agree with you "forsberg21". Here in some Mexico's forums we use "Karmas":
You help others, you get a +K
You attack or behave bad with others, you get a -K

So, everybody wants to help others to get the more +Ks.

"Karmas" are overvalued to a point that when our favorite soccer team plays, we bid with Karmas.... funny !!!

BTW, "callas02", I give you +10K for your help.