Pioneer 919AH-K, 1019AH-K, H/K AVR 254

[alijaffer]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new receiver and speakers.

The speakers I am looking at are the H/K HKTS15, My brother in-law has them and they sound amazing to me.

However, he has the H/K AVR 354 which is out of my price range...

So I was looking first between the Pioneer 1019AH-K and H/K AVR 254. Then in looking at the specs of the 1019, I noticed that 919 is $200 cheaper and does almost the same thing...

I figure I don't need the extra input on the 1019, the only question to me is whether or not I need the upconverter in the 1019.

I have an Xbox right now and am buying a PS3 to be used as my BlueRay player and a digital cable box that exports to HDMI.

Also, I read in some other posts the 919 has some handshaking issues ... what does that mean?

Thanks.