Im in the market

[mdtulp]

Im about ready to purchase a HDMI reciever and my budget is around 500 give or take a hundred. Ive looked at some yamaha's at best buy thats 499, that supports all the blu audio, true hd, pcm, 7.1 etc, but im want to get your guys opinon on what to look for. I really dont understand "Upconversion" I know that the video signal goes through the reciever and into the TV. Is there recievers that do this better than others, any problems with poorer quality video with this? I guess ill need another HDMI cable, And also with all this new equipment I was thinking about a power conditioner. Right now everything is just hooked up to a surge protector, are power conditioners worth it? Do they actually improve the quality of the signals or are they more or less a protection piece of equipment(i.e. a fancy surge protector) Any help would be appreciated, This is a big investment for me so I want to make sure I just dont buy whats on the shelf cuz its there. Thanks