[mythtvnz] New Amplifier

[Dylan Hall]

Thanks everyone for your comments :)

I think by the time I had finished writing up the email I had made up my
mind. 

I decided to make a conservative purchase on the grounds that if I
really need those features at some point in the future I can spend the
money I saved on the initial purchase :)

I was looking at a Sony amp, the STR-DA1200ES. On paper it is very
similar to the amp I'm replacing (also a Sony ES) so I figured it was a
good place to start. 

I popped into LV Martins to see if they had it in stock, and if I could
wrangle a cash discount... After a lengthy chat with one of the sales
droids the manager walked over, saw the model I was considering, and
offered a $350 discount.  It's an old model and I suspect they were keen
to see the back of it!

So I've now got a shiny new amp :)   It's not doing any hdmi mangling or
anything else like that, so the only interaction with the media pc is
via an optical SPDIF cable, which is working very nicely :)

Now all I'm waiting for is the misses and child to go out so I can turn
it up loud enough to give it a *real* test...

Dylan
 


On Wed, 2008-06-18 at 09:27 +1200, Dylan Hall wrote:

> Hopefully this isn't too far off topic :)
> 
> I find myself needing a new home theatre amp because my current one
> has died after many years of loyal service...
> 
> It seems in the intervening 9 years a lot has changed. The amps no
> longer seem to be trying to differentiate themselves on sound quality
> or power output, but rather codec support, DSP prowess, number of
> connectors, quality of their GUI, and video handling.
> 
> After a little research and some foot work I find myself with two
> choices, a basic "old school" audio amp ($1000-1500) or a flash does
> everything amp ($2000-3000).
> 
> In my mind the two main differences are codecs, and video handling.
> These are the topics I'm after peoples opinions on :)
> 
> Codecs:  
> 
> The flash news amps have introduced new versions of Dolby Digital (DD+
> and Dolby True HD) and DTS (insert acronym). The new codecs provide
> native 7.1 encoding (upto 14 channels I think, and I think higher bit
> rates), and also lossless encoding. The caveat seems to be that these
> new codecs are only supported via an HDMI cable. They won't work over
> SPDIF. I've heard of, but never seen or played with PC hardware that
> allows your sound card to insert it's audio into an HDMI port on the
> video card.
> 
> Has anyone played with the above? Does it work? Does HDCP rear it's
> ugly head?
> What are the chances of actually finding myself with media on the
> media PC that uses one of the above codecs?  I think currently the
> only source is Blu-ray disks.
> 
> Video Handling:
> 
> The other new feature of the flash amps is video handling. Most of
> them will convert/upscale an analoge video source to HDMI (720p/1080p)
> and some will also upscale HDMI inputs. The upshot is that you only
> need one cable (HDMI) to your TV and you can change video sources with
> a single button press. They also seem to throw in an onscreen GUI for
> good measure.
> 
> Has anyone played with running a media PC through the above? I'm
> particularly interested in how the amp will handle an HDMI input that
> actually comes from a DVI on a video card. The specific concern is
> that the video card output isn't "standard", e.g. it's running at
> 1360x768 rather than 720p/1080p etc. Again, does HDCP rear it's ugly
> head?
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dylan
> 
> 
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