Anyone ever heard a Pioneer Elite reciever?

Just wondering if anyone owns or has heard a Pioneer Elite reciver with DD HD and DTS HD? How does it sound? Is it worth the money $799 to $900?

[Post edited by Ironbull on Oct 18, 2007]

Haven't heard it but would be curious if anyone has used their receiver and HDMI 1.3 to decode HD and master audio tracks? I've been reading that advanced content flags could be in the stream and cause problems for such receivers to decode and have yet to read a review of someone who has used their receiver to decode/play master audio tracks.

I'm still waiting to get in hi-def video, am really becoming discouraged with the momentum of Blu-Haze. Still disagree with others here who say Walmart crowd is what's going to win the war. It's going to be in the Best Buy's and it's going to be buy who has the most studio and hardware support and right now several major names are coming out with Blu-Ray inluding Denon which I used to love. When I make the move, this time it will be Onkyo as they support HD-DVD and their receivers are THX Ultra certified wheras the latest Denon's are not except for their obscenely priced top end model. Onkyo TX-SR875 is what I'm shooting for, you might want to check them out as well. Not sure if Pioneer elite is THX certified?

>Haven't heard it but would be curious if anyone has used their receiver and HDMI 1.3 to decode HD and master audio tracks<

Just to clarify, ALL current HD DVD and Blu-Ray players can decode the newer Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD codecs internally at this point. Once decoded by the player, it is pass through as PCM via HDMI or converted to analog through the 5.1 output.

I have two HT setups, the main one out in the living room and one in the bedroom. The bedroom consists of the Onkyo TX-SR805 which can decode Dolby TrueHD, DD+, and DTS HD. Everything in the chain is HDMI v1.3, but until Toshiba issues the next firmware upgrade to pass through the newer digital bitstreams, the most that can be decoded externally is Dolby Digital and DTS.

Geo

Not sure wat happened, but my post got posted several times. Please ignore this!

Geo

[Post edited by luckygeo on Oct 19, 2007]

[Post edited by luckygeo on Oct 19, 2007]

Geo

[Post edited by luckygeo on Oct 19, 2007]

[Post edited by luckygeo on Oct 19, 2007]

Geo

[Post edited by luckygeo on Oct 19, 2007]

I currently have a nice Home Theater setup using a Outlaw receiver. Bought the Toshiba A2 for $98 a few weeks ago. The picture & sound is great. Should I think about updating the Home theater or wait until things settle down? With the A2 it doesn't have the 5 Analog hookups.
If my system only does DD & DTS would it matter if the 5 Analogs were hooked up? Wouldn't everything be turned to DTS anyway?

Luckygeo, lay off the coffee man!! :p

Guys if you want a receiver with HDMI 1.3 that is NOT "pass-through" and it actually decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD I would recomment you get this...

Quote:
HDMI 1.3 and onboard decoding of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks found on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9712132-1.html

My gf's uncle purchased this on Ebay (I think) for just over $400 with shipping and it sounds great! Only drawback is that it does 90 Watts per channel but thats enough for most people and the price is right