Hdmi 1.3?

[topspeed]

Any idea when 1.3 is going to hit the market? What's the skinny on who's going to introduce it first?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[Woochifer]

The compatible decoding chipsets have been in production, so it's just a matter of who's got a product update cycle coming up. I think usually this time of year Onkyo and Pioneer get their updated midlevel receivers out, so I would look to them first. Yamaha will probably announce their new entry level lineup at CES, but those don't usually ship until sometime in the spring and I doubt that they will incorporate HDMI 1.3 on their entry level lineup if they've yet to do it first with their higher level models. Denon will usually make an announcement about their DVD player lineup in conjunction with CES as well. Rumor has it that they've got HDMI 1.3 receivers coming out in the middle of the year, but by then so might half of their competitors.

Since CES convenes next week, I would expect the HDMI 1.3 announcements to start flooding out in very short order. I've been reading that the video end might be interesting because of HDMI 1.3's support for deep color.

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196700894

[L.J.]

I was gonna do a similar thread. That link took care of all my questions. Nice!!

[topspeed]

Awesome! Thanks, Wooch. You da man!

[L.J.]

Seems that only a few HDMI 1.3 avr's were announced. AH main page has Denon (http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CESprocessors/denon-hdmi-1-3-receivers.php) and Sherwood (http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CESprocessors/SherwoodR972.php) listed. I was hoping to see more listed. Sony is supposed to have a mid-level HDMI 1.3 avr for around $700. Does anyone have any info on this or has anyone heard of any more news as far as avr's are concerned?

[Woochifer]

Seems that only a few HDMI 1.3 avr's were announced. AH main page has Denon (http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CESprocessors/denon-hdmi-1-3-receivers.php) and Sherwood (http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CESprocessors/SherwoodR972.php) listed. I was hoping to see more listed. Sony is supposed to have a mid-level HDMI 1.3 avr for around $700. Does anyone have any info on this or has anyone heard of any more news as far as avr's are concerned?

That Sherwood really hits the sweet spot on the feature set, and all for $1,500. HDMI 1.3, high res format decoding, RF remote (VERY nice!), 1080p upconversion, Audyssey auto EQ, and a quadruple crossover for the bass management -- all very useful features and compelling reasons to upgrade. If the audio performance is up to snuff, this model has really set the bar high for the other manufacturers to match.

Nothing official has come from Denon, just some rumors that their first HDMI 1.3 receivers are coming this summer. And by that time, I have a feeling that just about everybody will have announced an HDMI 1.3 model of some sort.

Among the "usual suspects" their product announcements seem to have been in different product lines.

Yamaha has not announced any new receivers (their midlevel receiver updates don't coincide with CES), but they did announce a new version of their single-panel surround speaker system that uses a microphone on the remote to track and recalibrate the center point for the surround effect.

Onkyo announced a HD-DVD player, and I haven't heard anything else. Hard to tell what else is going on without actually being inside the exhibition hall!

So far, most of the announcements I've heard from CES have been on the video side. It seems that HDMI 1.3 is already on all of the new flat panel models getting introduced at CES.

[L.J.]

That Sherwood really hits the sweet spot on the feature set, and all for $1,500. HDMI 1.3, high res format decoding, RF remote (VERY nice!), 1080p upconversion, Audyssey auto EQ, and a quadruple crossover for the bass management -- all very useful features and compelling reasons to upgrade. If the audio performance is up to snuff, this model has really set the bar high for the other manufacturers to match.

Nothing official has come from Denon, just some rumors that their first HDMI 1.3 receivers are coming this summer. And by that time, I have a feeling that just about everybody will have announced an HDMI 1.3 model of some sort.

Among the "usual suspects" their product announcements seem to have been in different product lines.

Yamaha has not announced any new receivers (their midlevel receiver updates don't coincide with CES), but they did announce a new version of their single-panel surround speaker system that uses a microphone on the remote to track and recalibrate the center point for the surround effect.

Onkyo announced a HD-DVD player, and I haven't heard anything else. Hard to tell what else is going on without actually being inside the exhibition hall!

So far, most of the announcements I've heard from CES have been on the video side. It seems that HDMI 1.3 is already on all of the new flat panel models getting introduced at CES.

Thanks Wooch. I haven't heard too much about Sherwood over the years. I'll be interested in reading some future reviews on that unit. I will be upgrading my AVR this year and I was really hoping for some more units, but this is still good news.

I will be upgrading my display as well and I'm still debating on waiting for 1.3 units to start popping up. I've been doing some reading on Deep Color and if I understand right, not only will the display and player need to support Deep Color but the software as well (I may be wrong though). Who knows how long it will take for this to become readily available.

Decisions, decisions.

[Woochifer]

Thanks Wooch. I haven't heard too much about Sherwood over the years. I'll be interested in reading some future reviews on that unit. I will be upgrading my AVR this year and I was really hoping for some more units, but this is still good news.

I will be upgrading my display as well and I'm still debating on waiting for 1.3 units to start popping up. I've been doing some reading on Deep Color and if I understand right, not only will the display and player need to support Deep Color but the software as well (I may be wrong though). Who knows how long it will take for this to become readily available.

Decisions, decisions.

Sherwood's mostly been an entry level brand that occasionally produces an over-the-top component. I remember them all the way back to the analog two-channel days, and they've always had that kind of a strange product tilt. In more recent years, they started making midlevel receivers, but they've gotten lost in the mix, so I don't know much about their performance or reliability. But, that new model looks like a seriously decked out receiver, hits just the right feature spots, and carries a very reasonable price. I would hope that the other manufacturers take up the challenge and put some comparably appointed units on the market. I've had my receiver now for 6 years, and it's this kind of receiver at this price point that would intrigue enough to consider an upgrade. Up to this point, I've not said that about any receiver.

As far as HDMI 1.3 on video goes, an article posted to Audioholics indicates that deep color is not really an issue yet because most of the HDTV broadcasts and disc transfers thus far have been done using 8-bit color depth, while deep color allows for 10-, 12-, or 16-bit depth. A potential sticking point is (surprise surprise) the studios' piracy concerns over allowing consumers access to master quality video. I'm still a bit fuzzy on what's needed at the processing and display end to make deep color happen, but for now it's all a non-starter because the source material has yet to come out in deep color.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/interconnects/HDMI13.php

Otherwise, I think the bigger news coming out of CES on the video side is with the next generation of plasma and LCD flat panels. Up to this point, plasma's had the disadvantage of not being able to display 1080p natively. Meanwhile, LCD has had the resolution advantage, but still working through issues with motion blur and color levels.

Now, you got Panasonic, Hitachi, LG, Samsung, and Pioneer all coming out with 1080p plasma panels (the Pioneer Elite 1080p plasma's already out, and from what I saw in the store display at Magnolia, the picture quality's quite impressive, albeit for a hefty $8,000 price tag). Concurrently, the LCD manufacturers have been introducing flat panels with 120 Hz refresh rates (double what current panels use) to remedy the motion blur, and LED backlighting which supposedly helps with colors.

These new models address some of the most serious disadvantages with both plasma and LCD. This too lowers the barriers that have kept me from pulling the trigger on a HDTV thus far.

http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/article/mps/UAN/964/v/4/sp/332167698282344465602

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128479-page,1/article.html

[L.J.]

Thanks Wooch. As far as video is concerned I've been looking at rear projection. Specifically the Sony SXRD (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7932767&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050041&id=1149208957434) and JVC HD-ILA (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7699092&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050028&id=1138084694149) lines. I can't really seem to find any fault in the LCOS technology. Any thoughts?

I've been doing research for awhile now and it's actually becoming a headache. You'd think that buying a new TV would be fun.

[Woochifer]

Thanks Wooch. As far as video is concerned I've been looking at rear projection. Specifically the Sony SXRD (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7932767&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050041&id=1149208957434) and JVC HD-ILA (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7699092&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050028&id=1138084694149) lines. I can't really seem to find any fault in the LCOS technology. Any thoughts?

Speedy might have more to say on LCOS since he owns a JVC D-ILA model. From what I've gathered, he likes his set and I hear a lot of good things about both of those lines. In general, I prefer direct view and want the option of wall-mounting, so I've been following the goings with plasma and LCD more closely.


I've been doing research for awhile now and it's actually becoming a headache. You'd think that buying a new TV would be fun.

No kidding! I've refrained from buying a HDTV thus far because it seems that the more I learn about the various designs out there, the more reasons I find NOT to buy a TV. The problem is that every type of HDTV out there has a major disadvantage of some kind. Whether it's the physical size and bulk of the box, or the off-axis picture quality, or how they handle SD material, or the native resolution, or the motion blur, or the color levels, or the rainbow effect, or the screen door effect, or image burn in, or cost, or limitations on the screen size, etc., there's a major trade-off no matter what option you go with. In a way, that's what takes the fun out of TV shopping nowadays.

Aside from the confusion, there's that nagging feeling that some technical breakthrough or huge price drop is just around the corner (my mom's livid that the plasma TV she bought last Christmas has gone down in price by more than half!). I think though that with the latest announcements at CES, and the huge ramp up in HD channels planned by Directv (and presumably other carriers) for this year, the timing now looks a lot better than before.

[L.J.]

Looks like Onkyo is gonna be the first to the party.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=831063&page=1&pp=30

The Onkyo 605 looks to be a pretty sweet deal. It can be pre-ordered at jr.com for $399. Strange thing is that the site doesn't mention anything about the new HD audio formats.

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4166654

http://www.stopdave.com/images/Onkyo/txsr605.jpg

[PeruvianSkies]

That looks promising...I might hafta get that receiver. My Pioneer Elite that I currently use was always serving the purpose until the new compatable receivers came out. That price point is quite reasonable as well. Here's a question though.... I never really thought about this yet, so maybe this is just a silly question....

Is it possible to have a receiver that can handle seperate machines because my thought is that I would like to have a dedicated CD/SACD player, which is running in via analog inputs. At the same time though have a ssecondary unit that is an HD-player, which I guess would be connected through HDMI...If that's the case than the analog inputs from the HD-player is unnecessary....right? The HDMI 1.3 should carry all the signals.

[L.J.]

Is it possible to have a receiver that can handle seperate machines because my thought is that I would like to have a dedicated CD/SACD player, which is running in via analog inputs. At the same time though have a ssecondary unit that is an HD-player, which I guess would be connected through HDMI...If that's the case than the analog inputs from the HD-player is unnecessary....right? The HDMI 1.3 should carry all the signals.

You got it. I'm gonna have the same setup, using my 2910 for DVD/CD/SACD playback and my PS3 for Blu-ray & gaming. Well I actually have that setup going right now but without the HD audio. That's gonna change soon though.