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It’s been fun working on this blog, but I’ve decided that I just can’t keep it up anymore.

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Just yesterday I was asking other manufacturer’s to follow Denon’s lead and release receivers and processors that support Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master.

And today, we got a reply!

Sherwood is releasing a receiver for $1500 that does the whole HDMI 1.3, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS HD Master thing. Ultimate AV says:

The 972 looks like it maintains Sherwood’s strong emphasis on value and performance oriented features. In spite of its $1,500 price tag, the 972 will be loaded with meaningful features like full video processcing, transcoding and scaling, and automated calibration and room EQ by Audyssey. The video processing is powered by Faroudja’s Cortez, and XM connect and play is thrown in just for giggles.

The R-972’s onboard amplification is ratd at 100-watts per over seven channels, and will ship in August.

Pretty cool, huh?

Sherwood Unveils AVR with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio

Quick, everyone, follow Denon’s lead! Because they are indeed leading, with DTS HD Master and Dolby TrueHD support in some of their audio/video receivers to debut in 2007. They will do this over an HDMI 1.3 connection. Makes me wonder why anyone would buy any other receiver this year…

I know I reported this in my previous post, but they’re showing the receiver at CES, so that’s a good thing, right?

Denon’s ’07 AVRs Will Feature Integrated DTS-HD Master Audio And Dolby TrueHD

I’ve been waiting for news like this for a long time. Denon is going to be bringing HDMI 1.3 capable receivers to the market in the form of their 2007 lineup, due in mid 2007. These receivers will accept and switch 1080p signals. They will also support 36-bit deep colour, and some will include video processing by Silicon Optix, Faroudja, and Analog Devices.

And the coolest thing of all? High-end models will finally be able to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master soundtracks from your beloved HD DVD or BD discs! Yay! This is the first such announcement I’ve seen.

If you’re a big Denon fan, though, you might be disappointed to hear that they still have no plans for to release a BD or HD DVD player anytime soon.

HDMI 1.3 comes to 1080p audio products in 2007

A friend of mine has a laserdisc player. He also has the original Star Wars Trilogy (yes, I capitalized the “T”) on laserdisc. Recently he supersampled the laserdisc output, digitized it, and created and MPEG4 version of the movies for his own personal use. (I’m sure he’ll correct me if I got any of that wrong.)

I wonder how that compares to Fox’s versions, where they had to do something similar? Yup, Fox released the original Star Wars movies on DVD, finally, and they came from laserdisc sources. How do they look? Not bad, but not really all that great either. Nor is the sound anything to write home about - it’s not even 5.1 (just like the original!).

Home Theater Magazine had a look, at this is what they had to say:

“The video is listed as 2.35:1, but is not anamorphic, so be sure to set your DVD player and display accordingly. The movies do vary slightly, and they all actually measure out a bit narrower than the full Panavision aspect ratio. As the resources at Fox and Lucasfilm are behind these releases, I can honestly say that they look better than any of the bootlegs I have ever seen—which were generated from the laserdiscs, the best-ever renditions of the original films. The colors are truer to the theatrical presentations, and the discs have an overall more filmic look than the reinvented 2004 special editions, even if they are a bit soft, dirty, grainy, and artifacty. The Dolby Surround audio is a hybrid mix of different soundtracks from over the years, with respectable fidelity and directionality. Extras are simply an Xbox-playable demo and a trailer for the fun Lego Star Wars II video game from Lucasarts.”

Home Theater: The First Star Wars Trilogy Limited Editions

Audioholics takes a look at Pioneer’s VSX-82TXS receiver. This is a mid-priced receiver, coming in at an MSRP of $1200. So those of you who can’t quite afford buying separates, maybe you can take a look at this receiver, against Steve’s advice.

This bad boy has 3 HDMI inputs and 3 component video inputs. It also has four optical inputs, which is great, but only two coaxial digital inputs, which is annoying. Why do so many receivers shortchange the coaxial digital inputs?

Unfortunately, the receiver has some video problems on the HDMI output. I don’t want to butcher what the reviewer said, so check out the review for the details. The reviewer takes an extensive look at the Pioneer’s MCACC auto-calibration abilities. It looks like it could have done a little better.

Alll in all, except for the video problems, this is a really good receiver. Check out the review for more!

Pioneer VSX-82TXS Receiver Review

Ultimate AV takes a look at the Rotel RSX-1057 receiver. In case you’re a little new to this whole home theater thing, a receiver has a radio station tuner, several channels of amplification, and a switcher/processor. And a whole lot more! Receivers are doing much more heavy lifting than they used to, and this one is no exception.

This receiver goes for $1,299 and is rated at 75W per channel. But don’t let that low rating fool you - it is spec’d honestly and will probably driver whatever speakers you have with ease. On the other hand, the receiver has five channels of amplification instead of the increasingly common seven. But if you’re not going to use all seven channels anyway, you can just consider that lack money well saved.

This receiver has two HDMI, three component, and 5 S-Video inputs. Why do receivers always have two HDMI inputs? That’s not enough! You have you STB, DVD, and BD or HD DVD player. That’s 3 HDMI inputs right there. Then add a PS3 and you’re up to 4. Two just isn’t enough these days, folks! Ah well, it’s better than what my current receiver has - none!

All in all, though, it’s a decent receiver, with some caveats. For those, you have to read the excellent review!

Rotel RSX-1057 AV Receiver

Dolby DD+, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS HD Master are three new formats that are supported by the new HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) standards. Audioholics takes a look at one of them - TrueHD - and gives it the once-over.

What is TrueHD? Like DTS HD Master, it is a lossless, bit-for-bit duplicate of the studio master soundtrack. Listening to a TrueHD soundtrack, you will not be hearing anything different than what the movie’s sound engineers heard. That is, of course, assuming that your home theater’s audio equipment and room are up to the task.

TrueHD supports up to 8 full-range channels of sound. In practise, though, one would be used for the bass, just like the “.1″ in “5.1″ surround sound. TrueHD stores the original studio soundtrack, without losing a single bit of it. However, it does pack the data closer together using a lossless compression scheme. This does not affect the sound quality in any way. TrueHD also uses a bit rate of up to 18Mbps. Though in practise, that sounds like a bit much.

HDMI 1.1 can transport up to 8 channels of digital 24bit / 96kHz audio, which is how some BD and HD DVD players today output the TrueHD or DTS HD Master soundtracks. Or they put them out on the analog outputs after converting to analog. Which is why the inclusion of 5.1 analog outputs is strange - shouldn’t it be 7.1? As well, another option that the Toshiba players use is to convert the soundtrack to normal lossy compressed DTS 5.1, in case your receiver can’t handle any of the other formats. If your receiver or pre/processor supports HDMI 1.3 though, you’re in luck. HDMI 1.3 can transport the whole TrueHD (and DTS HD Master) soundtracks digitally. However, I don’t know of a single receiver or pre/pro today that has HDMI 1.3 support.

Dolby TrueHD Overview

If I were in the market for a pre/processor today, I don’t think that I would look much further than the Anthem AVM 50 or its more refined brother, the Anthem Statement D2. The AVM 50 is basically the same machine as the D2, except that the quality of its AD converters and such isn’t quite as good. So for the ultimate in smooth sound, go for the D2. (Or if you just like its better looks.) But if your ears aren’t as golden anymore, the AVM 50 should do you just fine, and Sound And Vision Magazine has a small review of it and the matching MCA 50 amplifier from Anthem.

The cool thing about this pre/pro is that it can take any composite, s-video, or component signal, and convert it to HDMI. Not only that, it will deinterlace and upscale it as well. And to 1080p video at that! Amazing. The AVM50 has the highly-regarded Gennum VXP chip inside, doing all that video processing magic.

How about sound quality? While it may not measure up to the Statement D2, it is still a great sounding processor. The reviewer at Sound and Vision was quite pleased with it.

Add to that some extremely flexible surround modes, some great connectivity options, and the Anthem brand name backing it all up, and you’ve got a pre/pro that hardly anyone can beat for the price. Which is $4,699.

Anthem AVM 50 Preamp/Processor and MCA 50 Amplifier

I know this is old news, but when Ultimate AV reviews a speaker system from a performance-oriented company like Revel, I wouldn’t want to miss out on this either. This system costs almost 15 grand!

The F52 is the front left and right speaker, and the C52 is the center speaker. The speakers have been quite overhauled from what their predecessors used to be like, and the improvement in sound is commensurate. The C52 center speaker is mounted on a somewhat flimsy stand, which is strange for a company of this pedigree. Included for the price on the speakers is two frequency contour controls. Read the review for exact details - to explain it here would require that I just copy the review verbatim.

Of course these speakers sound fantastic. For $15k, they better! The better question is: do they sound $15k fantastic? Only your ears and pocketbook can decide that!

Revel Performa F52 Speaker System

This one’s for you Steve! I don’t understand the fascination with this movie. I thought it was boring. But for those of you who like it, here’s another version you could potentially buy.

Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985)

Don’t tell my wife, but I need a new receiver. I really do. The ony I have now doesn’t even do component video switching, much less HDMI. It doesn’t process all the latest surround formats, and it only does the old 5.1 channel thing. Forget 7.1.

Marantz has a receiver that Ultimate AV recently reviewed that could fit my home theater nicely. It’s the Marantz SR9600 THX Ultra 2 receiver. It’s only (!!!) $4,199, but it’s Marantz’ flagship receiver, so they throw in everything. And by everything I mean seven channels of 140W amplification, 8 channels of 24/192 D/A conversion, two Firewire ports, a 9-band equalizer for each of the 7 channels, HDMI, and more. Thankfully that “and more” includes a full set of 4 coax and 4 optical digital inputs. Why do manufacturers so often skimp on one or the other?

The automatic speaker adjustment (at first time setup) was acually pretty good. Sometimes you have to fiddle with the settings a bit after these kind of systems do their thing. Unfortunately, the reviewer didn’t get much of a chance to review the auto-equalization.

But how does this receiver sound? It’s sounds really really good. Check the review for more. Part of the conclusion reads: “Were it not for pricing pressures and receiver “commoditization,” Marantz would be entitled to charge $6000 or $8000 for this truly exceptional receiver. Build quality is exemplary, sound quality is unassailable (for a receiver), and with 7 x 140-Watts of clean power, the SR9600 should be sufficiently powerful to drive most loudspeakers in medium sized home theater environments.” High praise.

The Marantz SR9600 THX Ultra 2 AV Surround Receiver