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