Looking for new A/V receiver

[jwilson56]

Well after upgrading to Blu Ray it seems I am in need of a new receiver. I love my new LG BD-370 and movies such as Star Trek play fine with my Sony ES receiver which only has DD5.1 and using a Toslink optical cable.

However movies like Serenity which has DTS-HD will not work with setup. You would think they could include the option for DD5.1 but I guess they assume you will just toss your working equipment out and get a newer one.

So any suggestion for a decent receiver that either has a robust set of IR commands (discrete) or maybe an RS-232 port?

Anyone have a Blu Ray setup that works with using only a Toslink Optical cable with a receiver that supports standard DTS?

I have read this on one website but don't know how true it is:

For DTS-HD

"Toslink or Coaxial SPDIF - Because SPDIF cannot transmit a full DTS-HD HR signal, the player will extract the DTS core and send the bitstream for that instead."

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[jmonier]

Have you actually tried it? The LG370 should automatically send the DD or DTS core through the Toslink cable and/or decode the TrueHD or DTS-MA.

If you want the full TrueHD or DTS-MA then the cheapest receiver that I've found that has a RS-232 port is the Denon 23xx series. I recently bought a refurb 2309 (looks and acts just like a new unit) for less than $500.

[jwilson56]

DD works ok... but like I said my receiver does not have DTS so Serenity doesn't have any sound as it only has DTS-HD which probably sends core DTS down the Toslink.

I would probably settle for an older receiver that has DTS on it but would like to get something I could control better with Girder.

The TX-SR707 has RS-232 on it as well as all the bells and whistles. Its around $600 new and was $500 on black Friday but I missed that.

[jmonier]

It may have seemed clear to you but it was not at all clear that your problem had to do with the lack of standard DTS support in in your receiver. I'm surprised since standard DTS support has been standard in ANY AV receiver (including Sony ES) for many years. Did your previous DVD player transcode DTS to DD? (Note that the 370 will output the DTS as 2-channel stereo but I'm sure you want better than that.)

The Onkyo seems similar to the 2309 in all respects including price. I could not find a RS-232 spec for it, however. (Denon publishes the RS-232 spec right along with the Owner's Manual.) There does seem to be a Girder plug-in for another Onkyo, however, so that would probably work.

[jwilson56]

Well I purchased the Onkyo TX-SR707 and have to say I am pleased. Getting it setup right now and then I will dig into the RS-232 control.