New Receiver

[pdean]

I have a somewhat old media center pc (2/2007) and receiver with speakers setup that I need to at least upgrade possibly in stages. My main problem is my audio receiver a Panasonic SA-HE100 seems to have died which passes the sound to my rather old (11-1994) but working fine Polk RM500 and PolkM311 speakers. My media center is one I build years ago which is an

Intel DG965WH Motherboard
MSI Radeon HD 4550 video card
I have Comcast cable which I have 2 Scientific Atlanta 4250 cable boxes connected to a Nvidia Dual TV Tuner and HDHomeRun box that last year was blocked by Comcast for live TV but it still allows me to record
Westinghouse LTV-32w3 HD TV
Windows 7
Linksys DMA2100
Xbox 360


My system is mainly analog and of course I am looking to go digital. I built this before HDTV existed at least in my area.

I was first looking to replace my audio receiver getting one that would work with my current setup but obviously able to handle a more advanced motherboard. I store all my media on either this pc or a Win 8 home premium server I built. I am looking for suggestions for a good media center receiver and wondered if my current video card would allow me to pass HDMI to a HDMI port on a receiver for good audio or would it be best to get a new motherboard setup and if so what is a good basic motherboard for good video and audio. The stereo light on my receiver has rarely been lit since using my original Win Vista setup.

The cable boxes seem ancient to me also. As far as a new receiver I have questions whether I would ever use or need one with a network jack or wireless network and AirPlay or whatever else fancy addition. I plan on sticking to Win 7 with this for some time since Win 8 has dropped support for the Linksys although it is not used very often and the Xbox is about 99% games. I was reading about some Asus motherboards that an online builder of media centers uses and they sounded good and took AMD processors and I have used Asus in the past and love their boards.

Thanks

[IownFIVEechos]

I just got a pioneer SC 1223k. It is unreal. Two hdmi outs, 7 in. DNLA, Airplay etc... Check it out. May be over kill but works great for media center.

[Bryan]

I recently got a Yamaha RX-V375. It's the entry-level model and has no networking (which I actually preferred), but it's been fantastic and was cheap. I've had a few HDMI quirks but I'm pretty sure that's related to Media Center, not the receiver.

That is a pretty old motherboard, but to be honest I just recently upgraded from an AMD system from that era, and it worked fine. I'm not sure if your video card is up to it, but it doesn't take much; I only had an Nvidia GT430 in the last system. My current system is listed in my profile, it's basically a cheap AsRock board with an entry-level Pentium, and works great.

[makryger]

If you're interested in going minimalist, I just discovered a wireless 5.1 speaker set that has the receiver built into a front sound bar. It's by vizio, and costs only $300 for everything. I haven't played with it myself, but the reviews look really good.

[IownFIVEechos]

You have to be careful with those kind of setups. Sometimes they only offer the 'toslink' connection. No HDMI. Meaning you are bound to putting your tv straight into the board, or whatever device you are connecting sound to. You can only connect one device to the soundbar without a switching device etc. Also some formats may not be compatible without HDMI. That is not good in many cases. From the looks of the back of it I would say it has 'usb', and 'toslink'. They are usually used to enhance an LED,LCD display which usually has poor audio due to the small width of the TV's. IMO you want a true receiver.



http://store.vizio.com/home-theater/s4251wb4.html

Specs page:

no HDMI.

[pdean]

I am keeping my speaker set. They are fine and the wires are in my attic which is the floor above the media center to the wall mounted speakers

[pdean]

Bryan.

That Yamaha model looks interesting and is my price range. What exactly do you connect to this from your PC and to where on the receiver.

Do you control volume using a MCE remote.

[Bryan]

I connected the HTPC via HDMI (Intel HD graphics) to one of the HDMI inputs. This is also the audio connection. I'm using a Harmony remote to control everything.