Home Satellite TV Receivers

Introduction

It is a platitude, but I will say it anyway. All things are relative.

A few years ago, $1, 900 for a mass market receiver was at the high end. Now, with many receivers costing $4, 000 or more, $1, 895 doesn't sound like that big a deal. And, you might think that because it is now in the middle of the price range, perhaps you don't get many features like you would with the high-end units.

Think again. $1, 900 gets you plenty, as you will see below.

The new Yamaha RX-V4600 receiver has all the usual suspects: plenty of codecs, seven channels (seven is becoming the norm), and HDMI switching.

Yes, finally, we get HDMI switching. Almost before the paint was dry on DVI connections, HDMI has taken over the game and is the connector to look for. All new High Definition TVs have HDMI, even the entry level models, and DVD players as well as satellite boxes are sporting HDMI. HD-DVD, although still on the horizon, will use HDMI.

The reason HDMI is so important to look for when you shop for a TV or receiver, is that the HDMI carries not only the digital video, but the digital audio as well. This means you will only need one cable to connect your DVD player to your receiver, and only one cable to connect your satellite box (they now have HDMI outputs too) to your receiver. This eliminates a huge mess of cables that we all seem to have accumulated behind our equipment racks.