Sony announces four new HD-ready receivers
By Donald Melanson 
posted Feb 27th 2007 1:30PM
posted Feb 27th 2007 1:30PM
Sony looks to be bringing its HD-ready A/V receivers into slightly more affordable territory, today introducing four new models that all come in under the $500 mark. The top-end of the lot is the 7.1 channel STR-DG910 receiver, which will give you 110 watts of power per channel and HDMI pass-through with full 1080p resolution. Moving down the line, the $400 STR-DG810 and $300 STR-DG710 (pictured here) also support full 1080p HDMI pass-through, but take things back to 6.1 channels and 110 watts and 105 watts per channel, respectively. Otherwise, the three receivers pack many of the same features, including Sony's new Digital Media Port, support for XM Connect-and-Play, and Sony's BRAVIA Theater Sync, which'll ensure that they play nice with compatible Sony TVs and Blu-ray players. Rounding out the lineup, the low-end STR-DG510 offers 6.1 channels with 100 watts apiece and will only pass-through HDMI signals at 1080i resolution, although it'll also only set you back $200. Look for all four receivers to roll out in March and April.
What about other "HD" stuff like HD-audio formats (TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD Master Audio) and HD Radio?
The STR-DG800 that I set up for my parents a few months ago is working great. Amazing bang for the buck at $279, with 7.1 channel, multi-zone, XM, as well as an included remote microphone for fully automatic speaker level/delay setup--only seen other systems at triple the price.
I have had bad experience with sony AV stuff literally going up in smoke or at least failing in a short time, but that that price it's worth the chance.
Agreed with this commenter. I use their older HT-DDW700 (a predecessor to these) as a receiver for digital audio via coax from my sound card. These receivers are good overall unless you're just nitpicking.
No word if these babies feature HDMI 1.3 or not. Only version 1.3 can pass lossless audio through HDMI. Some of their newly announced Bravia TVs have "deep color" which means they support version 1.3 so keep your fingers crossed.
Will it pass through Component connections though the HDMI? So like, my Cable Box and Nintendo Wii are Component, but my DVD player is HDMI. Will it all go out to the TV via HDMI?
carefull, those high end ones that pass 1080p on the HDMI might not properly handle 1080i/720p!! Hopefully these guys stay far away from the ps3 devs....
Ok so I'm glad I read this post. I bought a damn Sony receiver model # HT-7000DH a couple months ago. I have my PS3 with HDMI running into it and out to my 1080P television. So based on this post I'm only getting 1080I??? WTF?
What is Digital Media Port? I've also heard about several Digital Media Port adaptors-TDM- series.
You don't need HDMI 1.3 for lossless audio. 1.1 is enough. As long as you are dealing with LPCM, 1.1 will do.
True, while 1.1-1.2a can pass along uncompressed LPCM, 1.3 will carry the bitstream from the player to be decoded by the receiver. LPCM requires the signal to be decoded in the player first while 1.3 will leave that to the receiver. When listening to DTSHD or DolbyHD, 1.3 would probably be better than HDMI 1.1 - 1.2a LPCM unless your player can handle the decoding.