HDTV Forum

I am hoping I am not alone here. Recent purchases are now causing me to consider a AV Receiver purchase to manage all my new HDMI sources. I have a great 2005 Sony HDTV KP-51WS520, but it has only one HDMI input so I figure it is time to upgrade the old stereo receiver to an AV receiver. While most if not all appear to provide fairly robust HDMI switching, I don't seem to find much info on what makes or breaks an AV receiver for good compatibility when a Tivo Premiere is the key source. I also have an new Xbox and a Samsung BD-C5000 Blue Ray player and I plan to have all three tie into the future AVR via HDMI and have the AVR output to the TV via HDMI. I am getting tired of reading the owners manuals trying to decipher if the box can play nice with my Tivo and its remote. I have gathered already that the std Tivo remotes don't learn codes and so either a Tivo glow or slide remote may have to be purchased as well, but I am mainly interested in control functionality and ease of use. For instance the ability to customize the AVR input display name is key, but I am curious if any send the name briefly on to the TV? Can the Tivo remote turn everything off and on and cover the more basic of functions? I have seen the Yamaha NeoHD, but that seems like overkill. I am hoping to stay in the lower end under $300-400. Any feedback would be appreciated / Thanks!

Denon AVR-591 - MSRP $349

Does everything you want and has a great feature called standby source. You can set it so that when the receiver is in standby mode (off) it passes through one of the HDMI inputs to the TV. You can set this to your TIVO and it acts like the Tivo is directly connected to the TV via HDMI so you can use the Tivo remote to control the TV. This makes it really easy for the non-techies.

I recommend getting a Harmony remote to handle the other inputs and using the AVR. It works like a charm.

You can upgrade to the AVR-791 and get a few more features for less than $500.