720p to 1080p Upgrade or an Onkyo 605 Receiver

[oxygengiver2000]

I only have enough money to either upgrade my TV to 1080p or an Onkyo 605 Receiver, which do you believe is more important.

[Sunny]

don't buy another tv yet as new technologies (PLED, OLED, etc.) become bigger and more affordable.

put your money towards the 605. even when you upgrade your tv, the receiver will still go with it very nicely.

[oxygengiver2000]

Thanks, I'll do that.

[wwooden]

I did the same thing. I have a pretty mediocre TV, but the TV technology is changing so fast that the longer I wait, the better upgrade I can get. I went and got the Onkyo 605 and am very happy. I felt my sound was the weaker of my a/v system.

[oxygengiver2000]

From a professional point of view how future-proof is the 605?

[Cochise]

From a professional point of view how future-proof is the 605?

By "professional" I assume you mean a home theater dealer / installer? Until one drops in with a reply, I'll offer my non-professional opinion -

I'm pretty much in the same boat; I have a 3+ yr. old 57" CRT rear projection HDTV with up to 1080i resolution. I've been looking at 1080p sets for the past few months. I've pretty much decided against upgrading for the next year or two; the 1080p displays I've seen are not that much of an improvement over what I have now, especially not a $2k improvement, which is the minimum I would have to pay for a 1080p display in my current screen size.

As to the future proof of the 605: I first tried Blu-ray last April when I bought a PS3. While I was already enjoying lossless audio with HD DVD via the 5.1 analog outputs to my 8 yr. old receiver, I found I needed to upgrade to a receiver with HDMI audio to enjoy lossless audio from the PS3. While I could have gone with several models costing less than the 605, I decided to "future proof" by going with the 605 with HDMI 1.3 and decoding of TrueHD and DTS MA. Now I'm glad I did as I'm enjoying the full resolution of DTS MA on BD & HD DVD titles and prefer the 605's decoding of TrueHD with my current HD DVD & BD players.

I enjoy audio quality at least as much as the video quality on my home theater, so for me the $400 spent on upgrading to the 605 gave me the most bang for the buck.

[oxygengiver2000]

By "professional" I assume you mean a home theater dealer / installer?

No I meant the helpful people on this forum. The most annoying thing is that a $400 American system would could be £820 over here in England from amazon.co.uk

[roaringLION]

I would say, get the TV. The new techs are far from being mainstream and will probably cost an arm and a leg...as always early adopters pay more.

As you can see, the 2008 LCD/Plasma lineups did not bring anything new to the table as far as tech goes...same specs...only thinner displays.

Go for the TV, you will get your moneys worth for 5 more years...plus 1080p is here to stay for a while until 1440p gets introduces on 2012.

[cmdrdredd]

From a professional point of view how future-proof is the 605?

Well, think about it this way. Do you need more power per channel than 90watts RMS? Do you forsee any new codecs other than TrueHD and DTS HD MA? I don't. Do you want to wait for one that has HD Radio Tuner built in? Do you want to have THX modes?

Those are the main questions I'd ask. If you can answer yes to more than one of those then IMO there are better options out there and of course always more comming.

I'd hold off on buying a TV right now. In a few months there will be some new models comming and I'd see where the prices fall in on the models that are available today.

[Blackshield]

No I meant the helpful people on this forum. The most annoying thing is that a $400 American system would could be £820 over here in England from amazon.co.uk

No kidding, It's $700USD after stepping 2 feet into Canada. Onkyo is screwing any one outside the US with some kind of price exclusivity. I seriously need someone to buy one for me and mail it.

[oxygengiver2000]

No kidding, It's $700USD after stepping 2 feet into Canada. Onkyo is screwing any one outside the US with some kind of price exclusivity. I seriously need someone to buy one for me and mail it.

I would do that, I'd save lots of money, but I'm worried about compatibility issues. And having to buy a transformer to plug it in.

[Chickengas]

Upgrade a TV for the price of a Onkyo 605? You can those cheap, but what kind of TV would you get for that price?? I'd say, if you have the cash for good 1080p, do that. It's hard to come up with that kind of cash...$300-$350 for a receiver, not quite as hard. Meaning, you might find yourself with both if you buy the TV now and put $30-$40 away per check...you'll have your receiver in a few months too