Can anyone recommend a fairly inexpensive home theater receiver to replace my existing receiver. As I've upgraded my components, I'd now like to have the ability for the receiver to accept HDMI input (2 or, ideally, more inputs) and send HDMI out to the TV.
My ideal setup uses the TV like a monitor, such that the receiver uses the HDMI inputs for both the video and the sound. I'd like the sound to be distributed by the receiver as encoded - 5.1, etc., with the video displayed on the TV via the HDMI output. I'd prefer the receiver to display volume and programming on the screen.
As I research models, it is hard to figure out which HDMI ready systems are merely "switching-only", thereby seemingly just passing the video and sound along to the TV. For example, Harmon/Kardon makes the distinction, though others do not.
My current wiring is for 5.1 with pre-out RCA for the subwoofer. I'm perfectly happy with that setup and probably will never use the 7.1 of the newer systems.