So What Is My Next AV Purchase...?????

The Time Of Year Has Come For Me To Put My Order In With A Certain Mr Clause..But What Will It Be

 

 

Oh so many things and so little bloody money, but I think if there was or is one thing for me to upgrade this year its got to be my Home Cinema Receiver... But What one?

So many to choose from when it comes to manufactures, we have Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha and my personal favourite Pioneer. then there's the price factor. I can't afford to spend £1500,00 on any AV product except a 'New' Plasma or LCD display.

But this year my dreams and wishes have come true, our favourite companies have released what us erm Pros?.. call midrange products at very affordable prices, anything from £350-£450.. and that is what's great about our hobby.. even in these crazy money tight times we can treat ourselves to a product that would have been well over £800 a year or so ago..

So enough of my rambling, what will I be buying?, have a read and look below and see.

 Pioneer VSX-923 Front..mmmm Sweet and sexy

I decided to go for the Pioneer VSX-923.. And there are many, many reasons why I chose this model and make over other brands and that comes down to specifications and price, have a look below to see what you get, but before you do let me tell you this.
I look for what's around the back, what power it spits out in watts and its performance. Now I have owned many brands over my 'Home Cinema' addiction and at a crazy price brand right down to the Mid-Range bracket.. and I have used a drug all the time over the last 10 years and that drug is Pioneer.
The bang for your buck and the sheer performance of these beasts out performs any I have heard and it does what I like it to do, it doesn't run so hot you could cook a egg on the chassis, it doesn't eat electricity like some power hungry Godzilla and It delivers tight bass and authentic treble with a nice midrange.. that along with inputs and outputs just about makes me the happiest man in the UK.

VSX-923 rear.. Plenty Of Inputs and Outputs.. Future Proof... 'Yep'

When it comes to specs for the 923 at a price that's affordable you cant go wrong.. here is a brief run down of what you get for wait for it..£450.00..yep just that little.
There are no fewer than 8 yes 8 HDMI inputs including 1 one the front panel and 2 HDMI outputs, so you can plug in everthing from you XBOX 360, Sky HD or Virgin Media Box, Your Blu Ray Player, PS3 and Laptop and still have room for your APPLE TV and have a spare.. superb.
Now I own 2 Panasonic Blu Ray Players, one of which is Blu Ray Multi-Region and the other DVD Multi-Region, then I have a XBOX 360 and SKY HD and a APPLE TV 3 for streaming via Airplay.
Now that's 5 out of 8 used so I'm future proofed and that also includes 4K passthrough.. Also if you happen to own a HD projector then you can feed that as well as your TV as it has the 2 HDMI outputs just the simple press of a button and your picture is duplicated on your other display..
It also includes 1000+ of internet radio stations and from a firmware update now includes Spotify.
USB is included on the front for your iPhone/iPad music playing and if you have a Android device then that's covered also.. it plays all kinds of Audio formats like, FLAC,WAV,AIFF and MP3.
She will also upscale your standard def signals if you still have some that is all the way up to 1080p.
Like I said all for £450.00,
The only small problem I have it that the remote is a little cluttered but apart from that I'm biased and giving it 5 stars all the way..

SPECS

150 watts into 6 ohms
8 HDMI Inputs
2 HDMI outputs
4 Composite inputs
1 Optical input
1 Coaxial input
Apple OS and Android Control Apps
Windows 8 compatible
vTuner Internet Radio
Upscaling to 4K
MACACC microphone (Just Plug It In And It Sets Up Your Receiver For You and Calibrates Your Room..All Very Easy)

Check Out Pioneers Site At The Link Below
Pioneer UK


What Will Be Your Next Upgrade, Will You Be Upgrading At All This Year
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4K Answers And Questions Answered And No Need For Red Ray

Is It Really The Best Thing To Happen To Home Cinema

Since High Definition...?

Read On And I Will Try And Tell You What I Have Heard And Know.

Now I read a lot of Home Cinema Magazines, Blogs, Webpages and Have A few Friends in the Home Cinema Business and some of the rumours are true, some not so true.. It's quite funny to see how things snowball into crazy claims and outrageous fables and myths..

Now I'm no expert at all I just only believe it when the people I know and things I read ALL come to the same conclusion.. And that's when Fiction becomes fact.

 

Why Should I Get Excited ?

Do you remember when you first saw and heard about High def.. Brilliant wasn't it, Well, Start getting the same feeling about 4K..It is here, Its here to stay and it is the future. Just imagine your HD image 4x better.. Your High Resolution photo's you took showing all that detail your eyes missed until you loaded it on to your screen.. Now that makes me excited...

 

But I Want A 4K TV/Display Ain't They Super Mega Expensive?

Well as you ALL know every 'New' product or concept is expensive until that is it gets established and just like the DVD player I imported way back 1996 was well over £400, the Blu Ray player was around that to, when the one I wanted came out. (and we are not talking PS3 here) and the same goes for Plasma, LED, LCD and 3D.. All you need to remember is things move at such a fast pace in our hobby.

When Sony released there first two 4K screens along with LG they where priced at £25,000 and £22,000 respectively for a 84" display... Now you can pick up a Sony 55" display for £4,000 and the 65" for just over £6,000..and that's within a year and a half...

 

Ok Then You've Got Me I'll Have A Butchers, But Are They Any Good?

You still need to remember it is still early days when it comes to 4K, and believe me when I say this it is indeed game changing when it comes to US the HD fanatics and collectors. If you want absolute pure clarity and eye popping detail then 4K is the way to go no doubt in my eyes. When the Director films in 4K there should be no difference to you when you watch it back on your 4K screen and that's the whole point of it. You have to remember 1080p is downscaled from the original 4K master so you, We, All of us ARE missing out on so much colour, detail, contrast and clarity. So if you buy a 4K display it should be the holy grail of Home Theatre.

 Of course, while we wait for native 4K films and content to arrive the real big question is what about my HD stuff I have now, and the answer to that is sit back and let the TV's upscaler do its job just like you used to do when you put a DVD in your Blu Ray player. Get the most out of it..Blu Ray upscaled will look even more well HD. And if you can get hold of Mastered in 4K Blu Rays like 'The Amazing Spider-Man' then It's only going to enrich the colour and contrast.

 

Upscaling Blu Rays Sounds Wicked, But What About Genuine 4K material ?

Well at the moment there is not that much around unless you have a very High End PC with a 4K capable graphics card, and if you do then you can watch a small amount of content form some sites and there is a small collection on YOUTUBE'S dedicated 4K channel, so yeah there is a little about for you to watch on your new display.

But for me as a early and very much dedicated Blu Ray movie collector things have got a little more exciting over the last couple of months.

 

What Was That You Mentioned About A 'New' Blu Ray Specification ?

The Blu Ray disc association has been working with a lot of groups on how to best accommodate 4K and its probably the best news I've heard since 4K was released. And when NOT if the 'New' recommendations are accepted, we will get a new generation of 4K Blu Ray Players as well as a new catalogue of 4K discs

It's all down to the compression technology used and the standard that has been put forward has to be adopted. The biggest codec gaining pace is HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) hopefully becoming and heralded as a long term replacement for H.264 ( the HD coding) HEVC is powerful enough to let 4K deliver even over terrestrial TV. It's out in Korea already beaming its way around the country and streaming in Japan.

But there is more than one compression format out there and the battle has only just begun, what with Sony and Netflix teaming up to establish a compression format of its own called Eye IO in the states. Sony is going to launch its 4K streaming service using that codec. So in my eyes our physical discs are only advancing not being replaced.

So in my eyes there is no need to replace ALL my Blu Ray collection as it will look better on my 4K display when I can afford one and when they eventually become the norm. Better still for me to just have to buy yet another Blu Ray player and buy my next movie on 4K is much better than replacing my complete collection because of some 'New' streaming service that I don't own called 'Red Ray'.

which wont read my BD discs and it will mean I will have to replace everything, instead of enjoying what I already own but on a sharper, clearer display with a much bigger colour gamut.

Sounds like the future is safe and sound to me.. phew now I can sleep easy

take care guys and I hope you enjoyed my little known knowledge about the 'New' 4K standard.

 

 

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Glad you probably wont need to replace your prized collection ?..

Or is it not your thing?..

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