Is my home theater's receiver starting to go?

[jdcfsu]

I've got a Sony receiver that is pushing 7 years now. It's a 5.1 system with DTS and the whole bit. Over the last year or so it seems like the channels are dropping in and out to the point where, earlier today, when I put in a DVD with 5.1 audio, all I could hear was background sound -- the dialogue was almost inaudible. Is it time to get a new receiver or do I have a much easier problem to fix? I've checked all the connections and all the audio settings and everything is as it should be. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

[jdcfsu]

I've been playing with the receiver trying to diagnose the problem and have come up with a few options. I've replaced all the speaker wire, the optical cable from the DVD player and the digital cable coming from the cable box to virtually no change. I then moved the speakers from Front-A to Front-B and it seems to work slightly better. There are still significant periods where the only channel that is audible is the subwoofer. I called Sound Advice and the guy said it sounds like the Digital Sound Processor (DSP) is starting to go bad.

I've pretty much determined that I need to get a replacement, but I want to make sure that I get something that will last another 6 or 7 years so future-proofing is a must. I found this Sony (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DG800-7-1-Channel-Receiver-Passthrough/dp/B000EU0UVA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1497930-7584859?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1175447455&sr=1-1) receiver which looks pretty decent but would like any suggestions or recommendations you may have.

Thanks.

[Ryan]

Unfortunately, because of the rate at which the HDMI spec is changing, no receiver is future-proof. I could be wrong, but I think only HDMI 1.3 is capable of passing the new audio codecs that will come into use soon with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. That said, you should, IIRC, be able to use the analog 7.1 inputs on the receiver and still get almost all of the audio quality, assuming that receiver has a decent ADC. I don't think any of the copy protection in use will turn off the analog audio outputs on high-def players. I hope not, because that's what I'm planning on doing. :D

I can't give you any recommendations in that price range though, I don't know anything about the units available.

Oh, and perhaps a mod should move this to Purchasing Advice?

[jdcfsu]

So should I not worry about HDMI and just shoot for a nice amount of optical/digital/component inputs?

(and yeah, this was initially a Genius Bar question but has developed into a Purchasing Advice question)

[Ryan]

Well, you say you want your new receiver to last six or seven years, so I presume you'll be adding either a high-def disc format at some point. Now, if I remember right, you should be able to use HDMI for video and either S/PDIF or 7.1 analog for audio. Right now, the former should be fine, but I think at some point the studios are going to start using audio codecs that require more bandwidth than S/PDIF can handle.

I'm not entire sure, since I don't know exactly how either high-def format works in regards to audio. I *think* that even when those codecs go into use, you should be able to use the analog outs on the player. You'll lose some audio quality, but it shouldn't be too noticeable.

IOW, don't worry too much about HDMI. I think.

[cosus]

I've actually been using the same sony receiver (5.1 dolby digital) for the past 13 years. Those things are amazing. However the sony VCR died last year and at my Who Framed Roger Rabbit. For that matter, the Yamaha receiver predates the Sony by at least 7 years and at least for radio been working peachy.