Advice on Home Theatre purchases/Setup

Lankoss · 25 Aug 2019 at 19:31

Hi guys, I recently got a really good deal on a Optoma UHD300x 4K Projector off of Ebay so very soon I am wanting to set up a home theatre in my garage. I am looking for recommendations on a good quality 4k Receiver that I can buy second hand to pair with my Projector so that I can have a 5.1 or 7.1 surround. I was originally looking at some Sony STR-DN1050's local to me, but it turns out that model doesn't support HDR.

From what I have been able to figure out this evening (I am a total noob when it comes to receivers or indeed anything audio related), the receiver I buy will need to be HDMI 2.0 NOT HDCP 2.2 as neither the 1080ti in my PC nor Projector support HDCP, and preferably support HDR as my Projector does. It would also be nice if it had Bluetooth and WiFi/LAN incase I decide later to pair audio devices to it, or stream content to it over my network. Does anyone have an recommendations??

Secondly, I plan on initially playing all my 4k content directly from my PC, and then in the future investing in something else that I can store 4k movies on and connect via HDMI to the receiver (or over the network) so that I don't need to use my PC all the time. Do you guys have suggestions for the best method/device to do this?

Hope what I have written isn't total nonsense, I'm very new to all this.

Thanks
Dan

lucid · 25 Aug 2019 at 21:12

There are a couple of bits to clear up here before you start to look at some product choices.

HDCP stands for High-bandwith Digital Content Protection. You'd better hope that your projector and graphics card do support is because of not then you'll be looking at a snowy screen. HDCP 2.2 is the version that's required for a system to play full-fat 4K UHD content.

HDMI 2.0 is the standard for the HDMI connections, and the circuits behind all the sockets, and the cables used to connect a system. It's to do with how much data flows. We call this bandwidth. HDMI 2.0 provides the biggest pipeline, and it's what's needed for everything in the chain to pass the full-fat 4K UHD signal.

You'll need both HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 to be supported throughout the system if you want to play legit 4K UHD content. With these two bases covered then your gear will be compatible with the enhanced format standards that include HDR (high dynamic range) and WCG (wide colour gamut).

Wi-Fi in a receiver...... there are plenty that have it, but for me it's not a deal-breaker if a receiver only has a LAN socket. For a start, there are other ways to get a data connection in to a receiver. You can use a wireless gaming adapter or some power line adapters if running network cable is too much of a hassle. The second reason it's not a deal-breaker is that AV receivers don't have great facilities for playing networked video or audio files. You're far better off using the PC or some other device that handles streaming better, and that gives you a decent user interface, and with good support of firmware updates. An Android box, Firestick and nVidia Shield all come to mind.

Used AV receivers: I think that if your plan is to go ATMOS at some point, then get an ATMOS-capable receiver from the word go. The model up from the Sony you were looking at might fit the bill. The STR-DN1060. I'm partial to Yamaha myself. Denon has been and is popular, but I'd be slightly concerned that the amps run really hot. That's not so good for long term reliability; particularly for the HDMI inputs/output(s).

Radox-0 · 25 Aug 2019 at 21:25

Lucid has created a solid post covering the base. To cover some additional particulars. The 1080Ti does support HDCP 2.2 along with HDMI 2.0. Can confirm this as I am typing this on a 1080Ti hooked up to a 4k HDR TV and can play HDCP content fine along with 4k HDR content (abit with the restirctions of HDMI 2.0 in place). You can further confrim this on the 1080TI page, go down to Specs then full specs and will see HDCP 2.2 listed https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/products/10series/geforce-gtx-1080-ti/

For AV receivers, I will be honest, new myself and not sure if your price range, but I picked up the Sony STR-DN1080. Sony Centre online clearance area put these on now and then for £279 down from £450 refurbished (only issue with mine was a slight bend metal corner) though 1 year warranty. Not in stock at the moment, but seem to crop in and out so could be a waiting game, but impressed for the price.

Lankoss · 25 Aug 2019 at 21:39

lucid said:
There are a couple of bits to clear up here before you start to look at some product choices.

HDCP stands for High-bandwith Digital Content Protection. You'd better hope that your projector and graphics card do support is because of not then you'll be looking at a snowy screen. HDCP 2.2 is the version that's required for a system to play full-fat 4K UHD content.

HDMI 2.0 is the standard for the HDMI connections, and the circuits behind all the sockets, and the cables used to connect a system. It's to do with how much data flows. We call this bandwidth. HDMI 2.0 provides the biggest pipeline, and it's what's needed for everything in the chain to pass the full-fat 4K UHD signal.

You'll need both HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 to be supported throughout the system if you want to play legit 4K UHD content. With these two bases covered then your gear will be compatible with the enhanced format standards that include HDR (high dynamic range) and WCG (wide colour gamut).

Wi-Fi in a receiver...... there are plenty that have it, but for me it's not a deal-breaker if a receiver only has a LAN socket. For a start, there are other ways to get a data connection in to a receiver. You can use a wireless gaming adapter or some power line adapters if running network cable is too much of a hassle. The second reason it's not a deal-breaker is that AV receivers don't have great facilities for playing networked video or audio files. You're far better off using the PC or some other device that handles streaming better, and that gives you a decent user interface, and with good support of firmware updates. An Android box, Firestick and nVidia Shield all come to mind.

Used AV receivers: I think that if your plan is to go ATMOS at some point, then get an ATMOS-capable receiver from the word go. The model up from the Sony you were looking at might fit the bill. The STR-DN1060. I'm partial to Yamaha myself. Denon has been and is popular, but I'd be slightly concerned that the amps run really hot. That's not so good for long term reliability; particularly for the HDMI inputs/output(s).

Thankyou so much for you response, that definitely DID clear up a few things for me, I was getting confused by HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 definitions. I have checked and both my GPU (GTX1080ti) and my projector (Optoma UHD300x) support HDR and are HDCP 2.2 compliant. This is a huge relief as I have been scouring the net for 3 hours effectively searching for a product that doesn't exist. Now that you have explained about the poor networking support, I am not bothered at all really about networking.

As for streaming, ideally I would be looking for something that supports Netflix 4k as well as having its own HDD so that I can put my own video files on it. That rules out the firestick but i will look into the other two. I don't plan on going Atmos, 7.1 surround will be ample for me. If it comes with Atmos as an option then great, but if not its certainly not a deal breaker. I have already looked at the STR-DN1060 (and ruled it out because of my HDCP confusion) so I will revisit that one, there is also a couple of Onkyo receivers that I will look into

lucid · 26 Aug 2019 at 00:25

Useful info there from @Radox-0

@Lankoss, when it comes to 4K streaming, I think it's easy to overlook the digital rights licensing and then end up with a solution that doesn't fully support the paid-for 4K streaming services such as Netflix (HDR10 and DolbyVision) and Amazon Prime (HDR, HDR10+, DolbyVision), particularly if you're on a budget. Netflix UHD HDR content is (AFAIK) restricted to those devices that have Netflix certification. nVidia Shield does, as does Amazon's Firestick. None of the Android TV boxes do officially, but a couple seem to have a workaround. Without it, you'll be limited to the non-HDR streams.

Where you want to stick with adding an external drive to the streaming device then nVidia Shield might be your best solution.

HDR formats: I'm not sure if you're up to speed on the various versions of HDR? It's not something for you to get too much in to at this stage; your projector supports HDR10, but it might help inform your choice of streaming device.

HDR (A.K.A. HDR10) is the core HDR format. Where a title is advertised as being in HDR10+ or Dolby Vision, it will still play with a minimum of HDR10 even if something in the signal chain doesn't support one of the two higher standards.

Onkyo has had long-running issues with HDMI failures. They may well have got past this with the latest models, but you should still check very carefully.

Lankoss · 26 Aug 2019 at 07:22

lucid said:
Useful info there from @Radox-0

@Lankoss, when it comes to 4K streaming, I think it's easy to overlook the digital rights licensing and then end up with a solution that doesn't fully support the paid-for 4K streaming services such as Netflix (HDR10 and DolbyVision) and Amazon Prime (HDR, HDR10+, DolbyVision), particularly if you're on a budget. Netflix UHD HDR content is (AFAIK) restricted to those devices that have Netflix certification. nVidia Shield does, as does Amazon's Firestick. None of the Android TV boxes do officially, but a couple seem to have a workaround. Without it, you'll be limited to the non-HDR streams.

Where you want to stick with adding an external drive to the streaming device then nVidia Shield might be your best solution.

HDR formats: I'm not sure if you're up to speed on the various versions of HDR? It's not something for you to get too much in to at this stage; your projector supports HDR10, but it might help inform your choice of streaming device.

HDR (A.K.A. HDR10) is the core HDR format. Where a title is advertised as being in HDR10+ or Dolby Vision, it will still play with a minimum of HDR10 even if something in the signal chain doesn't support one of the two higher standards.

Onkyo has had long-running issues with HDMI failures. They may well have got past this with the latest models, but you should still check very carefully.

Thanks again for the info. I had a look a bit last night, right now I am drawn to the Nvidia Shield as it means I would be able to keep my PC in the house and still be able to stream Netflix/Plex to my projector, as well as playing my PC games through the Shield which is perfect. I would just need to run a LAN cable through to the garage. I also have a couple of old Laptops knocking around that I could re-purpose as media storage and keep in the garage permanently should I want it. I wasn't aware of the Onkyo failures, I will try limit my searches to Sony and Yamaha for the time being and see how I get on