New A/V receiver?

I'm looking at possibly replacing my A/V Receiver.  Its a really nice one, but is showing its age and I'm looking to simplify my setup.  My current Harmon-Kardon has been great, but it lacks HDMI interfaces or any up-scaling technology.

I would like to take all my inputs (HDMI from cable box, HDMI from HD-DVD, VGA, and any other HDMI, DVI, or even S-Video I come up with) and push them to my display via a single HDMI.  THis would help me eliminate a step in selecting video sources.  This would optionally include taking SD signals and up-scaling them to 1080 (i and p).  I would also like an Ethernet interface to connect to my PC and server for playback of MPs or Video files.

A co-worker has recomended Denon, as he recently got one that does all this.

Any other opinions?


Also - universal remotes?

And yes, I'll be spending some time at the AVS Forum as usual 

Unless you want to spend over $4k, you have 2 options

new Denon line 2808Ci,3808Ci
new Onkyo line tx-sr705,805,875 (also the integra line .... as acura/lexus is to honda/toyota   integra is to onkyo)

I chose the new Onkyo line based on:

the better bang/per $ on the features I wanted/cared about  (...and I previously had a  Denon AVR3803)...   
better cosmetics/aesthetics
slightly better (less warm) sound to my front klipsch sf3's with biamping



ps, you'll notice some really disappointed reviews on the 3808ci.  I know that as of july or august many people were still waiting on some hopeful fw fixes to click/pop issues  as well as seeing massive hdmi resynch delays with their cable/sat boxes on channel changes.   -- i would hope but have no idea if these are resolved yet.

 

oops, I didn't notice that in your post. So you mean you're looking to stream to the machine instead of using the audio outs on your soundcard?   if so, then yes you need to go up to integra or denon.

i just have a silly old  cables vga and audio out from my laptop  ready to plugin if needed.  .  then again, i don't have many mp3's       


also please be sure to consider this with your mp3's:  they are prone to clipping and the denon and integra models that feature the audio streaming are all pretty high current high watt amps and if your speakers are borderline on the RMS power input.... 
 

I'm not sure I'm going to use it that way, but don't want to find out afterwards that I want it.  Right now I 'intend' to use the output from a soundcard, but since I haven't set it up yet I could always change my mind and go with 'easy'.

Also, it looks like the Integra Ethernet is only for control systems anyway - so if streaming is what I really want, Denon may be my only real option 

Rookie question:

Is there not somewhat of a mutual exclusivity between home theatre and pure audio?  I'm not sure why I think I know that but I've come to that understanding along the way.

oh, rickhicks,  althrough it's certainly not the fanciest out there,  I'm pretty content with the logitech harmony 880  .  it controls everything i own (2TVs , 2cable dvrs, xbox360, 2dvd, hd-dvd...), except my cd player , casette deck (which are all antique and do not even accept IR commands)  and turntable (duh)

no problem.  make no mistakes, I'm not telling rick what to buy!  LOL.  i weighed in the pros/cons ...  i decided i'd much rather save the $500+ to move up to get the models that feature the networking because I can't use it, and some of the other features that price them up (3rd zone control, higher power , better performing DACs, etc) I don't have good enough speakers to take advantage of.   I would kill to have the 8.8, but to max it out i'd need a house (LOL) and about a minimum of $15k-$25k in speaker upgrades (everything with higher power ratings, quadrange, and tweeters that go up to 100khz...)