Chung wrote:

The confusion you have is that you are mixing video connections with
audio connections. The component switching is for video switching of
*analog* video signals. DVI or HDMI connections allow *digital* video
signals to be switched by the receiver. Certainly in the future it will
be desirable to switch video in the digital domain, but HD displays and
sources will support component inputs and outputs for a long time. In
some cases there is a noticeable difference between digital and analog
video connections.

The HDMI connection also supports digital audio connections, so there is
a real advantage of being able to connect both digital video and audio
using one cable. IIRC, receivers with HDMI switching are very rare, and
expensive. You might want to wait a while if that's what you really want
to do.

i.Link is a digital audio connection supported by some newer receivers
(such as some Pioneer Elite models starting at above $1K). I am not sure
how widely supported this connection is, the DVD/SACD/DVD-A players with
i.Link outputs are expensive, and there is a chance that HDMI will make
this connection unnecessary. The big advantage of digital audio
connections, of course, is that DSP operations, such as bass management,
can be performed in the digital domain prior to the final D-to-A
conversion. That eliminates a set of conversions in the signal path.

DVI is a digital video connection, and seems to be replaced by HDMI
(which carries both the digital video and audio signals) in the newer HD
displays.

Your Pioneer model is a basic receiver, but will switch component video.
You need about a 50 MHz bandwidth for those signals. It is also
perfectly OK to not depend on the receiver to switch video; most HD
displays have sufficent inputs to not require external switchers.

As I said earlier, it is really nice to have the audio delay feature.
The ability of the receiver to convert all video sources to components
is also desirable, as it simplifies the connection between receiver and
display. It is nice to have i.Link or some other high-rez digital audio
connection, but I would be happy if the receiver can digitize the
multi-channel analog audio signals to perform DSP functions. Good
automatic delay/equalization adjustment is also a great feature IMO. I
don't think HDMI/DVI switching is that important for me, since my HD
display has a built-in HDTV tuner, so I only need one HDMI/DVI
connection for the upconversion DVD player.

Thank you very much. So the salesman was partly correct, but needlessly
alarming me. I'm sure my cable company's digital HD box will have
component output to the projector or receiver, but I will double check
with them tomorrow.

Gary Eickmeier