AV Receiver Reviews

When Michael Fremer tested this receiver, he commented on its HDMI video switching as a feature but was unable to evaluate it.

I have since been able to check the receiver's HDMI switching and found that it passed HD and SD sources with no visible degradation, even on a large (78" wide) projection screen.

But you should be aware that HDMI switching is still something of a trouble-prone exercise. It is dependent on the specific characteristics of source, switcher, and display, making it difficult to predict in advance whether or not particular combination of these three components will operate properly. Until all of this is sorted out by the industry, you may experience problems with any switcher, problems that may not be the fault of the switcher itself.

On another subject, I asked JVC to clarify a few questions concerning the receiver's internal digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters. According to the company, the A/D conversion performed on all two-channel analog inputs is at 24-bits/96kHz and D/A conversion is at 24-bits/192kHz. There is no A/D or D/A conversion for the multichannel analog inputs. No DSP processing (including bass management) is therefore performed, or even possible, on the multichannel inputs.

As to how an analog input can remain "analog" when passing through a receiver with "digital" amplifiers, that is explained in our recent review of the Rotel RMB-1077 seven-channel, Class D amplifier.