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Q I am looking for a new Blu-ray player and have a question. What’s the difference between inexpensive models and ones that cost $300-plus? It seems to me that inexpensive models have as many features, if not more, than pricey ones. If it’s a question processing power or something else, does that make a huge difference in picture and sound quality? —Edwin Vela

Q I own a 720p-resolution Pioneer plasma TV. Every time I use my old plasma—now relegated to my photography studio after being replaced with a Full HD LCD model in the living room—I am blown away by the rich blacks and crisp color. It just looks better than LCD. With the arrival of 4K and HDR (finally, TV tech that can match the color gamut of the computer monitors I use for photography), I’m thinking it may be time for another upgrade. Are there any HDR-compatible UHDTVs that perform well enough to finally end my love affair with my plasma? — Ed Nazarko / via email

Q I own an NAD T 787 A/V receiver that only supports regular HD video pass-through and Dolby True HD/DTS-HD Master Audio processing. This receiver features NAD’s MDC (Modular Design Construction) for hardware upgrades. NAD offers an audio module with Dolby Atmos support, along with outputs for two sets of height speakers. If I stick with my current 5.1 speaker setup, would the Atmos module upgrade improve sound quality? Or will my receiver simply downmix the Atmos soundtracks to 5.1/7.1 surround with no audible improvement? —Phil Tomaskovic, via email

Q My new Denon A/V receiver has an eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) HDMI connection, and my TV has a regular HDMI ARC connection. Here’s my question: Will the Denon A/V receiver be able to decode both Dolby Atmos/Dolby True HD and DTS:X/DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks that are routed to it from the TV’s HDMI ARC port, or do I need to connect sources such as an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and streaming box directly to the AVR to make that happen? —Andrew Last, via email

Here’s my question. Having dialed in the Panasonic’s internal settings to my satisfaction, am I losing picture quality by routing video sources through the receiver instead of connecting directly to the TV? Some receivers are praised based on the video processing chips they use, but do these actually do anything to improve picture quality when the source is HDMI? I’m using a Comcast cable box and a 1080P Roku to stream home movies from a PC located in another room. I also watch DVDs on rare occasion through a standard DVD player.—Rich Wegrzyn   

Q Can I get better audio by connecting the TV’s eARC HDMI to my Pioneer AV receiver? I don’t believe the AVR supports eARC technology, but I’d like to get the best audio possible. —Chris Murphy