Sony might be trying to turn over a new leaf with their newest edition to their "high-end" ES line-up. The STR-DA5200ES not only brings
that modern PSP and PS3 GUI to the party, but the brand new
Cortez Advanced scaler from Genesis Microchip. We knew that this new GUI was coming but seeing it in action at the press conference was eye-opening. The interface was quick and responsive, but also with enough information on the screen so the user won't get lost - well, not nearly as easily. Eye candy aside, the big news is the incorporation of this new scaler from Genesis Microchips. This chip opens worlds of possibilities by allowing for picture-in-picture between sources, surveillance, and down-scaling for multi-room applications. Sony is telling us that this AV receiver is the first to build the scaler in. This scaler can be used to up-convert up to 1080i over component or even down-convert the HDMI stream to whatever the user fancies. The receiver sports the standard assortment of inputs and outputs that one of its esteem price would warrant - multiple S-video, RCA and stereo inputs along with 3 assignable component and 1080p-enabled HDMI inputs with one output for each. No HDMI 1.3 here though, only the 1.2a spec. The receiver that just might change the way the rest of the audio, and video, world thinks of Sony is going to be available for $1499 in October with pre-orders starting today.
Product demo pictures after the jump.
NOTE: Top box in pics is the Sony Blu-ray player - nothing new there
posted Sep 13th 2006 10:10PM
As well as upscaling any input to 1080i to the component output it will also upscale any input to 1080p and output it via HDMI.
While it does not have HDMI 1.3 it will accept 8 channel PCM via HDMI so if you have a decoder for Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD in you HD DVD or BD player you will get the lossless audio.
I can not wait to get my unit next week. It ships on Sep 18th in Australia :)
I wanted this until you told me it didnt have HDMI 1.3 inputs.
I second Brenden. I am starting from scratch for my HD home theater and all three components will have HDMI 1.3. Thanks for getting the reporting right this time Matt.
there are no hdmi 1.3 components until ps3 in nov and slowly therafter...you could wait to start your home theater in 2008 when 1.5 comes out...net net how visible will the difference between 1.2a and 1.3 are to your eye may not be noticable ..capability does not always equal performance...and furthermore the software must be flawless as well...we have already witnessed poor HD-DVD and Bluray transfers.
What are the differences between HDMI 1.3 and 1.5 specifically??
I called Sony Styles direct and they said it does not accept HD-DVD which I prefer because of the better sound. IS THAT TRUE!
Does this really upscales any input to 1080i to the component output? I had vague response from Sonystyles.