Yes, according to this amazon review:
“Whenever its plugged in, the PC automatically switches audio out to the USB. MAC: just plug and play (of course… I love OSX!!), switch outputs though in the preferences the first time, and youre golden.”
Thanks!
No HDMI?
Worthless in a true home theater setup.
Pass.
So does that mean 8 ohm speakers would not work, or just run a a lower wattage (~77)?
i would be in for one but they don’t have any hdmi i check everything. I know i saw it last time on woot but the no hdmi is just the bummer. Atleast it has composite. On the 7.1 note it doesn’t have any speakers.
Go here to see opinion of Wooters who bought this last time:
http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=1842557&PageIndex=4&ReplyCount=173
now a days everything is pretty much like that from osx and windows. At times mac was trying to be like windows and then windows is trying to be like mac.
i do own a mac and a pc.
To answer the previous comment, it’s perfectly compatible with the Mac. It only comes with PC drivers, but my MacBook recognized it without drivers. It shows up as a device called “USB Speaker”, and you just have to select that as your output device, and it works fine.
I bought one of these on the last woot. I haven’t regretted my purchase because it’s a pretty good little stereo with some nice features. However, I was somewhat disappointed because it has a lot less inputs than I expected.
The description says:
Audio: Analog – 4 Inputs and 2 Outputs, Digital – 2 Optical Inputs, 1 Optical Output and 1 Coaxial Input
(Assignable)
Video: Component – 2 Inputs and 1 Output, S-Video – 3 Inputs and 3 Outputs, Composite – 3 Inputs and 3 Outputs
If you add up the inputs, you might think that you have 7 audio inputs and 8 video inputs, which sounds like plenty of inputs for most anyone. You’d be wrong. You have 3 video inputs which can use either component or S-Video or composite (except that one of them can’t do component). 3 of the 4 analog audio inputs go with the video inputs and the digital inputs also have to be paired with video channels. So, in practice, you have 3 video inputs and 1 audio input.
If you’ve got a video game system, a DVR, a cable box, and a DVD player, you’re not going to be able to hook them all up to the receiver directly. Instead they chose to engineer it to provide all of the video outputs you could ever possibly want by making sure that there are video outputs which can go to your TV, DVR, and VCR, despite the fact that most people aren’t going to run their DVR’s signal through the amplifier since it wouldn’t be able to record anything when the amp was turned off. Likewise people also don’t usually hook up their VCR or DVD recorder to record the output of an A/V receiver. The only thing it would be useful for is dubbing from one device onto another. So anyway, it has less inputs than you probably want and more outputs than you probably need.
Now, beyond the 3 A/V inputs and the 1 audio only input, there are some other audio input options. Two devices can be hooked up via USB, one on the front terminal and one wirelessly (more on that in a bit). Switching between these two can be done easily, so both are usable. The amplifier will show up as a USB-speaker device. It appears to only do stereo input via USB. Also, there’s a DVD-multichannel analog input (5.1 channels) which has its own button on the remote and is also quite easy to use. So, if you have your DVD player hooked up digitally or using just stereo cables to connect it, you could also use the DVD-multichannel input as a separate input. Or vice versa. It could be a handy way to hook up some other 5.1 channel device or that old quadraphonic 8-track player (hey now, no bad thoughts, quadraphonic 8-tracks rule).
You can also generally use the remote to switch fairly easily between the analog and digital inputs (handy if you have a combined VCR/DVD player like I do and the VCR part doesn’t use the digital output, like mine doesn’t. But then, hey, it was cheap. I bought it on woot), so you could actually use more than one of those. This may allow you to happily have enough audio inputs. However different video inputs cannot be switched between as easily, so you’re stuck with just 3.
The remote control is well designed. It’s a universal remote and has separate power buttons for each device it can control as well as selection buttons. It can potentially control other devices like VCRs and DVD players. I did have to set my JVC VCR/DVD combo up to be the DVD player to get the buttons to work for both VCR and DVD mode, though. Oddly enough, I have to press the VCR power button to get it to turn on. Anyway, back to the remote. It’s nicely laid out and generally easy to use. There’s a top portion which has all the buttons that you’re going to need 99% of the time and then a bottom part which slides down to reveal a bunch of additional buttons that can normally be ignored. It’s really a fairly elegant design, and I’ve been pleased by it. It’s the first universal remote which came with a device that has actually successfully replaced most of my other remotes. I should note that the analog/digital button used for switching input types is in the bottom part, so that does make it more difficult to use the scheme I described above to get extra audio inputs, but not a lot more difficult.
The wireless USB dongle is fairly nifty in normal usage and sounds quite good. However, there are some downsides. The set-up for it is somewhat confusing, but if you follow the special slips of paper included and not the manual, you should be fine. The only problem is that you’re supposed to hold a button on the back of the machine until a light on the back flashes. Well, if your receiver is already in place, this may be tough to see. This is on thing that you might want to consider doing before you have it all hooked up in place. The other problem with it is that it’s yet another 2.4 Ghz wireless device. It will interfere with your 802.11b/g wireless router. I’m not sure how it decides its initial frequency, but I tried setting my router to channels 1,6, and 11, and when I would first plug in the wireless audio dongle, it would kill the network regardless of what channel the router was set to. Fortunately, if you press the channel button on the dongle repeatedly (usually 6-8 times), it will find a place where it doesn’t interfere any more. However, I have found that it interferes with other 2.4 Ghz stuff and turns off when the microwave is in use. So I can’t really recommend it as being top notch, since it clearly could be improved. But it basically works, and it can be nice to have when you want to sit on your laptop across the room and play music on the stereo and when no one else is trying to use other 2.4 Ghz devices.
I should also warn you that I had some trouble early on with it turning itself off sometimes. This was always intermittent (and not overheating-related since it would usually happen just after the device got turned on), but seems to have now gone away. You may experience similar issues. A lot of other people have warned about overheating problems with this unit, so I made sure to set mine up in a situation where there is plenty of ventilation, and I’ve had no heat problems yet.
Anyway, my overall verdict on it is that it’s worth the price they’re charging (keeping in mind that I haven’t bought any HDMI sources yet because I despise DRM (and yes, I do own a DVD player, but I didn’t buy one until CSS had been cracked)), but I wish someone had told me then what I’m telling you now because then I wouldn’t have been disappointed when I got it and discovered that I still needed something else to switch video inputs.
I’ll never get this. I think maybe people feel like they’re elite or smart if they say things like this. It’s utter garbage.
You don’t need HDMI on a receiver to make it useful. In fact, the higest end amplifiers don’t even have video circuitry of any kind, let alone HDMI switching or anything like that. They’re dedicated audio components and that’s it. The video switching and processing is done by a separate component.
But anyway, point being, you don’t need any video capabilities at ALL on a receiver/amplifier. Just go direct from your HDMI sources to your HDMI capable TV/projecotr, OR buy an HDMI switcher.
A receiver that has HDMI switching is a nice added bonus, but FAR from necessary. In fact, if you only have one or two HDMI devices (say, for example, HD cable or DirecTV, plus a blu-ray player), sometimes it just simpler to go striaght from the component to the TV, rather than the pass through the amplifier which can introduce digital jitter or noise.
Bottom line is that HDMI switching on an amplifier is an added convenience, not a necessity, and will detract NOTHING from your home theater experience.
The latter. This receiver works with (according to the manual) 6-16 OHMs.
They rate it for 6 ohms for two reasons: 1) Some speakers are actually 6 ohms, so it increases compatibility. 2) It makes the wattage look higher.
With 8 ohm speakers, the RMS output will obviously be slightly less. However, the key here is that a home theater system is never (and I do mean never) driven at max RMS output. As little as 10 watts is actually output to drive a relatively efficient speaker to levels that are quite loud. A quality 70 watt per channel system can drive speakers cleanly and clearly without any problems.
I already have this receiver and am generally satisfied with the price. I bought it as a stereo for my work shed. I wasn’t looking for HDMI, etc. Have a relatively inexpensive DVD/VCR combo hooked up to it, seven (yes, with video amp) analog TVs, and a couple pairs of indoor/outdoor speakers mounted on the outside of the shed for a nice ‘backyard stereo’. We sometimes project movies on a large screen in the yard. Spray some mosquito guard, friends come over for a fun night “out”, all in all, lots of fun.
The primary reason I bought this is for the USB connection for connecting my laptop with lots of mp3’s. First day out of the box, I connected everything, laptop auto configured the receiver as another sound card and everything worked fine. I must admit, it is not the easiest thing to set up, have to go through all the on-screen menus, step by step.
But, a few weeks later, I connected the laptop, could not get it to work. Spent lots of time trying to figure it out, without success. The other auido sources work fine. Just the USB. I might try connecting to another computer, including a Mac laptop I have from work just to narrow down the source of the problem.
I haven’t had a chance lately - just wondering if anyone out there has any pointers.
Anyway, the sound was great when it worked, and I would recommend this receiver as a second, casual use setup, like I have.
Hear, hear! I’m all over this thing. I’ve never had a problem with running my video straight into the TV. It can be a bit tight back there sometimes, that’s precisely why I pretty much only look for TVs with crazy amounts of inputs.
touche
. That is not up-conversion. It is decoding which all color TVs/monitors with composite inputs have always done. Up-conversion means converting SD to HD. I notice there is no mention of AM or FM reception even though it does come with an AM antenna and an F connector for FM. I guess the specs for a RECEIVER don’t include reception anymore. Am I the last person listening to FM at home? Where’s the HD radio Woot?
I’m with you, all I want is to play the tv optical digital output and my old traditional phono, tape, and aux inputs. What’s available?
Does this simply stream whatever your PC happens to be playing, or can it actively control what you play from your PC?
If you do buy this woot with intention of getting speakers, don’t go out and buy any high end speakers because it will be a waste of your time. Judged by the specs posted, you’ll be getting a little dirty power here and there which many high end speakers are very sensitive too.
I took the plunge and went in for one. After reading the reviews and comparing the prices of other receivers I gfigure I cant go wrong with this one. Those wanting HDMI switchint on their receivers maybe can afoord to spend 7x yes 7x the price. I cant so I will be happy with this and run my video to the HDMI switcher I already have. cumbersome yes but fits my budget. Thanks Woot now I betteer see some 6 ohm 7.1 speakers on here tommorow!!!
After reading the reviews looks like this thing runs hot so have a decent size space for it, nothing on top or near the sides unless you love the smell of burning electronics in the morning