Is Yamaha aiming for the top of the receiver heap, at least from a video perspective, with the launch of the these two HQV Vida powered units?
Yamaha, a name long familiar to home theater enthusiasts, have broken new ground with their latest A/V receivers, the RX-A2000 and the RX-A3000. What’s the big deal? Well, these two units are the first on the market to sport HQV’s new Vida video processor.
HQV has a solid rep among video enthusiasts for the tremendous video performance they can pack on to a chip, and they have been one of the leaders in bringing first rate video processing to many main stream receivers and surround processors.
Why Would I Want One?
So, what’s so great about these new receivers, anyway? 14-bit processing and 12-bit video output for one thing. You’ll get razor sharp (but not overly enhanced) images whether incoming at 1080p over HDMI from a Blu-ray player or fed over You Tube from a PS3. You can even upscale both analog or digital video to a 1080p image to dramatically improve compressed video. No big deal, 1080p upscaling has been around for a while now, right? Remember though, it’s all in the implementation, and if there’s one thing the HQV chips are good at it’s implementing video processing algorithms. The video settings on the RX-A3000 are more customizable, so you can tailor them to your personal preferences to a higher degree than you can with the RX-A2000.
The RX-A3000 offers such niceties as Mosquito Noise Reduction and Block Noise Reduction, which are especially welcome for dealing with some of the overly compressed video from your cable box.
With the RX-A2000 you have the ability to select ‘Auto’ or ‘Off’ for the various video parameters like noise reduction. The RX-A3000, however, allows for precise adjustment of each video setting which allows you to fine tune the receiver video settings just the way you want.
After you are finished fine tuning the video settings, 6 video memories allow you to save those settings for instant recall. This is particularly useful when built into a macro. In this case, not only can you select your source, and desired sound mode but one of the video settings will make sure the video is optimized for the source you are watching or the video display you are using.
You’ll see this new HQV chip on more receivers soon, but if you want to see them first, check back here soon.
To see more on the Yamaha RX-A2000 from Amazon.com, including customer reviews, click on the link below, now:
Yamaha Audio/Video Receiver (Black)
[...] lets begin with 2 short review articles; the first is from Steve Faber on the New Yamaha RX-A2000 and RX-A3000 the First With HQV Vida Video Processing. And second up is the amazing news of when 3D Camcorders Hit the Streets written by Jamil [...]