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AVR with DLNA, Airplay with wireless capability for stereo playback

post #1 of 5
Thread Starter 
To keep it short, I'm looking for an AVR with the following:

DLNA with nice interface (must support mkv, mp4, with DTS audio)
Airplay (I want to stream directly from my laptop via itunes without having to turn on the TV its connected to.)
Built-in wireless-N dual band (WIFI dongle acceptable if absolutely necessary)
~$300, but can go as high as $500.

Now the details:
I just bought a Panasonic 50GT50 and was hoping that the built-in DLNA would be good enough. It's pretty good but lacks DTS audio support and I find the music interface clunky and would prefer to be able to stream directly to a receiver from my laptop using Airplay. That said, I already have a pair of Totem Forest speakers and in the market for a receiver. Since I have no plans to get a sub or go with surround sound I was initially looking at stereo receivers such as the HK3490 and Onkyo TX-8050, but neither supports airplay and both seem a bit out of date compared to the features I'm seeing on surround sound AVRs. I don't really want to get into a debate about the merits of a stereo receiver vs an AVR. What I am more interested in is whether that are any AVRs that might be suited to my needs that also have built-in WIFI (wi-fi via dongle is acceptable but I'd prefer it to keep it simple and have it built in). I see a lot of 5.1 AVRs that advertise network capabilities but I'm finding it hard to discern whether that networking capability is via ethernet only. Since the speakers I have are pretty nice I don't want to sacrifice music playback quality too much, but truth be told the majority of the time I'll be watching blu-ray rips of TV shows and movies. I'll keep researching AVRs since I'm new to them (have only ever used old tube integrated amps), but in the meantime I'd appreciate any advice I can get. Thanks!
Edited by ehfz - 2/8/13 at 8:23am
post #2 of 5
Hey, every receiver company I have experience with will give you the same features, and not give you built in wireless. Use a Netgear Dual-Band Universal Wireless adapter ($50-60). If you can let the built-in Wifi req go, you have plenty of choice all around the same price. You can also find a clearanced receiver from a previous series.

Further suggestions are just: Denon, Pioneer, Yamaha, HK, Onkyo ETC, in the $300+ price range.
I wanted to recommend the Marantz 1603 + Wifi Adapter = $700 but it is above budget. The 1403 doesn't have AP.
post #3 of 5
Only Sony AV receivers support video playback over DLNA, but maybe not with DTS audio (either standard DTS or DTS-HD) and maybe not in HD. The Sony STR-DN1030 is the only AV receiver any manufacturer makes with builtin wireless support. It's also the only Sony model with Airplay support. The STR-DN1030 doesn't support streaming video over DLNA. The Sony receivers that do support video streaming are outside of your price range.

There's no easy all in one solution for what you want. I think the closest you can come is one of those $100 media streaming boxes, combined with an AV receiver with Airplay support and a $50 generic wireless bridge.
post #4 of 5
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross Ridge View Post

Only Sony AV receivers support video playback over DLNA, but maybe not with DTS audio (either standard DTS or DTS-HD) and maybe not in HD. The Sony STR-DN1030 is the only AV receiver any manufacturer makes with builtin wireless support. It's also the only Sony model with Airplay support. The STR-DN1030 doesn't support streaming video over DLNA. The Sony receivers that do support video streaming are outside of your price range.

There's no easy all in one solution for what you want. I think the closest you can come is one of those $100 media streaming boxes, combined with an AV receiver with Airplay support and a $50 generic wireless bridge.

Thanks for clarifying that, I was using an HTPC with XBMC before that could access content directly from my NAS via Samba so this DLNA thing is new to me and I had assumed that DLNA meant audio and video. I'll have to think more about this and whether I really want an AVR vs just getting the HK3490 and adding airplay via airport express or apple tv.
post #5 of 5
Thread Starter 
After spending more time than I should have familiarizing myself with AVRs I've narrowed my choices down to:

Sony STRDN1030 : $400, doesn't seem to ever go on sale. Not the best reputation for sound quality but supposedly decent in that department. Most reviews are positive but there are some complaints about airplay connection reliability, and since airplay is the only network feature I'll actually be using that's not an insignificant complaint.

Denon AVR-1613 : $400, can get used or refurb for ~$300 but the refurbs scare me. The AVR-1913 has been going on sale new for $329 but only at Fry's in store and I don't live anywhere near a Fry's. Denons have Audyssey which I'm reading mixed things about but generally more positive things than the competitors versions. I only have two speakers so I'm guessing Audyssey shouldn't be a deciding factor one way or the other.

Harmon Kardon AVR 1700 : missed some great sales at $200 at best buy last month. If it goes on sale again for that price I'd be hard pressed to say no, but I'm also reading that Harmon Kardon quality is not what it used to be and there are complaints about their HDMI ports failing with more frequency than I'd like.

Marantz NR1403/1603 : The 1603 looks nice but doesn't seem to ever go on sale and there are also reports of prematurely failing HDMI boards (I know I shouldn't construe a couple reports as a pattern but it's so easy to do on the internet wink.gif ). Since I am primarily interested in Airplay and I would need to get a wireless adapter for all of these receivers anyway (except the Sony), I could consider the 1403 paired with the Airplay optical output of an airport express. This would work fine expect I also like the idea of the automatic airplay input switching that occurs when you have a receiver with airplay built-in (I don't care but I can't let things get too confusing or my wife will be cross).

Yamaha RX-V473 : $285 new on amazon right now so the best price of all the ones I'm looking at, but I'm not sure if the audio quality is as high as some of the other units.

What I'll probably do is just wait for a good deal on any of these and pull the trigger on whichever has the best deal first. I do also wonder if next year's models will start to have built-in wi-fi and become an industry trend or if the Sony was just a one-off.
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