Home Theater Receiver/Switcher with RGB or VGA inputs?

[drcaduceus]

I've been looking at getting a receiver/switcher. Problem is, I want to connect a PC and I haven't found a receiver that has RGB inputs. Is there one? Or, should I be looking at something else? Thanks.

[MrBoylan]

I've been looking at getting a receiver/switcher. Problem is, I want to connect a PC and I haven't found a receiver that has RGB inputs. Is there one? Or, should I be looking at something else? Thanks.

Hi, Jeff,

I know we've corresponded in e-mail but wanted to post an answer here too so others could benefit. I’ve never actually seen a home theater receiver that supports VGA/RGB inputs – just component video, composite, S-video and HDMI.

If your PC has a DVI-D output (DVI-digital), which is different than DVI-A (DVI-Analog) then you could get a simple DVI-D to HDMI cable or adapter and plug that into your receiver as one of the sources. You will probably need to set your resolution to one of the common ones like 1280x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080p). But if you go this route, make sure you get a receiver that can re-assign audio/video inputs so that you can assign an analog audio input to that PC/HDMI input. Most of the better ones do allow this.

The other option is running a separate VGA cable for the PC to the projector. Not that big a deal really – two cables are certainly better than 5 or 6. Audio you could still connect via the PC's analog line or headphone output into an available input on the receiver.

Make sure you get a receiver that can do analog upconversion and transcoding of analog inputs to HDMI. If you get a receiver that does “video pass-through” only, then it will not convert component video inputs to HDMI outputs and you'll get stuck having to connect multiple cables between the receiver and projector.

A couple of likely candidates would be those from Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo and Pioneer. Not sure of your price range but here are a few recommendations in the $400 to $600 range:

• Amazon.com: Onkyo TX-SR707 7.2-Channel A/V Surround Home Theater Receiver: Electronics
• Amazon.com: Yamaha RX-V665BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver: Electronics
• Amazon.com: Denon AVR1910 7.1-Channel Multi-Zone Home Theater Receiver with 1080p HDMI Connectivity: Electronics
• Amazon.com: Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K 7-Channel A/V Receiver (Black): Electronics

Your purchase via the above links supports BPBS. Hope that helps!

-CB