Home Theater Blueray receiver vs. A/V receiver?

[mrLookyHere]

What is the difference between a Home Theater 5.1 100W Blueray receiver that usually comes with speakers with buying a stand alone A/V receiver?

The stand-alone A/V receivers are usually very BIG and a lot more expensive. I need to replace my old dvd/vhs receiver. My living room is small and i'm not looking to turn my living room into a movie theater but i still want a decent sound (movies/music) experience. I already have a subwoofer and speakers that i like and i will be throwing away any speakers that may come with a home theater package. I really like the idea of buying a smaller sized home theater system. Am i losing something by buying one of the boxed home theater blueray systems over buying an individual A/V receiver. Panasonic and LG make a couple of systems with atleast 2-3 HDMI inputs which is more than enough for me.

Thank

 

[GrumpyMac]

Check again. Most of those $299 BluRay/Receiver combos do NOT let you hook up external devices other than perhaps left/right analog video.

A full-sized AV receiver lets you run optical from the TV to get 5.1 sound from HDTV shows (yes - all HDTV shows include 5.1 sound. They dont all take advantage of it - but DD5.1 is the sound standard for HDTV).

Having spare inputs lets you hook up your cable/sat box, game system, media streamer (for Netflix) etc. all to the receiver to handle the switching duties.

"I already have a subwoofer and speakers that i like and i will be throwing away any speakers that may come with a home theater package"

Wont work. The all-in-one units are not designed to let you mix other gear. It works with the included speakers. The amps are NOT designed to work with more main-stream speakers and subs. The receiver also does NOT include Bass management to let your speakers and subwoofer blend. (Why bother - the included speakers and subwoofer are fixed).

The all-in-one units do NOT let you hook up outboard BluRay players. These are becoming the gateway to Netflix, Amazon OnLine, Hulu, etc. You are stuck with the included BluRay player and cannot upgrade or repair/replace it.

Look into the Onkyo AV Receivers. Lots of features for the money starting about $299.

Hope this helps.