Only a few days ago (Offer ended at end of June) , Harvey Norman was selling the complete set (VSX-818 + the complete Pioneer Speakers (the 2 front Big Speakers (looks like wood) + the Center and 2 surrounds + Big Sub-woofer) for the price of only RM2,499/-.

Anyway Pioneer have already come out with the cheaper AVR VSX-519 which has the feature of HDMI Repeater, that means can have Lossless LPCM sound through HDMI (good for PS3). However it doesn't have the auto-Calibration MCACC feature.

The higher VSX-819 however has both the MCACC and also the TrueHD and DTS-MA decoders built-in (good for normal BD player but too bad PS3 can't bitstream HD audio).

This post has been edited by Ngto: Jul 6 2009, 11:13 PM

You are wrong. HDMI switching (pass-through) is the one that doesn't have audio, like the 818 model.

The 519 HDMI repeater can accept and play decoded Lossless LPCM HD audio, but the unit doesn't decode Bitstream Loslesss HD audio. So like I said this model should be good for the PS3.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Jul 7 2009, 11:46 PM

Affordable also

But... not future proof if PS3 break down few years later. However by that time prices would already have come down so can buy new AVR with built-in HD lossless decoder then.

This post has been edited by Ngto: Jul 8 2009, 12:09 PM

Dig up 5 mths old thread , but stll a bit blur

All above comments referring to old PS3 before New PS3 Slim was launched.

Anyway for your benefit the 3 diff Pioneer models are for diff purposes (still applies now to New PS3 slim) :-

1) 818 - Can't accept Lossless LPCM or Bitstream from PS3 (HDMI only acts as a switch) - Already Obselete
2) 519 - Can accept Lossless LPCM from PS3 but can't decode Lossless Bitstream (no HD decoders onboard)
3) 819 - Can accept both Lossless LPCM and Bitstream (Got True-HD and DTS-MA Decoders onboard)

Hope that helps

This post has been edited by Ngto: Dec 12 2009, 07:24 PM

Now not sure, about 1-2 mths back around RM1,500/-