[LarryRda]

You know, I didn't actually think about that, I could actually try that with my current ProMedia's (they're not completely dead yet, but they're getting there).

EDIT: Whoops, didn't catch your edit there. But this is actually for a dedicated gaming rig - I have a decent home theater setup for my PS3 / 360 already. I'm actually torn between going this route or just hooking my computer up to my home theater (which would be a pain moving furniture around, and I'm worried about view distance...).

yeah, well if you wanted a cheap solution, that is it. You could buy 2 more promedias, and you'd have 6. I would give it a go, you have nothing to lose and you could do it for under $50. One thing I like about using a traditional reciever for a PC setup is that you bypass your soundcards DACs. In other words, any reciever worth a crap has far superior digital to audio conversion than a typical pc soundcard (creative xfi for example) so this way, you just output spidf from the soundcard and let your reciever do the work. If that panny is one of those pure digital recievers.....you'd bypass the DACS altogether.

I've got my PC hooked up to my Home Theater as my primary setup...but for you, it would be just as easy using your PS3 or x360 as a media hub and just stream everything to it. I like both options though....i stream to x360, or I just go direct from my HTPC. I've actually got a comp LCD in the corner of my living room, and then i have the main HDTV. this allows me to surf and use my HTPC setup...or stream to x360.. of course everything is hooked up to my HT reciever.. I've got an hdmi line run in wall from my office to my living room....(thats how i hook up the HTPC to the main HDTV) and then i have an dell fpw2004 (20inch lcd) mounted on wall in the corner

[KlaraNovikoffa]

I'd actually only need a cable about 15-20 feet long to hook my computer straight into my home theater receiver (though I'd guess that would require a fairly heavy guage DVI to HDMI cable). My only actual concern is my home theater setup is in my bedroom, I'd have to rearrange everything and get a coffee table or something to use as a hard surface for keyboard / mouse. That's a lot of work if I'm not positive it's going to yield the kind of visual experience I'm looking for (I find sitting at my desk, my 22" WS LCD covers a much larger field of view than does my 46" Samsung at a typical view distance of about 6-7 feet).

Anyway, not trying to hijack the thread or anything.

[Unjucky]

Cool, thanks guys. I am betting I can save some cash by getting rid of the DVD player though (seeing as how I have the XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive now). That, and I'm not entirely sure if I need the iPod dock, though it's a bonus. This is why I'm avoiding whole systems in part, though it certainly is nice to be positive that everything just works.

So I'm a pretty big fan of the TX-SR674 reciever... What speaker system should I go with to support it though?

http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp...i_sku=36904546

I just did the same to my system. Went through and got rid of everything I don't need. So far for a DVD player I've got the 360 and HD drive. I've got one HDMI input left, and I'm reserving that for a PS3 at some point in the future. Don't need a CD player, the Xbox will do that too. I've got my Xbox hooked up to the other component input. My CD player input is hooked up to an iphone dock so I can just drop my iphone on the dock and listen to some tunes if I feel like it. The only legacy item left in the setup is the VCR for some classic anime that I've got back from the late 80's early 90's that i haven't bought on DVD yet.

The rest of the normal inputs are reserved for my Dreamcast, Saturn, Genesis, and yes, an Atari 7800 for those moments.

My next receiver will either be Denon, Harmon Kardon, or Onkyo. I currently have an older Pioneer VSX-D557 that I bought when I was in high school about 10years ago. It does DD 5.1 and thats about it.

I much prefer component systems rather than all-in-1 setups. More inputs and greater versatility in setting up your theater. I prefer to have my system setup so it treats the TV as a monitor and all switching is done through the Receiver. However as my Receiver doesn't have HDMI, DVI, or even component inputs i'll have to wait till I upgrade my receiver.