@TG1730
With HDMI, the two devices have to share compatible levels, 1.4, 2.0 (probably), or 2.1
If not, then either the two devices can’t communicate, or (more likely) the higher-spec device will drop to the lower level, compromising the quality of what it can put out.
You also need to consider what level of HDCP they can operate at; 2.0, 2.1 or 2.2?
Same compromise possibility here.
Finally, what sound quality can the two devices agree on? Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, plain Dolby Digital?
So, much more subtle than just both having HDMI of some sort.
To give you a concrete example, consider my Panasonic UHD player, my Yamaha YSP2500 soundbar, and my Samsung JS9000 TV. All top-notch devices in their day, but:-
if I connected the UHD player to the Yamaha, then that could handle the audio uncompromised, but could only negotiate HDCP 2.1 with the TV, so compromised picture quality, with no HDR.
But the TV could do HDCP 2.2 if I plugged the UHD player into it directly, and give me the uncompromised video from the UHD player with HDR and all. However, it could not pass the audio to the Yamaha over ARC without compromise.
Because of situations like this, the better UHD players have the option of separate HDMI outs for video and for audio. So I fed the Video Out to the TV, and the Audio Out to the Yamaha Soundbar, and got everything the UHD player could give, uncompromised.
The UBPX700B has these two HDMI outs; so at worst you could send the video direct to the TV (you don’t say what model this is, but it would be sure to do the best it can) and the audio to the DN1080. So unless Harvey Norman think the DN-1080 won’t be able to handle the audio the UHD player puts out at all, I don’t know what their beef with it might be.
After all, the DN-1080 is still a current Sony receiver, and can probably handle the audio uncompromised, and can probably even pass the video to the TV uncompromised.
And so we come full circle; yes there is far more to it here than just both devices having HDMI, and there are in fact three devices to consider, as the TV comes into it as well.
But the two HDMI outputs on the UHD player mean that you can get the best video and audio possible from your TV and the DN-1080, and you don’t have to worry about any shortcomings of the link between the TV and the DN-1080 as you can feed the TV and the DN-1080 both directly from the UHD player, and nothing goes over that link.
So, armed with this posting, challenge the Harvey Norman salesman to explain exactly why this UHD player isn’t suitable. And ask him what is, and then come back and tell us what he says 😛
My favourite bedtime reading is a Sony product manual…
