CES 2008

The Pioneer VSX-1018TXH-K includes enthusiast-friendly features like onboard high-resolution soundtrack decoding.

(Credit: Pioneer)

In just a few sort years, HDMI connectivity has become arguably the most important spec for AV receivers. Pioneer rolled out four new HDMI-capable receivers today, ranging from the budget VSX-518 to the midrange VSX-1018TXH-K. All four models have three HDMI inputs, which is one more than the previous standard of two. On the other hand, onboard decoding for the new high resolution soundtrack formats--such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio--is limited to the VSX-1018TXH-K, which is a little disappointing considering it was available last year on the inexpensive Onkyo TX-SR605. The VSX-1018TXH-K looks to be the sweet spot for enthusiasts, offering HDMI upscaling, onboard high resolution audio decoding and six-digit inputs for a reasonable $600 list price.

The full specs of the four new receivers are below.

(Credit: Pioneer)

Note that the press release seems to indicate there are no S-Video inputs on any of these receivers. We're hoping this is a misprint, although it wouldn't be unprecedented, as we saw the same thing on Sony's STR-DG810. We'll update this post with more information once we have a chance to swing by Pioneer's booth. UPDATE: We have confirmed with Pioneer that these receivers do not have S-Video inputs.