The Home Theater Receiver, also referred to as an AV Receiver or Surround Sound Receiver, is the heart of a home theater system and provides most, if not all, the inputs and outputs that you connect everything, including your television, into. A Home Theater Receiver provides an easy and cost-effective way of centralizing your your home theater system. In Part One, I discussed the basic audio performance and functions to look for. In Part Two, I dig deeper into some of the more advanced functions to consider when buying a Home Theater Receiver. To find out more, check out my article: Before You Buy a Home Theater Receiver - Part Two - Video, iPod, Networking.

The Home Theater Receiver, also referred to as an AV Receiver or Surround Sound Receiver, is the heart of a home theater system and provides most, if not all, the inputs and outputs that you connect everything, including your television, into. A Home Theater Receiver provides an easy and cost-effective way of centralizing your your home theater system. To find out more on what to look for in a Home Theater Receiver, check out my article: Before You Buy a Home Theater Receiver - Part One - Audio.

The impact of the 2009 DTV transition, HDTV, and the introduction of Blu-ray Disc has changed the television viewing landscape, making TV buying decisions for consumers more complex. This has given rise to a lot of questions about HDTV and how to access HDTV programming and content. This week's question: What is the Difference Between Digital TV and Analog TV?. Also, be sure to check out my complete HDTV FAQs

The Sherwood Newcastle R-972 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver is an affordable, high-end home theater receiver. This receiver delivers a strong, sustained, power output, and features on-board Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio processing. This receiver also has 4 HDMI inputs inputs, and features multi-zone operation with two remote controls. However, the big innovation of the R-972 is that it includes the comprehensive Trinnov Optimizer Room Correction System. On the negative side of things, the R-972 isn't designed for the novice as it is not the easiest receiver to use. It also has problems with video performance. To find out more about the Sherwood Newcastle R-972, check out both my Short and Full Reviews, and also my Photo Gallery. Photos (c) Robert Silva - Licensed to About.com