Need a recommendation for budget ($400 or less) AVR with HD radio

[v8envy]

Hi sports fans.

Was wondering if any reasonably respected manufacturers have an HD radio tuner in a mainstream AVR yet. My room acoustics are going to suck no matter what I do, so I'm looking for a low end unit with the most features.

7.1 would be an awesome bonus as well.

This will be hooked up to a PS3 to play mainly blu-ray, so scaling features are not quite as important.

Any recommendations?

 

[mmntech]

From what I hear, HD Radio isn't worth it. It just rebroadcasts analogue AM/FM stations in digital. Quality supposedly isn't as good as their analogue counterparts. You're better off going for a pay service such as Sirius/XM. Plenty of AVRs have satellite radio receivers built in.

 

[v8envy]

I've experienced just the opposite. Yes, it's mostly the same content for now, but the local stations here (Denver) sound miles better in the HD flavor. As a bonus there is no interference or static.

Anyway, the HD requirement is due to my wife who insists on listening to radio. She even spent $150 on a freaking clock radio with a digital tuner hoping to get a better signal, so the HD feature is incredibly important to her.

However, if such a beast doesn't exist below the $1200 pricepoint I can try talking her into streaming internet radio instead. Which means having a PC hooked up to the receiver -- not something I prefer, but it'll take a very very long time to pay back a $900 difference in increased power use.