Looking for advice: home theater system

[Tekoa]

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction to purchasing a new home theater system. With my old system I was running one optical cable from the system to my t.v. and had to switch the cable from the t.v. to my PS3 whenever I wanted to use the surround sound while gaming. I'd really like to eliminate that.

The only thread I found on this when I searched was: http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showt...Surround+Sound

If what Isiolia said is true, can someone point me in the direction of a good starting point to find an HDMI-capable receiver. I'm looking to keep it under $500.00 if possible. I also only have 2 HDMI ports of my t.v. One is used by the PS3, the other is used by the fios box.

[Furtwangler]

Look into yamaha's line. They are pretty standard for affordable receivers, and have a decent selection; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882115238
All the HDMI from your ps3/fios etc goes into this first, then just one goes into your tv.
Do you already have standalone speakers? or are you looking for something that is an all in one setup with speakers included?
Newegg has this deal right now which is pretty good, if you do need speakers; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882115241

[Isiolia]

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR608...3502216&sr=8-1 perhaps. Brand new model, though many model line refreshes are coming down the pipe around now. Definitely pushes your budget, but has some very new features like HDMI 1.4 support.

May want to look around for a deal on one of last year's models.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=90 may be a better place to browse/ask too.

[Tekoa]

Sweet thanks you two. These are the jumping points I was looking for.

[Amastacia]

AVSForum is a hell of a good place to start looking.

And Isiolia is right on target looking for last year's models. The feature changes are usually miniscule, while the discounts given by stores looking to move old inventory are often immense.

It's entirely possible to get a lot more than $500 worth of receiver for less than that if you keep an eye out for deals, either through AVSForums, or even on rare occasions from places like Slickdeals.