It’s always tough to purchase receivers.  They change more rapidly than any other audio product.  Just like a car, you’ll need to get behind the wheel of an AV receiver wheel at some point.  That choice becomes even more difficult during a technology transition. 

There’s no question that the future of audio and home theater lies with HDMI 2.0 and UHD.  Those features, however, tend to command a bit of a premium today and the overwhelming majority of enthusiasts can’t take advantage of them.  For most, paying extra for these products and features doesn’t make a lot of sense when you consider that the proliferation of UHD content is still a few years away.

To me, the Yamaha RX-V577 is a stellar audio performer but it’s not a product for everyone.  This Yamaha is an AV receiver targeted towards the enthusiast on a modest budget who prioritizes audio quality first and foremost, is heavily invested in 720p/1080p source content, and wants to save a few bucks now to get a better UHD/HDMI 2.x receiver down the road. If that’s you, then I think you may be very happy with the RX-V577 and I recommend giving the RX-V577 a serious look.  The unit suffers from some UI inconsistencies, but whatever the RX-V577 sets out to do, it does well.

If you have legacy content requiring upscaling (DVDs), want to future-proof yourself a bit from now, or want a better on-screen GUI experience, then the RX-V577 will prove to be a disappointment.  For that kind of enthusiast, I recommend that you look at the next model up, the RX-V677.  For $100 more the RX-V677 is a much better value and gives you HDMI 2.0, UHD/4K passthrough and upscaling at 50/60hz, a better on-screen GUI, additional music services (satellite radio and Rhapsody), and some other additional features.