I bought this receiver mainly for its built-in scaler which scales all analog video to HDMI output so I only need to connect it to the TV with one HDMI cable. But the scaler in this receiver is a disappointment. First, it only accepts 480i analog video, even from the component input. This means that the DVD players with 480p output and the HD DVRs with 1080i output cannot be scaled. Second, the 480i scaled picture is too bright and the aspect ratio cannot be adjusted. The TV's built in scaler does a much better job than this. Aside from the scaler, the features of this receiver is good. The sound quality is also good in low power. But the max speaker output power seems to be much less than the ones claimed in the specs. The unit also feels too light in weight for the claimed power. It's a budget receiver for everyday use; not a performance product for the audio or video files.Read full review
This is an extremely high quality item for the price and for me was a big upgrade from my aging Sony STR-DE885 from 2002. With the firmware update that is available from Sony for the DH810, it makes this one of the most feature-filled 3D capable receivers on the market. You have multi-room wireless sound possibilities with optional Sony S-Air products. The Digital Media Port (DMP) provides additional options such as a special iPod dock or even a Bluetooth receiver that allows you to send audio to the receiver from devices that support sending audio over Bluetooth such as the PlayStation Vita. The only drawback is that these options are not cheap and you can only have 1 DMP device attached at a time, so if you need an extra option choose the one that will best meet your needs. The DH810 also provides upconversion for standard video sources that are being sent to it (in 480i only over component Y/Pb/Pr or composite video) up to 480p/720p/1080i when sent back over HDMI to your TV, which is a very welcome feature if you have an older DVD player that does not have HDMI or an older game console that you might want to try using with the added upconversion feature. I would rate setup difficulty a 7/10 - not too hard for your seasoned home theater enthusiast, but could be daunting for newbies. The hardest part would be reconfiguring each device that you had set up differently before in order to take full advantage of the HD audio formats. Toggling through all the menus and getting each setting just right to get proper multi-channel sound on your components in addition to toggling the proper setting on the receiver can be a pain (there's Amp and Amp+TV for the Sound Output on the HDMI menu - you have to set to just Amp to typically fix this problem on the receiver end or you will just get PCM audio). I had my STR-DE885 set up with my Blu-ray player, HDTV cable box and PS3 using optical audio vs. HDMI audio before. Once I pulled the optical audio from each, I had to reconfigure each device so it would output the audio properly over HDMI. When done, Blu-rays came alive with lossless DTS HD Master Audio and sound much fuller and cleaner than the older "lossy" standard DTS and Dolby Digital formats. In fact, with some Blu-rays the multichannel audio soundtracks are encoded at too high of a bit rate for older receivers to handle at all at times and won't downgrade to standard DTS and Dolby Digital, so your only recourse is to use the PCM soundtrack or to play the audio directly through your TV. The STR-DH810 rectifies these problems courtesy of being able to decode the highest bit rate soundtracks - up to 192 kHz! compared to a max of 96 kHz on my old STR-DE885. One more thing that many gripe about is the Sony manual. Yes it is a bit technical, but is extremely very useful and gives you the proper speaker setup for the sound field configurations you want to use. I upgraded my speaker setup from a 5.1 sound field to 6.1, but will eventually move to a full 7.1. The manual told me exactly how to use this setup to get the most out of it. Many 6.1 channel movies try to send the sound out as a 3/3.1 configuration so that's what I used and it sounds perfect with Lord of the Rings DTS 6.1 discrete and Harry Potter Years 1 and 2 in DTS HD Master Audio 6.1. I did not use the included calibration microphone yet, but from what I've heard this is a very useful tool for fine tuning your speakers. Overall a wonderful purchase at a great priceRead full review
I always prefer to use these type of receivers. I want it all and pleased with it. SONY has been a trusted brand of me for a long while and I find it had to stop using them. Almost every components I have is a SONY brand except for TV.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I had been searching for a theater system but read a review on this Sony Receiver. I went to a couple of sites that had them and read numerous other user ratings and I was sold. They were right on!! The unit looks complicated but the easy setup card helped tremendously. I am very happy with the looks of the unit, the features and surprisingly the ease of use. I would highly recommend this stand alone unit to anyone to update their home theater system.
This AVR served me better than any I've owned. Except for the lack of on-screen programming, it's got everything you need. It never faltered, even during the loudest movies. Bass performance through the subwoofer out is exceptional - I love bass and I have a sub that goes down to 10hz. This receiver will go lower than that! Surround sound is always engaging and very 3D sounding. The speaker connectors are a highlight, this receiver accepts banana plugs for all channels, supports bi-amping/height channels/rear surround. For the money it's a winner.
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