Showing posts with label upscaling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label upscaling. Show all posts

Sony STR-DH810 7.1-channel A/V Receiver with 7 HD Inputs Review

Sony STR-DH810 7.1-channel A/V Receiver with 7 HD Inputs
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I just received my new Sony STR-DH810 7.1 on Friday afternoon. I already had the previous version, the STR-DH800 set up in the living room. The DH810 I got for the den. It took less than an hour to pull the plugs out of my old Sony (non-HDMI) receiver and set-up the DH810. I would recommend that anyone getting this get a set of banana plugs for the speaker inputs. You "can" get the wires in the "screw-in" connectors, but banana plugs are just so much easier to deal with. I am using all 3 component inputs, 3 of 4 HDMI, Composite and CD, including DVD Coax, and all Optical audio inputs. Everything is very accessible and clearly labeled.
Once I had everything set up, I ran through the Audio/Video set-up manually. The DH810 comes with a mic that allows you to automatically configure your sound system (the receiver does all the work, but I prefer to do the "tweaking" manually. But that's just me. However, that said, after manually setting up my system, I reset the receiver and allowed the included mic to automatically detect and set up my sound system (just to see how it handled the task) and it did a bangin' job! Very easy automated and intuitive set-up.
The initial set-up is a breeze. Hold down the On/Off button on the receiver for 5 seconds until the receiver says CLEAR (which you can do anytime you want to undo any major blunders or just start fresh). Press the speaker button on the receiver until your speaker set-up appears, select your desired input button on the remote, crank up the volume and you have sound! From there, the remote's menu allows you to configure all the tweaks like EQ, Speaker distance, balance, bass, treble, you TVs resolution, etc. I would prefer some kind of TV-On-Screen Menu, but that is not really a big deal to me.
The sound is phenomenal and the DVD upscaling is very cool. I have Avatar on DVD (not blu ray) and the picture upscaled crisp and clear. The sound coming out of the speakers is clean and crisp. My audio CD's, movies, Cable TV, all sound great with the DH810.
I had been putting off buying this until someone gave it a rating, and I finally found a couple on the web that convinced me to give it an "early-adopter" try. Suffice to say, I am NOT DISAPPOINTED! The Price of $285 with no shipping was just a BIG plus too.
I will probably add to my rating later on, but for now, I HEARTILY recommend the STR-DH810 to anyone that has been hankering to upgrade their sound system with an upscaling 1080p A/V Receiver.

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Take your HD surround sound experience to new heights with the STR-DH810 A/V receiver. Offering an abundance of connectivity options (4 HDMI, 3 component), you will have room for all your components including a Blu-ray player, PS3 system, DVD player and more. And with DVD upscaling via HDMI you can watch DVDs in near HD quality. This 7.1-channel receiver has LPCM, Dolby trueHD and dts-HD decoding technologies for audio that is true to the original master recording. The STR-DH810 features wireless 2nd zone audio capabilities, which allows you transmit wireless audio in up to 10 additional rooms via optional S-AIR accessories. Additional features include Audio Return Channel which eliminates the need for extra cables connected to your TV, and standby pass-through that lets you access all of your HDMI connected devices without having to power on the receiver.

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Philips DVDR3505/37 1080i Upscaling DVD Recorder with Built-In Tuner Review

Philips DVDR3505/37 1080i Upscaling DVD Recorder with Built-In Tuner
Average Reviews:

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The Phillips DVDR3505/37 has the best "digital tuner" picture quality out of the two other DVD recorders that I have tested with "digital tuners" (Panasonic and Samsung). The Phillips DVDR3505 produces an amazingly clear OTA digital picture on my old 27 inch Sanyo analog "box" TV using an indoor antenna. The Phillips 3505 and the 27inch TV are connected with regular "composite cables". The resulting OTA digital picture is amazingly detailed and clear with little or no annoying "dot crawl". Another important feature for me in selecting the Phillips DVDR3505 is that it allows you to choose "4.3 pan & Scan" to view OTA digital programs in full screen on a "box" TV (no black bars caused by "HD" OTA programs). In the 4.3 pan & scan mode the OTA digital picture is shown in full screen but is not distorted looking (no long and stretched faces) and the picture framing matches the full screen picture seen on my analog OTA TV in a side by side comparison. In addition the picture clarity/sharpness in the "4.3 pan & scan" full screen mode is superb! The same effect should be achieved when watching a purchased or rented "widescreen" DVD movie on your "Box" TV in the 4.3 pan & scan mode. The cons for the Phillips DVDR3505 are its slow channel change and slow recording set up. One additional problem I have experienced is that the unit looses its channel set up under certian conditions. At this point in my life, the quality of the picture that you see from your cable, Sat, or OTA programs is what is most important to me and my family when watching TV. The truth is that I have put up with poor reception using analog TV with "rabbit ears" antennas long enough, so the amazing picture quality of the Phillips is what sold me. The Phillips DVDR3502 wins hand down in that category and is the main reason that I sent the other more expensive feature rich DVD recorders back to the store. My family and I have been able to work around or forgive all of the "cons" reported about for the Phillips DVDR3505 and because we are basic users the Phillips meets our needs for recording OTA TV programs while providing a "Wow factor" in picture clarity when watching "real time" OTA digital TV through our analog "box" TV. Also, a "Wow factor" is achieved even when watching OTA digital program recorded on DVD using the Phillips DVDR3505. Image reproduction is excellent in two highest image recording modes. Before buying see if the features on the Phillips DVDR3505/37 matches your basic needs. If viewing pleasure has been lacking for OTA broadcasts then get ready to receive the "Best Picture" award from friends and family when using the Phillips DVDR3505.

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Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX267W Theater System with Wireless Speaker Kit Review

Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX267W Theater System with Wireless Speaker Kit
Average Reviews:

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This product works and sounds very good! HOWEVER... There are no inputs to use which will allow you to hook up say a CableBox or TiVo which can do surround sound. So no optical or coax digital inputs. This means that the only way you will get true surround sound from this system is buy using the built in DVD player. So if you don't need ANY inputs, this would be 5 stars instead of 4. If you read the specification on this unit carefully, you will find no digital inputs, only left and right analog input (1 set). Unfortunately I did not, I just assumed that ANY surround sound system available these days would have digital inputs -- shame on me for not checking -- more shame on Sony for leaving this out. But hey, it's an inexpensive unit. As long as you buy it knowing this, you will be happy with it.

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