Do not get this receiver if you own a Sony TVAugust 25, 2008 This receiver loses synchronization with Sony TVs. It happens randomly and Denon is not doing anything about this problem.
They've released several firmware updates and some of them made the problem better and some of them made the problem worse. The latest firmware revision is the worst. It happens 2-3 times a day.
The worst part is that it didn't do it at first, then they posted a firmware update and it began doing it and there is no way to revert to an older firmware version.
Please stay away from this receiver. If I could return it I would not hesitate for a second.
If only it worked with SonyAugust 11, 2008 I have had this unit for 9 months now and really like it, but its sort of a love/hate relationship. First the love: the unit has excellent sound with my Klipsch RB-61 speaker system and has a very nice easy to use menu system. Setup was a piece of cake with the Audyssey calibration too, but there is hate: The remote. I still haven't figured out the advanced features and the biggest issue is it isn't compatible with Sony. I also have the DirecTV DVR, Sony Blueray BDP-S500 and XBR5. Every now and then, probably only once or twice during a movie the Denon blanks for a few seconds and resyncs itself. Calling Denon support they blame the Sony TV, but when connecting the DVR or Blueray directly to the XBR5 I never have the problem. I've tried countless sets of cables but to no avail and Denon has nothing to say. If the unit worked with my TV I would give it 5-stars, but for now its a love / hate relationship.
Denon-liciousJuly 31, 2008 [Before purchasing this receiver I highly recommend going to the Denon web site and downloading the user manual]
I am using this receiver in our bedroom for TV and music. I purchased after weeks of careful study. It was a close call between this unit and the Yamaha RX-V3800BL Yamaha RX-V3800BL 7.1-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver (Black), but the Denon won out for the following reasons: (1) Yamaha made me register with them to download the manual (2) The Denon has better video upscaling (3) In October Denon is supposed to release a firmware update which will add HDMI-CEC support, a feature I really like. If this had been primarily a music system, or if I didn't need to up-scale my standard def satellite box, the Yamaha might have won out.
As the Internet will tell you, the main remote which comes with this unit is annoying to use, and I am expecting to receive a Denon RC-7000CI two-way remote from Amazon sometime today. (NOTE: You need the RF unit (RC-7001RCI) if you want the two-way feature to work.) From downloading the manual for this remote I suspect that it is being outsourced from Universal Remote. It is PC programmable, and I hope it will be a good controller for my 3808 and my other home theater components. I will post a review on it when I know more.
I am a very technical person so factor that in to the following. Initial setup was fairly straightforward and was done with very little reference to the manual. I did have to restart the receiver to get the network to come up. While it is easy to get a little lost in the menu system, there isn't anything that is overwhelmingly obscure, and after a couple of weeks of use it becomes less of an issue.
When my son and I first set the receiver up we were a little unhappy with how unstable it was. Too many lock-ups, especially when controlling the receiver over the web with my Mac. Updating to the latest firmware has greatly improved stability, and made some small refinements in the interface. Also, I lost my OSD until I fully powered down the unit and powered it back up.
Things I like: Internet Radio (but then I like shortwave radio too) Nice Upscaling Flexible Configuration and Labeling Web Interface (wish all my components had this) RS-232 Phono Input XM Functional auxiliary remote
Things My Wife likes: iPod Interface
Things I don't like: Miserable main remote XM User Interface Needs Work GUI could be better
What's Missing: HD Radio 3D (9.1) HDMI-CEC (promised in October, and I'm naively counting on them to keep their word) NOTE: HDMI-CEC currently passes through, so my TV and other components CEC just fine, it is just that the Denon ignores it all.
Most Amusing Feature: Has a jack for Denon's $500 cat-5 cable Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable. Fortunately I don't need this feature, so I don't have to figure out if this is just a plain old cat-5, or if it has some sort of non-standard pinout. (I know if you have other Denon equipment this may be a nice feature, but you have to poke fun at that cable)
My Setup:
Samsung 40A750 (CEC supported) Samsung LN40A750 40-Inch 1080p DLNA LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
Denon AVR-3808CI (CEC planned)
Denon RC-7000CI two-way remote Denon RC-7000CI IR/RF Remote Control
RF unit Denon RC-7001RCI RF/IR Remote Base Station for the RC-7000CI Remote Control
XM mini-tuner (Integrated with AVR)
iPod Interface (Denon ASD-1RBK iPod Docking Station (Black Finish) (NOTE: You probably should just buy the basic iPod interface. As I understand it, the wired networkable interface Denon ASD-3N iPod/Network Connectivity Client Dock (Black) and the wireless Denon ASD-3N iPod/Network Connectivity Client Dock with Wifi (Black) duplicate some of the functionality of the receiver. (If anyone knows otherwise, please leave a comment and I will correct my review - thanks)
Panasonic DVD Recorder (CEC supported) Panasonic DMR-EZ28K 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner
Samsung BD-UP5000 HD/Blu-Ray (CEC supported) Samsung BD-UP5000 1080p HD-DVD Blu-Ray Disc Combo Player
Boston Acoustics MCS 130 5.1 Speaker System Boston Acoustics Horizon Series MCS130 5.1-Channel Surround Speaker System (Black)
Boston Acoustics MCS 130 Additional Surround (x2) Boston Acoustics MCS 130 Surround Single add-on rear-channel satellite speaker for MCS 130 system Midnight
Apple-TV (CEC Not Supported - time for an update to HDMI 1.3a/CEC capable product Apple!) Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A
(I've exceeded Amazon's silly 10 product link limit, so you'll have to cut and paste the last few if you want to view the items - sorry)
Great ReceiverJuly 12, 2008 Pros: 1. The on-screen menu is easy to use, and all settings can be controlled from it. 2. The networking functionality is excellent. Once you get it working, you will love this feature. 3. The USB connection is great as well. Get an 8-16GB USB key, place your MP3 files on it, and enjoy. It even has random play! 4. Full 1080p looks flawless, and the units ability to upscale is excellent. Any video source is going to be served well with this unit. 5. 4 HDMI connections
Cons: 1. Not really a con per say, but this receiver is definitely aimed at the video crowd. While music sounds great, the real power with this receiver lies in its video. 2. The auto speaker calibration. It did a fair job, but in the end, I took the time and did it myself. Not really that difficult if you are patient. 3. The remote. It is not terrible, but you will be getting an all-in-one in short order.
However, none of these cons would keep me from buying this unit again. It is hard to beat the price with this feature set.
great product for the sound performance, but needs lot of work in networking frontJune 20, 2008 2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Price Bought this receiver in onecall for a price of $1399. Personally I think that this product is worth only around $1000.
Upconversion video quality
Once of the reason I bought this receiver is because of the video upconversion feature which was said to be excellent in the cnet review. I don't have any HD sources, connected my SD dishnetwork cable box and sony SD dvd player. Used the HDMI out to connect to the Samsung LN52A650 HDTV. Turned on the video upscaling feature to see how it performs with the standard definition signals but I didn't see a major difference in video upconversion quality, only a minor improvement. On the other hand the samsung hdtv was handling the Standard Definition signals very well and the picture was of very good quality (bypassing the receiver and connected the dish composite output to the hdtv composite in directly). So if you are relying on the video upconversion feature to buy this receiver don't expect much.
Sound.
Great sound output and very nice performance in the audio side. Coupled the receiver with KEF KHT3005 5.1 speaker set, the sound quality was phenominal. Needed to go through the Audessey AutoSetup , but I had to set the crossover frequency manually in the receiver to around 100HZ to get good performance from the subwoofer. Also increased the sub volume manually in the receiver to more sound. In conclusion for sound this is a great receiver.
Network Streaming and connectivity.
Setting up network with this receiver turned out to be very painful experience. My entertainment set is in Family Room which doesn't have a ethernet connection to connect to this receiver. Used one of my old Linksys WRT54GS wireless router to run DD-WRT firmware to turn the wireless access point to work as a client bridge. So that I can connect the linksys router to work as a wireless receiver and hook up the denon 3808ci receiver to connect to this client bridge. After I hooked up the receiver the receiver was having trouble to connect to the network, it couldn't pull a ip address from the network. The a/v receiver became very slow and it took more than 5 seconds to navigate between each menu items. When I connect the a/v receiver to the wired network the a/v receiver was immediately assigned a network ip address and everything works fine. To debug connected my samsung LN52A650 HDTV to the client bridge it immediately reported that no DNS server assigned and no DHCP server was available. I liked the "Test Connection" feature of the samsung as opposed to nothing in the denon.
Now configured the A/V receiver to set DHCP to OFF and manually assigned a ip address and entered all the network details like subnet mask and DNS server info. Powercycled the receiver and now it was able to obtain a ipaddress. Frustrating and I wasted almost a day to figure this out.
As soon as it connected to the network I was able to see the receiver in the www.radiodenon.com website with the receivers MAC address. Signed up in radiodenon and added few stations in my list. It immediately showed up in the A/V receiver. But when I tried to play one of the station the receiver was complaining "Track Not Found" Error. Called Denon tech support and after 1 hour of wait I was able to get a support person. Explained that I can't play a radio station(WMA encoding, but streaming in windows media player protocol MMS) in the receiver he took so much of time to even locate the station. After a while he told me that this station cannot be played in the receiver because it needs a Windows Media Player in the receiver. I was wondering why the receiver cannot understand the WMA encoding. I asked why, when the denon manuals say that all WMA and MP3 stations can be played, but he couldn't properly tell a reason but keep on telling me that it needs a windows media player in the receiver which is not possible.
Later I figured out that the wma stations which is using mms as a streaming protocol cannot be played in this a/v receiver because the a/v receiver doesn't support the mms protocol as it supports only RTSP.
On the other side I tried to play the music files stored on my laptop.
The setup was like this
DLink Wireless Router | | ---> Laptop connected to this network. ---> Linksys wireless router acting as client bridget ___> A/V Receiver
Powered the A/V receiver , powered my laptop , the a/v receiver wasn't able to locate the laptop connected to the network. With trial and error I found out that I need to switch on my laptop first and then power the A/V receiver, after couple of minutes the receiver was able to locate the laptop and I was able to play the music files stored on my laptop.
Though one has to remember that windows media player 11 must be istalled and permission must be granted to the a/v receiver to access the music file folders from your system.
Overall , great sounding product with mediocore network features and very bad network usability. I was looking for the comparable sony STR-DA5300ES but dropped it from my list since it doesn't have a network connectivity :-(
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