Great sound. Impossible manual
Good: Great sound, lots of HDMI plugs, well-made
Bad: Manual is worthless (read below).

Does anyone know how to get this receiver to show up on my TV? It's suppose to have an on screen menu but the manual only mentions it and doesn't tell you how to get it. I hooked up one HDMI to the "Out" on the receiver and the other end into my Sharp HDMI 7 plug. Can anyone help me here?
Thanks!
Jim

Worth the wait!
The DH800 wasn't yet available when I started shopping for a new receiver a couple of months back. Even though the 700 was being heavily discounted at the time, the 800 had enough next-generation features (DTS-HD decoding, Dolby Digital + and a couple THX modes) to prompt me to hold off a while. And it was worth it. This is an incredible value for a mid-range receiver. After going through the manual, the setup (tuning it for a room) looked unbelievably complex. You had the ability to electronically position each speaker (forget balance controls!). Then, I found the section that explained what the little microphone was for. Wire everything up. Power it on. Put the mic where your ears will be and press the "go" button. Your system sounds like an Atari video game for about 20 seconds and you're done. Remarkable.

Part of my motivation for staying with Sony is that it plays so well with Sony-brand components via Bravia Sync. My DH800 is plugged into an XBR screen and will be joined by a BDP-S560 Blu Ray when it ships this summer. Yes, I tend to be Sony-biased. I've worked in TV production on and off for a lot of years and now spend a fair amount of time in Oregon's first (and still best, IMHO) HDTV studio. On cameras, switchers and displays, the Sony nameplate figures prominently. As with DH800 and XBR screen, has proven it still excels in convenience, consistence and logical interface design.

The rest of the system is a bit of a hybrid (I'm not a huge fan of Sony speakers). My primary front speakers are old and venerable (Canoga Park-era) Infinity 2500's, B&W VM-1 surrounds, HTM-61 center and a truly fabulous Hsu Research VTF-1 subwoofer. However, the auto-calibration has this menagerie blending together seamlessly.

The only down-side I've found so far is that the back panel (particularly the large cluster of speaker terminals) is pretty crowded and the speaker lugs tend to be a bit sticky and troublesome. Sony seems to have skimped a bit on the connectors they chose. Beyond that, it's a beautifully designed and executed component that will really shine when attached to Sony's next-gen Blu-Ray.

Sony STR-DH500
AS we upgraded the old TV to a Sony Bravia LCD, the 15 year old Sony A/V receiver was not up to the task of switching HDTV inputs or Dolby 5.1 audio. This unit was very easy to set up with the audio 'test' feature that lets you adjust the 5 speakers for volume, distance from you & height off the floor. It has produced true surround sound in our family room, both from cable HD broadcasts and DVD's played through a Sony 'upconverting' DVD player.

This Sony Receiver is good value!
I am reasonably happy with this receiver. But I do have a few minor complaints. It was not clear to me (not specifically mentioned in the menu) that one cannot use the Video "out" to drive the TV Video input and I found that I have to use the Video Monitor out to connect to my LCD TV. So, it cost me some time to play with it. It is unfortunate that my DVD happens to only have a optical digital audio out while the digital audio in for the DVD in this Sony unit can only accept standard RCA jack type digital inputs. Otherwise, it works pretty well overall.

no Bravia Sync
I bought this unit to connect to my Sony XBR6 (nice tv) only beacuse of the Bravia Sync feature. I went with a Sony tv because I liked the idea of all my A/V units being in sync. Easier to control.

This unit is listed on Sony's website as having the Bravia Sync feature but it does not. I spent time online with Sony's chat support and they said it does not have it.

Not a huge deal but now I have to turn this on and off to watch tv. One more control laying around. Also, I did not know, if the reciever is not on at all then you can not send a cable box or game or dvd signal through it and only use the tv speakers.

All this on/off, switch this, turn that, is too confusing for my family. I will look into a Logitech Harmoiny One, although now I see that it won't operate a PS3, unless you buy a IR to BT USB adapter.

Otherwise the STR DH500 puts out good sound and has many options for TV watching, movies, and CD's.

Works pretty well
I bought this to replace an aging Kenwood VR-405 receiver. Wow, what a difference!! This sound better and clearer. This receiver has a pretty easy setup (although I am sure I haven't done some things to make it the best I can), and I love the auto calibration thing. The instructions say that the auto calibration sequence is loud and to be cautious of your neighbors and small children, but its really not that loud. I don't know what the heck its talking about. It's as if they are going crank the crap out of the volume. It's really not that bad. In any case, I guess I would say that if you have an older receiver that you would like to upgrade from, this is a great receiver to choose.

The HDMI ports (3 in, 1 out) on it are active switching ports and is an awesome extra you normally have to pay quite a bit more for. I hooked my PS3 directly to this receiver with only an HDMI cable and it works like a fricken charm!!! Makes setup of it much easier and it makes it sound better. Even though the receiver doesn't have the DTS HD or any of the other HD codecs like that built into it, if you plug a PS3 into it you will get it anyway because the PS3 does the grunt work of decoding the signal off the disc. Like, with "Bolt", it has DTS HD Master Audio on it. The PS3 decoded the audio signal and passed it through to the stereo. I get true HD audio out from it. And believe you me, it sounds FANTASTIC!! You get a much more broad range of audio and it just sounds so great!

Anyway, all in all, I am VERY happy with the purchase so far. I have had it like a month now. It is just a great receiver. If you have any questions about it, and can figure out how, you can ask me and I will try to do my best to answer.

Excellent Value and Full Featured
One of the least expensive yet full featured 7.1 A/V systems on the market. The setup time was negligible and the performance has been stellar. The only area of opportunity is better integration of remote control of other devices; I ended up acquiring a Logitech integrated remote control in order to control my overall home theater from a single device.

Easy Plug & Play with HDMI and Harmony One
I'll be the first to admit that I have not used all of the features of this device (7 speakers, wireless, ipod connection), but based on my experiences to date, I am VERY happy with this unit.

My configuration:
Westinghouse 37" LCD - connects via HDMI
Comcast DVR - connects via HDMI
Oppo DVD - connects via HDMI
Roku Netflix box - connects via HDMI
Harmony One remote control - manages all of the above

Setting up all of the above was a breeze - took about an hour, most of which was adding the receiver to my existing hardware on the Harmony One (which I also love, by the way). All the HDMI connections worked first time and there have been no issues.

I'm using an older Bose 3-speaker setup for now but will ultimately add a 5 or 7 speaker system, maybe utilizing the S-AIR link. Part of the reason I bought this unit is because I want some future expansion flexibility.

Just one very minor gripe - the remote sensor is a bit picky, even with the Harmony One, so I have had to reposition the unit accordingly.

For ~0, this was an easy purchase and an easy setup.

Another great receiver!
This is my second Sony Receiver in a row. In fact, the only reason I even upgraded my STR DE697 7.1 receiver was because it didn't have HDMI inputs--aside from that deficiency I was completely satisfied. So after researching the Yamaha (RX-V464BL), Onkio (RX-V463BL), and Sony (STR-DH700) I stuck with Sony and purchased the STR-DH700 7.1-channel A/V receiver. Now, most will say I'm crazy for not going with the Onkio, but I've always been pleased with Sony and I wanted to 1) save some $$$ and 2) avoid a steep learning curve (I'm very used to Sony's products).

PROS: My favorite feature has to be the quick set up for the speakers. With the push of a button in just 30 seconds my speakers were auto calibrated via the calibration mic. GREAT FEATURE!

CONS: The music settings i.e. Jazz, Stadium, Hall, etc. are useless to me due to the fact the subwoofer is excluded from all the settings in this mode except Portable (setting for MP3 players). I'm not sure why Sony did this, but it really stinks since my Polk front channels are rather small and depend on my 8" sub for quality sound. Again, this is my only complaint and because 99% of what this receiver is used for is cinema I'll survive!

Overall I'm very pleased with this entry level receiver. For an extra 0 I could have gone with the STR-DH800 which includes Dolby® TrueHD Decoding, but since I'm only running a 3.1 set-up I figured I'd be okay. I would; however, suggest paying the additional 0 between the STR-DH500 and DH700 because the HDMI connections in the DH500 only carry video, so you'd have to run separate cables for audio.

My Set-up:

TV: Vizio XVT series 42"
RECEIVER: Sony STR-DH700
BLUE RAY: Sony BDP-S360
SPEAKERS: Polk Audio surround RM10 set w/ PSW111 Subwoofer

UPDATE: 2 May 2009 - I'm attempting to edit this post again. Basically, the issue with the music sound fields was due to my assumtion that the auto-calibration would set the speaker size. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Once I changed the speaker settings from LARGE to SMALL everything worked like a champ!

pre amp
It works as it should, the price and convenience of having it delivered can't be beat.

Works Fine, But The Diagram Is Backwards
This simple gadget does what it was designed to do. At first, though, I thought it was dead. Only after ignoring the diagram that came with it (the only instructions, BTW) and plugged the RCA cords in from the opposite sides, did it work. In other words, the "Phono" side went to the amp, and the amp side went to the turntable. Confusing to explain, but if yours is DOA; try it, it might work. It did for me, and John Lennon is wailing.

Works as advertised
Not much to say about this other than it does exactly what it should do. I plugged my basic Denon turntable in to one end, and the other end into the amplifier and my wife's beloved Shaun Cassidy album is blaring out. So, provided you can work with me to grant me that marital harmony is worth a little Cassidy, you won't be disappointed with this. I am not an audiophile by any means, so this is not a review based on being particular about the sound, but it amplifies my turntable without adding noise, which is exactly what I wanted for .

Exactly what I needed :)
I just received it in the mail today. Very easy set up, and there are places for you to ground your turntable if you need to.
I bought it to reduce the crackling noise and so I wouldn't have to crank up the volume so loud, and it fixed both those problems, plus the sound quality is so much better! and for 20 bucks, you really can't beat it.

Phono amplifier
Bought this pre-amp and lo and behold, it's works just like it is supposed to. I've been thrilled being able to listen to the 5th Dimension again. The delivery was quick and the sound is great. Thanks again!

New receiver-Awesome
Just got my new receiver about a week ago and I couldn't be happier. It works better than I expected and with the Yamaha speakers I bought the sound is phenomenal. I've heard higher end setups before that don't sound this good. If you're thinking about getting this one stop thinking and get it. With all hdmi inputs setup couldn't be simpler

Great Sound from Pioneer
Went to Best Buy to compare the Yamaha RX-V465 and the Pioneer VSX-819H-k. I had read reviews on the Yamaha on several different websites and most were very positive. I could find no reviews for the Pioneer since it just started reaching retailers during the past 2 weeks. I noticed the Yamaha on display and didn't really like the appearance-seemed less substantial in appearance than the Pioneer. They both looked impressive with the online pics. I know you don't buy according to appearances, although aesthetics can weigh in on a tie/deal breaker. I asked to see the Pioneer and the sales rep had to check his stock. They had not displayed a model since they just arrive the day before. He brought a new box out and opened it so I could compare it to the yamaha and we talked about the different features that were important/meaningful on both receivers. The advanced digital sound fields mean nothing to me. On most receivers they are either a variation of Dolby Prologic II or provide sound stage fields with irritating echoes. Every receiver I have owned (currently we have Panasonic and Sony Models)have these digital sound fields and we never use them.

The Yamaha sounded pretty good hooked up to a blu-ray movie at the store. The True HD was unbelievable! The specs on the Yamaha were the same as the Pioneer as far as supporting True HD and DTS-HD through the HDMI inputs-all switchable to the one HDMI output. The Yamaha has 4 HDMI inputs/1 ouput and the Pioneer has 3 HDMI inputs/ 1 output. I did a mind calculation on the spot and decided 3 outputs were sufficient for my set-up (Dish sat/Sylvania blu-ray/Panasonic DVD Recorder.) The THD was .9 for the Yamaha and .05 for the Pioneer. I don't know how significant that is but the Pioneer seems that it would have clearer sound at low volume with less distortion. The Quick set-up using a microphone placed at your normal listening position are also similar. The Yamamha calls it YPAO while Pioneer calls it MCACC. Most receivers have some variation of this at the mid-price range. The back of the receivers were similar as far as inputs/outputs but the Pioneer had the banana plugs for wiring (which I prefer) while the Yamaha had spring clips for some of the speakers. I won't go into any further specs/features-just go to the company websites or here at Amazon.

Well, I chose the Pioneer. It looked more solid and had some additional features that seemed important to me. I could always return it if I was less than satisfied. I did mention (I am no slouch) that since it was an open box-could I get an "open box" discount? The sales rep laughed (he had opened it for me) and said "why not". So off I went with my 10% discount on a brand new Pioneer VSX-819H-K receiver.

Well, I am tired today! I spent about 2 hours setting it up in the den and removing a Sony which is going to the master BR. But I am VERY HAPPY. This thing sounds fantastic. The set-up was easy. I played the Blu-ray disc "Hitman" and it was like you were inside the screen with the DTS-HD giving you that feeling! Here's the weird thing- I have ordered a set of Yamaha surround speakers from another website (at that time I was somewhat sure that I was going to Purchase the Yamaha model) not that it matters-I'm sure that they'll sound fine with the Pioneer. Back to the weird- The speakers that I am currently using have not been placed on the walls or configured for surround sound-since I had taken them down and re-wired with 16 gauge wire. Since I should receive the Yamaha speakers in a few days I didn't replace the speakers back on the walls etc. I decided to do the QUICK SETUP with the right front on the floor tilted up toward my seating position-the left front 3 ft. off the floor on my AV rack- the center speaker on top of the TV- the 2 rear surrounds are on the floor behind me in the corners also tilted towards my seating position and my Sony subwoofer disconnected. (wired so I couldn't connect it to the Pioneer.) I guess the MCACC SETUP is really precise/accurate because the Blu-ray DVD was phenominal in it's surround direction. Just think when I get the new speakers appropriately set up in the surround configuration!? I think anyone will be happy with this AV receiver. I am a happy camper in my den surrounded by HD SOUND!! P.S. Try to find a store that just received them and ask them to open the box and then ask for a discount!! LOL

I love this Receiver!
After my Pioneer VSX-something started dying out on me (AmP Error problems) after 5+ years. I upgraded to this one. Onkyo is the best!! Its driving 5 speakers (JBL Studio series tower, center and surround) and 1 Polk 10" Subwoofer and the sound is so clean compared to my old one that it makes the home theater experience more enjoyable for an audiophile like me. I use the HDMI connection from two sources to the output with no signal loss (its a pass through). I programmed my remote to work with the Direct tv box and tv and it was flawless. Controls were adequate - my only wish is that the remote control would light up. Try to read up on the manual and don't rush yourself when its time to tweak. Take your time with this. I tweaked the sound by putting on the Jazz channel on direct tv. The reason for Jazz is because it uses nice bass and treble for tweaking. Onkyo also has this Audissy mic that calibrates it auto for you, but I havent tried it yet. Right now, its adequate. In the end, this is all you need for a good home theater setup.

Great replacement receiver
After about 12 years of excellent service, my old Onkyo receiver (a TX-DS575) finally died, which is the only reason I decided to get a replacement (a TX-SR507).

Out-of-box-experience: I am *very* happy with the SR507 because a) it was easy to set up without having to read anything, and b) all the settings on my Logitech universal remote worked without alteration. Since I don't have a lot of time for anything, both of these facts helped me greatly.

Plugging in my six speakers (5.1) and devices to the SR507 was intuitive for me, which was a great improvement over the 12-year-old model. I was done in a couple of minutes instead of having to consult a manual or friend for help.

I haven't tried every feature of the SR507, but it is doing a great job with our DVD and TV/DVR setup and my family is happy.

More later if I can remember to add to this post.

Careful with Zone 2!
Onkyo TX-SR507 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver

Overall I was very exited for this new receiver. -it was priced affordably and 0 less than the 0 Onkyo TX-SR606 that I thought I was going to have to buy unitl this beaut hit the market. I didn't need the 7.1 Surround that comes with the SR606. If your after a bar none receiver that has Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD and only require 5.1 surround then I don't think you can find a better buy out there. It may seem contradictory to require HD sound and not have at least 6.1 surround but for me I was upgrading from two decent sized 3-way bookshelf speakers to my first 5.1 surround sound system so I didn't see the pnt in getting too crazy.

It powers my Polk RM85 Home theater system wonderfully along with the PSW111 Woofer. Used some Banana Plugs from Monoprice and was set.

I didn't need an outrageous amount of watts because I don't get crazy loud with my Home theater, although this receiver can get too loud if I wanted it to.

The only CON I have found is when using the B speakers; i.e. Zone 2. It's awesome to be watching cable inside and listening to music off my iPod outside on our patio (Zone 2) but that's also the flaw. Zone 2 only sends music sources; i.e. radio, cd, aux. It does not play the cable audio. This was a huge set back for me because I was excited to be able to have college football on in the house on the 5.1 surround while also playing it out on the patio for those weekends spent constantly running around the house. Additionally we have a Sanus swinging mount so that we can angle the tv out from our fire place in to direct view with our hot tub that is out on the patio. I was really looking forward to watching Conan from the hot tub while playing the audio from Zone 2 but that `s not how Zone 2 works, unfortunately. Furthermore, when Zone 2 is in use you lose the rear speakers for the 5.1 surround and only have the front 3 speakers playing. So the idea of someone being able to watch a movie in one room while someone else is listening to music in another is somewhat deceiving because the person watching the movie would only be getting the front three channels and woofer...that's hardly watching a movie in my book as you lose the entire surround that this receiver is built to do. Essentially your rear speakers become your Zone 2 speakers if that makes sense?

Anywho, I rate this receiver 3.5 stars (I'll be generous and round up) because for the money it can't be beat, but it so lost 1.5 stars with the wackiness Zone 2 causes and the limited sources that can only be played through Zone 2. If you don't have intentions on utilizing Zone 2 then I would give this baby 5 stars.

Onkyo 507 can drive 4 ohm speakers!
This is probably the cheapest, quality receiver that can strip out HDMI audio ( many hdmi receivers don't ). It has plenty of HDMI inputs and is very easy to setup. Something I had trouble finding out is if this would drive 4 ohm speakers. I recently bought some lsi15s on craigslist and they are 4 ohms and are notoriously hard to drive. After wasting some time on audiophile forums they kept trying to convince me that only after I had the double helix flux capacitor extreme amplifier ( only 3,999! ) I would actually "FEEL" the speakers or some other mumbo jumo. I decided to try it out myself.

The onkyo 507 did not disappoint. While I never listen at these absurd levels I stress tested it by cranking up the volume to 50 and playing classical for an hour ( this was loud enough that I had to step out and close the door). It got hot, but sound quality was sustained and it topped out at 50C I think. All onkyos get hot and driving 4 ohm speakers makes them even hotter, but they'll do it and they'll do it well.

Hopefully this helps anyone who is wondering if these will drive 4 ohm speakers even though they're not certified for it.

NOTE: DO NOT PLACE THE RECEIVER IN A CLOSED AREA. Onkyos do get hotter than other brands, make sure you have adequate ventilation.
Also; don't pay attention to watt ratings, an increase from 80 to 100 watts per channel is nothing. Not only are the ratings essentially made up ( see contrast ratings for TV ), but the difference is essentially nothing ( You need 4x the power to have 2x the volume ). What you want is a quality amplifier, and this onkyo is one.

Onkyo TX SR507
Let me start by saying this is my first AV receiver (all my life I have had nothing but bookshelf type stereos), and I have only had a few days to play around with it. What I can say that seems to be positive about this AV receiver:

-Plenty of sound modes (ie. Music, Games, TV/Movies). Actually, there are so many it will take me a bit to figure out which is the best choice for each input
-The microphone setup is very easy (almost like an auto-adjust for different listening positions in the room
-Very nice looking
-Does not get too hot
-Pre outs for both sub and rear channel speakers (so wireless options can be used for both, which is what I plan on doing)
-4 HDMI inputs, 2 component video inputs, with matching RCA audio inputs

The biggest issue I have (and which is why I would only give it a 3 as of right now), is that even though there are plenty of inputs, there are only THREE "input selectors." In order to get audio/video working from each input, you need to assign one of these 3 to the input. The choices are: Cable/Sat, DVD/BD (Blu-ray), and VCR/DVR. My setup is the following:

HDMI input 1 = Cable Box
HDMI input 2 = Upconverting DVD player
Component 1 = Wii
Component 2 = Playstation2
(keep in mind, I will soon have a PS3 as another HDMI connection)

I assigned the inputs as follows:

Cable Box = Cable/Sat
DVD Player = VCR/DVR
Wii = DVD/BD
No more assignable inputs...so Playstation 2 is assigned (under component setup) to Cable/Sat

I powered on my devices, and switched between the different inputs. Everything was great, until I got to Playstation...no sound! Sound was either coming from my Cable box (when on), or no sound at all. The only way around this is to un-assign the Cable/Sat input selector from HDMI1 (which is my actual cable box). Once this was done, I get sound from my Playstation. Now this may not be a big deal to some people, but what if I had 2 more HDMI devices as well? That means every time I switch between a "double-assigned" input, I need to go into the setup menu, and un-assign one of them. This is extremely inefficient...I would expect to have a separate input name, for each of the 6 inputs. I called Onkyo support, asked them if they had any suggestions, and I was told this was never brought to their attention before??? So again, maybe I'm the only person using an Onkyo with more than 3 devices connected (and why couldn't they be named more generically...what about game1, game2, cable, dvd, etc). This makes it even more difficult to remember which device is assigned to the "input selector."

Regardless, so far the quality seem nice (I currently have 3 energy speakers connected, 2 front and 1 center, and plan on getting the sub and rears soon). With the 3 speakers, I am able to set it to all channel sound for now, which sounds pretty good. If you are anal about 1 button switching between devices, then this may not be a good choice. However, if switching the setup configuration around every time you want to switch inputs is not a big deal...this will probably be just fine.

Very good value for the money
I've had the receiver for about a week now and overall I've been fairly impressed with it. The audio out is simply superb while the video upsampling to 1080i really does do a fantastic job. There are a few pain points, but in general this product is really a great value for the money.

The setup was a fairly straightforward. There are 4 HDMI and 2 component inputs so I was easily about to hook up my cable, xbox and wii. Speaker setup was a little tricky as the connections are a little close together I would suggest investing in some stereo connectors as this makes a rather annoying job super easy.

The MCACC auto setup is a little tricky too, at least for me. The device kept wanting to make my front and center speakers "large". This resulted in less bass and a slight tinny sound. After the first time through, I set the speakers to "small" and redid the MCACC setup. After that, I had the sound I wanted. Its not quite as warm as my previous receiver (an old Outlaw Audio 1050) but I'm quite ok with it. The music is true and well balanced. So be warned you may want to run the MCACC tests twice. It is worth it to use there setup as it really does deliver wonderful sound.

One sad point, since there is a USB port on the front (and ipod port too!) I tried to connect my gPhone and play some of my music off that. Sadly the Pioneer did not recognise the gPhone as a music device so I couldn't get that to work. Sad, but not unexpected. This is something I'll continue to play with. In the meanwhile I can use one of the extra audio connections in the back.

There are a few negatives though. The receiver runs really hot. I know this is common with receivers in this price range but I was still surprised. I can barely kep my hand on the top, that's how hot it gets. This is not something to put into a space without good airflow.

The controller isn't very good either. This isn't unexpected really. If you were hoping to pair down to one remote with a receiver purchase, this certainly won't be the one. Its too simple and can't really do anything complex.

Finally a note for those of you hooking this up to your cable box. I have a motorola DVR with DVI out. Sadly, when I tried to run the DVI cable box to the HDMI input port on the receiver, I got a blank screen. Turns out this is due to DRM. The cable box thinks that the receiver is a copying device and shuts down the connection. There are two work arounds for this. The first is to hook the audio from the cable box to the receiver and the HDMI to the tv. This wasn't very elegant to me so I went for option two. In this option, you still hook the audio to the receiver however you use the component out from the cable box and go to the receiver with that as well.

The second solution, to me, was the winner since I no longer had to switch both the receiver and the TV's input source. I can tell no difference on the HD channels either - they still look great on a LCD. The other great benefit of this solution, the regular cable channels are upsampled too! This provided a noticeable improvement to the vast majority of channels. Note that this is an issue you'll have with every A/V receiver on the market today as this is an issue with older cable boxes (and possibly newer ones too).

For the money, this system really is one of the best out there.

Great Sound Clarity - Setup can be complex, PS3 Issues
I've had the VSX-1019 for about two weeks now. My first choice was the Harmon Kardon AVR-354, but the online forums were full of HDMI switching and audio cutoff issues for the HK.

Overall the Pioneer VSX-1019 delivers beautifully clear sound and a wide variety of supported digital and surround options. I can hear things on some CDs that I never noticed on my old Sony receiver and digital surround sound with Blu-Ray disks is awesome.

I do have three issues, however.

Issue 1 - Is this progress?
The instructions are quite clear regarding initial connections and speaker setup options. Just about any device connection you might think of is covered. You have to keep track of where you connect things and make sure you connect an output to a TV, because one of the first steps after initial power up will be to define to the Pioneer where and how your devices are connected using the receiver's On Screen Display. All relatively simple so far.

After that things got complex. Also as part of the initial setup, the VSX has you run an initial full auto MCACC analysis and setup of your listening area. Using the included microphone, the 1019 sends tones around to the various speakers and listens with the microphone. It automatically balances channel levels and equalizes for your speaker placement and room characteristics. You can then do additional fine tuning with a second more thorough automatic MCACC, and finally with a manual MCACC which gives you complete control. Theoretically this should be great - custom tailoring of your receiver settings to match your room. In my case, the end result was severely lacking in low to mid frequencies. Audio and video sounded way too bright and everything lacked low end punch. So, then came hours and days of fiddling with the MCACC settings to redefine speaker size settings, adjust channel levels and fine tune EQ settings. Made me yearn for the days when you manually set the channel volume levels and used a 9-band graphic equalizer to get the kind of sound you like. There are AV forum web threads devoted entirely to the complexities of MCACC.

2nd issue:
The 1019 WILL NOT pass through HDMI from my Sony PlayStation 3! The PS3 is an excellent Blu-Ray disk player. All 4 VSR-1019 HDMI input ports work properly with my DirecTV DVR passing 1080i through to my Samsung 1080p LCD. However, the 1019 will not play audio nor pass through video from the PS3 HDMI on any input port. Per some online forums (for receivers and PS3s in general) I tried adjusting various resolution and frame rate settings on the PS3 and the 1019 - to no avail. As a result I've had to run the PS3 HDMI cable directly to my HDTV for video and run digital optical cable from the PS3 to the 1019 for audio. The PS3 only delivers 5.1 audio on its digital output as opposed to 7.1 via its HDMI output, so I've lost my rear surrounds, although I think the 1019 will try to recreate the rear surrounds using the Dolby Digital EX setting. Disappointing and unnecessarily complex. If anyone knows of a fix for this problem please post a reply to this review.

Third issue, and maybe this is just my lack of understanding, is that it is unclear how the 4 primary buttons (on the receiver front and on the remote) work to select the sound processing. Button 1 gives you Auto Surround. Button 2 gives you stereo options, Button 3 gives you manual selection of various Dolby, DTS and Neural THX options. Button 4 gives you pre-set options, like acoustic, drama, action, TV surround and several more. So, are these completely independent or do they interact? For example if I select Dolby Pro Logic IIx Movie with button 3, and then "Action" using button 4, is it applying an effect to Dolby IIx or doing something else? Not clear in the manual.

The VSX-1019 delivers great sound, after a lot of work. In reading the HK AVR-354 manual, the HK looked to be so much simpler to set up and operate - more user friendly than the Pioneer. But, in the end the HKs firmware issues forced me to the Pioneer. No regrets.

UPDATE:
It appears that the HDMI handshake is affected by power on sequence. Powering up the VSX-1019 before the PS3 seems to have resolved the HDMI interface issue (#2 above). Will have to see if that consistently works.

Outstanding sound and features
This receivers combination of features and price are incredible. It took me less then an hour to set it up from start to finnish and I'm very happy with the results. I had no idea Blu Rays could sound this good. I also can just plug in my iPhone and listen or watch videos with the included cable without buying an expensive dock. It runs hot so make sure you give it plenty of room to breath.

Excellent Sound & Quality
I finally received my Pioneer 1019 last night. I ended up staying up way too late last night setting this up. I purchased the Pioneer 1019 after a lengthy decision process between the Denon 1910, Onkyo 607 and Yamaha 765. I needed 4 HDMI so the earlier models wouldn't work and I was also limited in footprint depth so it was these 4. I went with the Pio because I've always been a fan of the sound and quality and each of the others had one or two things wrong (Denon not available, Onkyo quality issues (?), Yammy no assignable inputs). My one concern with the Pio going in was the revamped amps and the decline in weight. Would it impact quality of sound and power? Based on my early tests, NO. This unit has a great, clean sound with lots of detail at low levels and high. I did not hear any hint of strain.

Design
While the unit is smaller and lighter than the 1018 it doesn't look `cheap' and it still has enough bulk to it to make you think it has power. It looks great in the rack. Remote is a bit confusing but I won't use that much after setup and the Harmony database had all the relevant codes, a nice surprise for such a recent release.

The Setup Process
It was pretty easy to get all of the speakers and components hooked up. The manual stinks but I had spent a fair amount of time with the manual online in advance and after a few reads you can fill in the blanks. It took me about an hour to get all of the old equipment out and the new equipment in. Assigning the inputs was relatively straightforward. Renaming inputs was awkward due to the way they handle text input but it was very flexible. I had a little trouble assigning the Optical audio signal from my Macbook along with an HDMI input. I first tried to assign the optical directly to an HDMI input but you can't do that. Instead I had to assign both the HDMI and Optical to an entirely different Input Name (I chose DVR). It worked fine but I suspect that means I really lost a video input since I can't send anything else to the original HDMI input. Not a huge deal as I don't use all the inputs but it was still annoying.

I haven't done MCACC yet but I did use the manual speaker setup and my speaker settings from my old Sony AVR and input those here. That was pretty easy and even with this rudimentary setup the sound was great. Even my wife (who is happy with TV speakers alone) commented on the improvement in quality.

I ran though some of the DSPs and effects but I prefer to set everything to DIRECT, especially on BDs but it was nice to use the Extended Stereo for my iPod and get sound from all of the speakers.

Video
I had lots of questions on the video scaler. I agree with most posters that you should not buy an AVR for this capability. Most TVs will do a better job than any 0 AVR. My TV is a 2006 model though and it has pretty average scaling so I wanted to see how it would look. I hooked up my Comcast DVR with both HDMI and with Component/Optical to gauge the difference. HDMI looks great (and no scaling, of course) but there was no impact on visual signal. I did not have any annoying audio lags either. Component also looks really good for HD signals. I could not tell the difference between the HDMI and Component signals on HD channels.

I then tried it on some SD channels with the scaler set to 1080p. The AVR did fine but it wasn't any better than my TV. No worse either but then I already mentioned my scaler is pretty average. So, as I said earlier, don't buy the unit for the scaler but it's not a negative either. Just try it for your sources and TV and it may or may not generate any improvement in PQ.

The good news is that it does a very good job of upconversion (switching analog signals to digital) which means you can have 6 HD sources (4 HDMI and 2 Component) which is nice.

The one odd thing I found was in the aspect ratio settings for 4:3 signals. The default is `Through' which would make me think it sends the signal untouched but it is actually for stretching the signal (and it does a bad job of that). I switched the signal to `Normal' and it then just passed the 4:3 signal untouched - a definite improvement.

All other sources looked great. Panny BD35 looks and sounds great and I was relieved to see that my Macbook was able to pass a clean signal through the AVR to the TV.

Audio
So the real question is about how this unit sounds. As I mentioned earlier, I am really pleased with the quality and balance. Everything sounds warm and detailed. I expect it to improve even further with the MCACC adjustments. I've listened to quite a few units over time and this has all of the Pioneer sound and quality you expect from them. I don't think anyone will be disappointed with the sound or the power (Of course, if you are willing to spend 3x the $$ then you can get better quality from the Elite series. If you have the cash, definitely buy one of those. If you are looking to spend

Great Receiver
I've had this receiver for almost a month. Connection was simple, much less clutter with HDMI vs. multiple video and audio cords. Works as advertised -- ALC has greatly reduced the volume differences, on-screen GUI for IPOD is great, IPOD connection works as advertised, auto-setup for sound correctly identified my speaker setup and it sounds great (did not have to do multiple manual adjustments as with previous receiver), have not used 2nd zone capability, bought this because the 919 wasn't available yet and my receiver was dead so spent an extra bit and am happy with the decision. Highly recommend, I'm an exacting consumer and this product has exceeded expectations. Hope this helps!

Major Sound, Minor Issues...
Our 10 yr. old JVC receiver was just plain tired. After researching the AVR-1609, I knew I'd need to run extra audio with the HDMI hook-ups. Nothing I read warned me about another minor annoyance:(quoting from the AVR-1609 manual)"Because video signals are output from the AVR-1690's monitor output terminal in the same format as the video input signals, THE MONITOR OUTPUT TERMINAL SHOULD BE OF THE SAME TYPE AS THE TERMINAL USED FOR INPUT."

In other words, if you run HDMI to your tv, the Component inputs on the receiver won't work. Ended up running the component cables from my Wii to the tv & running the audio to the receiver (used cd audio). Not a huge deal, but slightly disappointing.

On the up-side, the sound quality is AMAZING (especially in such a low-cost unit) & more than makes up for the switching issue! The auto calibration process is a bit time consuming, but well worth the effort. I initially set everything up manually, then realized some features are only active if the auto set-up is used. The sound quality achieved with the auto calibration was far superior to the settings I programed!

Video pass-thru using HDMI seems flawless, no noticeable loss in HD.

All & all, a whole lot of bang for very little $$$.

Slow shipping
Ordered this product the same day as my speaker selector, received this product 4 days late. Called the seller several times and never was able to reach anyone. Product arrived several days late. Won't buy from this seller again if I'm in a rush to receive my merchandise.

Excellent sound and features...
I chose this Denon receiver for 2 reasons: It had features I was looking for; and I always wanted a Denon. I am giving it 4 stars for the same reason many did: a difficult owner's manual; although after finally figuring everything (almost) out, and re-reading, it makes a lot more sense.
The AVR 1609 has 3 features I really wanted: One, simple A/B switching between speaker pairs. Not too many receivers have this feature; I have 2 speakers in one room, 2 in another. Second, I wanted some sort of lip-synch correction. After getting a plasma TV, I've had the problem of sound not synching with picture sometimes. Thirdly, it has a "sound-leveling" feature, so louds aren't so loud, and soft parts are louder.
But the main thing is always the sound. This receiver, even without the MultEQ engaged, it is at least as good as my previous Yamaha receiver. With the MultEQ engaged, the sound is noticeably better, with only 2 speakers; with 5 or 7, it is likely to be much better.
I had trouble getting my head around the features of this receiver, but here is my summary: 1. MultEQ: this is an equalizing/adjusting feature that customizes the sound for your room and listening position using the supplied microphone. The set-up is very easy, and takes only a few minutes. Once this is done, you can engage it or not. 2. Dynamic EQ:this is usable once you do the MultEQ setup; it supposedly adjusts the balance at any volume level. I haven't evaluated this. 3. Dynamic Volume: also only usable with MultEQ, it quiets loud sounds and boosts quiet sounds so you can hear everything without waking someone up in the next room. This does seem to work ok. Even if you don't do the whole MultEQ set-up, there is a separate Night button on the remote that does pretty much the same thing as the Dynamic Volume.
Other plusses: quick select buttons on the remote. You can pre-set the TV for example, for Dynamic Volume, then just hit the button. Also, 2 switched plugs in back; also hard to find on receivers.
I have the AVR hooked to 2 Paradigm speakers; I have a Panansonic Plasma with audio hooked with 2 RCA cables, not using HDMI on the AVR. My Sony DVD is hooked to TV with HDMI,and to AVR with 2 RCA cables.
In summary, the Good points:
1. A/B speaker switching
2. Customized, excellent sound with MultEQ
3. Lip-synch correction
4. Dynamic volume (loud sounds softened, soft sound boosted)
5. Quick select buttons
Bad Points:
1.The owner's manual
2.No phono (turntable) input: buy a cheap adapter on Ebay.
3.AM reception pretty bad
I can only imagine how good this sounds with surround sound.

Works for my limited purposes
Cheapest receiver I found to do two zone with multi-source. I used it as an audio-only receiver. The amplifier is good enough to drive four 100W ceiling speakers on each zone. For my limited purposes, it works fine.

Denon AVR-1609 7.1 Channel Receiver
We shopped with detailed specs for a new receiver and where we could get the best price. Amazon won out again; disappointed Amazon took almost two weeks to ship. Setting up the unit takes time as instruction manual very difficult to understand and follow; steps were not 1,2,3, etc but jumped around from page to page. Recommend reading manual thoroughly several times to grasp interpretation. Took about a week of experimenting with settings to get the sound we wanted. So far we are very pleased with quality and sound effects. Rated 4 star due to difficulty in understanding manual and limited choice of sound fields and other functionality. Like the automatic sound leveling. Not using 7.1 at this time. Great unit for the price paid.

Low cost,quality receiver
The sound from my HDTV just didn't do the job. I didn't want a full blown theater system just some good sound. I settled on the Sony because of their reputation and price. Paired with a couple of good bookshelf speakers the Sony has done exactly what I wanted. Full sound,good bass at a reasonable price. The key to any receiver is good speakers but I am very satisfied with the combo I have. The Sony is a good value.

A nice little simple to use receiver.
For what I needed this for it's great. It's very easy to set-up and use. Certainly not for someone who needs to connect a lot of new digital equipment to it. We are just using it to connect to an mp3 player. Internal FM tuner antennae seems to pull stations in pretty well also.

a compact and capable receiver
This Sony 2 channel audio receiver does the job for me. Used in conjunction with bookshelf speakers the Sony delivers quality sound. There is also a wealth of audio connectivity. And the FM tuner seems quite capable. My only real gripe has to do with the remote and overall interface, ... too complicated! Basic operations are completely unintuitive; I find myself constantly scrambling for the user's manual.

Perhaps not a benefit to most folks but this Sony is also very nice because of its compact size compared to other receivers in its class. It is at least and inch shorter in height and 3-4 inches less in depth. If you are tight on room this receiver deserves consideration.


Bottom line: not AWESOME, but a value priced receiver that offers value.

Sony Receiver
Excellent Receiver ! Great power and looks.Used it to power two outdoor speakers on my patio by our pool.Sounds fantastic and will also power two other speakers in my Garage.I have always bought Onkyo receivers and this
is my first Sony receiver.The price was right and I could not be happier
with my purchase.The wife also loves it and has no problem using the receiver.

Was Hoping For A Little More Personality!
I have to say up front that I've only spent a week with my new Sony and my opinion may change but due to the lack of reviews here are my first impressions: This is a very capable receiver, nicely built with a useful and easy to understand remote. I, like most people reading this, was looking for a second receiver to put in my den to listen to cd's, mp3, and internet radio. My main Home Theater Receiver is a Denon. The Sony has a nice full sound and is easy to adjust to your liking. There are bass and treble controls on the remote, a plus for me. So far I am happy with the sound but I can tell something is lacking, a depth or warmth, whatever you want to call it, I imagine the Onkyo 8255 has what I really want but at 50 less watts per channel and .00 more in price. To be honest I don't know if the trade off is worth it but for those of you who have been trying to decide which one to buy I made my decision to try the less expensive new model from Sony first, then after a week or two if I am not sold, I'll probably return it and buy the Onkyo. I will say that the 96db s/n ratio is better than some alternatives like the Teac and Sherwood. If you've been looking for receivers in this price range you know there isn't a huge variety so with that in mind I would recommend this receiver over any other similar priced model with the Onkyo being the exception. The Sony has a nice full sound, the tuner works great, it has a sleep timer and a nice quality feel, that counts for something. Sound being subjective, I think I am a little spoiled by my Denon but this Sony does sound better then the Yamaha it replaced. REVIEW UPDATE:
Now that I have gotten to know this receiver inside and out and have spent over a month listening to various kinds of music through my polk Monitor 30 speakers, I can say that this Sony receiver is very well built and has a good clean sound, it was a bit harsh at first but now that it is being used daily I really enjoy the sound coming through the speakers. The remote is very nice and the buttons are laid out in a way that I can easily use the remote without looking at it. Music is very clear, full of bass and treble and a bit of the warmth of my Denon, something that I was hoping would happen as I first wrote that it lacked "warmth". For the money you can't go wrong, everything I play sounds very good and there is no distortion even when turningthe volume up considerably loud. If you are on the fence about this, do what i did, buy it and try it out and if you don't think it is worth the price you can always return it, that's the great thing about Amazon, no hassles!! Anyway, I highly recommend the Sony STR-DH100.

Sony STR-DH500
AS we upgraded the old TV to a Sony Bravia LCD, the 15 year old Sony A/V receiver was not up to the task of switching HDTV inputs or Dolby 5.1 audio. This unit was very easy to set up with the audio 'test' feature that lets you adjust the 5 speakers for volume, distance from you & height off the floor. It has produced true surround sound in our family room, both from cable HD broadcasts and DVD's played through a Sony 'upconverting' DVD player.

This Sony Receiver is good value!
I am reasonably happy with this receiver. But I do have a few minor complaints. It was not clear to me (not specifically mentioned in the menu) that one cannot use the Video "out" to drive the TV Video input and I found that I have to use the Video Monitor out to connect to my LCD TV. So, it cost me some time to play with it. It is unfortunate that my DVD happens to only have a optical digital audio out while the digital audio in for the DVD in this Sony unit can only accept standard RCA jack type digital inputs. Otherwise, it works pretty well overall.

no Bravia Sync
I bought this unit to connect to my Sony XBR6 (nice tv) only beacuse of the Bravia Sync feature. I went with a Sony tv because I liked the idea of all my A/V units being in sync. Easier to control.

This unit is listed on Sony's website as having the Bravia Sync feature but it does not. I spent time online with Sony's chat support and they said it does not have it.

Not a huge deal but now I have to turn this on and off to watch tv. One more control laying around. Also, I did not know, if the reciever is not on at all then you can not send a cable box or game or dvd signal through it and only use the tv speakers.

All this on/off, switch this, turn that, is too confusing for my family. I will look into a Logitech Harmoiny One, although now I see that it won't operate a PS3, unless you buy a IR to BT USB adapter.

Otherwise the STR DH500 puts out good sound and has many options for TV watching, movies, and CD's.