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- My rating: 0 stars
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
5.0 stars
"Great Bang for the Buck!"
Pros: Built-In Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master, and Video Up-Conversion.
3 component video, 3 HDMI, and 4 digital audio inputs = Easy Setup.
Great auto audio calibration.
Assign/Rename Inputs
Amazing features and performance for the price.Cons: Nothing significant, but I did find a few annoyances:
Summary: I've been a Pioneer fan for years having experienced great reliability and fantastic value from all my equipment. But, as gadget crazed as I might be, I'm nothing if not practical. And, given Pioneer recent offerings, I feared I was going to have to jump ship and go to Denon or Onkyo to find the features I needed when I started looking for a receiver with HDMI and video conversion.
On-screen menu is old-school; black and white block text went out with DOS!
Remote is dissappointing. Get a good, programmable universal!
S-video and THX certification would have been nice.
Then this unit came along. I was upgrading from an older VSX-1014T-K that was still serving me well, but the lack of HDMI was starting to be a strain. So, this unit with 3 HDMI, 3 Component, 4 digital audio, video switching/conversion, and support for all the right audio decoding options was just the ticket.
On the downside, it seems that Pioneer had to do some shaving to maintain the features to price-point balance. The newer unit has a somewhat "cheaper" feel and appearance to it than its older sibling and the remote is a big step backward in my opinion. It's also a little disappointing to see that their on-screen display hasn't moved into the new century and that S-video and THX certification didn't make the cut.
However, none of these is a deal breaker and are best termed as annoyances rather than problems. S-video, like composite video, is becoming less important with the advent of High Definition, so the only folks that are likely to miss them probably aren't shopping in this range anyway. Similarly, while the unit is a a bit glossy for my taste, it's not ugly (I'm told some people even prefer the gloss) and it is slightly smaller than the old one which helps in tight installs. Further, though THX certification would have been good for an extra warm and fuzzy feeling, I've compared the specs to the 1014 (that is THX certified) and the specs are virtually identical. Plus, let's face it, any self-respecting gadget nut, even at this price point, probably has (or needs) a programmable remote these days anyway and a disappointing OEM remote can collect dust in a drawer just as well as a good one.
Performance wise, I have found no real faults; the auto MCACC has only gotten better and, so far, I've been very pleased with the video conversion and sound quality. Then, factor in the flexibility of assignable HD and digital audio inputs along with the ability to rename those inputs, and it gets hard to deny what a sweet deal this package offers.
Granted, it may not be able to compete with the high-end Elite receivers or their ilk. But, on balance, I believe you would be very hard pressed to find a better receiver with these features for the same price.
