Sony STRDG720 7.1 Audio Video Receiver - Black by Sony
|
List Price: Category: Receiver or Amplifier See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
(Click here)
Digital camera reviews of Sony STRDG720 7.1 Audio Video Receiver - Black
Digital camera Review: Best Budget Receiver!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you own a Blu-ray player and it decodes uncompressed audio like Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD MA. Then now is is time to buy this inexpensive yet very capable receiver. It was huge improvement from my nine year old Sony 5.1 receiver, which still works well.
I wanted to complement my PS3 and 1080p 65" Mitsubishi with clean uncompressed audio. This receiver met this expectation for me and beyond with the incredible sound it can process. After setting it up, I popped in The Simpsons Movie on Blu-ray which has DTS-HD MA. I could not believe my Sony speakers could sound any better until it started playing. I then tried Spiderman 3 with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and it sounded amazing when Sandman fought Spiderman during the armored car scene. I was truly convinced that I made the right decision buying the 720 after listening to those tests movies.
To every high, there is a low.
The receiver menu took awhile to understand from its manual. I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to adjust my speaker set up settings. After some curse words and taking a break, I finally figured it out. Its still not easy to navigate the menus for minor tweaking to this day after using it for a week! Also I miss the blue light that lets you know when its processing surround sound. It does have a brief scroll telling you what it is processing. But its not the same :(
Bonus!
Harmony does now have the 720 in their database and my 880 remote works great with it.
The 720 is sure a great upgrade for my home theater and I hope it can last just as long as my old one! Be sure to have enough HDMI cables for your home theater set up. I get mine from mycablemart.com and no I dont work for them bcuz I dropped their name. They have 6' 1.3a compliant cables with shipping for under ten bucks!
If you have it set up right, you will not be disappointed with the 720.
Digital camera Review: Best Receiver for Its Price - Hands.Down.
Summary: 4 Stars
You can't get much better than this receiver for the price. It delivers great surround sound, automatic HDMI switching, and the most amount of HDMI outs for its buck. For those people who rip on this receiver that it doesn't deliver the same type of quality as other high end receivers are totally missing the point.
I have a PS3, cable box, and a vudu streaming box all connected to this. It works perfectly and the surround sound delivers just as promised. The only knock on this thing is that it doesn't have a way to calibrate your subwoofer or show a blue light (like some other receivers) that you're getting digital sound. Other than that, this thing is the best, cheapest way to hook up 3 HDMI components to your HDTV with excellent sound. Amazon was the cheapest price on the web, and it was delivered within a week.
Digital camera Review: Best bang for your buck if you want to upgrade to ACTIVE HDMI!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm extremely pleased with the Sony STRDG720 7.1 Audio reciever!!! Also, the price was a major factor. I have been shopping around for a 7.1 system for a while and lucked up on this gem for $230.00. I have owned Yamaha, Pioneer, and Kenwood receivers over the past 30 years but in comparison, this unit by far is the best for the price I have yet to find. It has more features than it needs! The main reason I went with this unit was to upgrade from a 20 year old bose system. Also, I wanted to be able to use my ipod as well. I had to buy a DOXport ipod adapter which works great too becuase you can use the reciever's remote to control the ipod. I have a Sony Bravia TV which integrates very well with the reciever and you can use the same remote on both. For a blueray player I have a Sony Playstation 3. The quality is insane on 1080p and 7.1 surround! It's better than a movie theater! The main reason I went tith this reciever is that it is the lowest priced ACTIVE HDMI unit that I could find. HDMI makes a major difference versus component RCA plugs for sound signal quality. Also, the receiver can be used as a selector for 3 HDMI components. I have a Comcast digital DVR box, a Sony Playstation 3, and an XBox 360, all going through the reciever to the TV. There is a theater mode which integrates the reciever and the TV so all sound and control function are through one remote. Also, while in this mode, the Sony Bravia TV speakers are turned off so you don't have to control both TV and reciever speakers and get any weird echo effects from battling speakers. This unit has an omni directional mic that is used to analyze and test your speaker set up. It works really well and will alert you to any goof ups like bad speaker placement, incorrect wiring, etc. Also, the whole sound envelope can be manually adjusted to your own tastes or due to speaker size, power, etc. This unit is by far one of the best reciever's I have owned and had the priviledge to use! WEll worth the money and not very hard to set up. The remote is not overly complicated and the instruction guide is strait forward.Digital camera Review: But can you connect a turntable?
Summary: 4 Stars
For the benefit of other greybeards like myself who may still want to be able to play their old vinyl, I should like to add that of the STR-DG520, STR-DG720, STR-DG820 and STR-DG920, only the last-named has a phono input!Digital camera Review: Can't get audio through HDMI
Summary: 3 Stars
I've tried this receiver connected to two different setups with hdmi cables: (1) Sony Bravia tv and motorola pvr cable box and (2) LG tv and pace digital HD cable box and in both cases I get picture but no audio through the receiver/speakers. I can get audio if I use an additional coax audio cable connection from the cables boxes to the receiver. I'm guessing a setting must be wrong in the receiver as I understood it handled both video and audio via hdmi, but for the life of me (and with little help from the crummy manual) I can't figure out what setting might need to be changed. Anyone got a suggestion? Thanks!