Official Denon AVP-A1HD/AVP-A1HDCI and POA-A1HD/POA-A1HDCI owners thread. - Page 740

Bluray works fine, no problem. However, DD DirectTV is a little unstable.

Just wondering if anyone using this AVP has experienced any issues with the new DirectTV DD upgrades.

Thanks for responding.

More important you could have been a member of our little avs owners group since 2008 forget about the hardware

Let me chime in on 1 & 5 :

Internally the AL24Advanced and AL32Advanced up sampling to 24/192 or in case of AL32A to 32/384. Once this is done all actions are always performed on top of that. In fact is not that easy (but doable) to turn it off on the avp. Since this is done from the start the result is that anything digital can operate at that speed making it easer for them to support all and make the avp mode stable. The downside is that you got to have all parts powerful enough to handle this all the time. More info can be found on the web but here is one :

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=951174

The avp can use adc on all analog inputs to 192khz. This is done using burr-brown chips. But then it goes into a fpga that does the AL process so its their own design as far as we know.

Complex analog to digital is possible in more ways we can could and we seem to discover more over time . Denon has a 'flexible' idea of what pure-direct means so even than you can apply things like AL24, bassm. and audyssey if you want. Its even possible for _some_ inputs to (balanced) apply a analog crossover while having all the digital parts turned off.

You are already using a complex beast but the avp is probably worse in that lots of things are possible but you have to put in the time its far from a setup and go machine.

Daniel.

I almost always have my pc displayed on my pj screen. Unfortunately, with my current HDMI/DL4 setup, I can't combine that with music from my A1UD. I have analog connections as well, just never used them. Anyone have any suggestions as how to connect and setup AVP for optimal SQ/PQ from A1UD + pc?

David

Are you a long term DirectTV user that just started having issues, or did you just add DirectTV.

I've been a D* subscriber since day one, and have been using a pair of HR20 HD receivers with no more DD problems than the norm.

What channels are giving a problem?

Thanks for replies so far
Have another question regarding the upgrade changes -

I know you lose the option to do B surrounds. This goes to my lack of experience with Audyssey but can you set up 2 calibrations, not options like Flat, but actually 2 distinct calibrations that can be stored in memory and selected in the menu?

If you can, has anyone tried setting up their B surrounds with an ext switcher (like a Niles, Russound, etc)? When using the B pair, could you just go into the menu & just switch calibrations so that distances, level & EQ are appropriate for the 2nd pair?

I'm hoping someone has figured out a workaround for keeping the B surrounds.

Hi Guys,

It's been about a year and a half since I updated the firmware on my Denon AVP-A1HDCI (maybe longer). I was having some sound issues and decided I better update the firmware before I started troubleshooting the problem.

I did the firmware update using Denon's menu. It found an update and estimated that it would take 50 minutes to complete. I started the update and it now seems to be frozen at 41 min - the display reads: "SFPGA Firm 41min updating" - it's been this way for about an hour now. Not sure if it's frozen, or just taking a ridiculously long time to do what it needs to do?

Is there something I can do/should do to know if it's frozen? And if it is frozen is there a way to restart the process?

The wife has 12 friends coming to the house tonight for a birthday party and they were looking forward to watching a movie in the theater (I'll be in trouble if I messed that up by trying to update the firmware today!). I'm starting to get worried...

Anyone have any experience with this? Or advice?

Thanks for your help!

First, the golden rule of software / firmware / hardware updates is never do an update right before you *have* use the equipment (actually the usual phrase is never do an update right before a demo). It is just asking for trouble.

However, that won't help you. The message by itself isn't alarming since it just indicates it is updating the firmware. That is doesn't change is cause for concern.

If you are still stuck one of three things is going to happen if you power-off:

1) The lower level software (including the flashing software) is no longer on the machine, in which case you have a brick.

2) The loader and lower level software is on the AVP and the upper level software is corrupted. In which case, download the new software again from the web and try re-loading the AVP.

3) The software actually did load and that was some type of end of file message. In which case you are OK as is, although you'll never really know if this is case unless you talk with Denon.

Unless someone else has hit this problem and just happens to be reading this thread, you're probably going to have to decide when to roll the dice and power-off. I'd wait as long as you can before powering off since you really don't know what will be left in flash when you power-off. But if you are absolutely sure you're stuck and front panel keys don't work, then you may have no choice.

It was discussed here ad nausea a bunch of pages back, and I don't remember all the particulars, but I know with the Audyssey Pro you can save & reload measurements, so you could do as you suggest with that application. There's also a way of doing it in the web-control feature of the AVP which is supposed to be easier.

Are you thinking of a Wyred mini-MC for an amp since you're an ICE fan? It's probably the route I'd go if I had to buy an amp for my AVP today.

Folks,

I have dedicated HT with a JVC RS-40 PJ, BD and HDTV sources and a 7.1 speaker system driven by Marantz monoblock amps.

The Lexicon DC-2 just died. It goes through a old manual equalizer that Dennis Erskine (you old timers will recognize that name) calibrated for me and then from there to the monoblocks.

The DC-2 as you know has no HDMI inputs, so I was running purely DD and DTS sound through SPDIF coax and TOSLINK fiber (the sound system is from 2001).

So my question is this. Should I replace just the prepro with AVP and keep the old amps (obviously get rid of the manual equalizer) or is it worth replacing all of the monoblocks with the POA as well.

Thanks!

Bernd

Keep the amps, and see if you like the sound with a new AVP. I owned the DC-1v4. The AVP is going to blow away the Lexicon.

AFAIK there is no way to use the Surr B as you did before. For ideal SQ and proper function, the B surrs have to be physically hooked up or switched each time and you have to load a different, proper calibration file into the Processor (you cannot save two cal files in the processor). The cal file change is most easily done (it takes under 10 min) by use of the Network Web Control SAVE/LOAD feature. Then you do it again to switch to Surr A. This requires a full calibration only the first time you do Surr A and the first time you do Surr B as you save the respective files.
Here is a link to some of the prior discussion.

I believe that there MAY BE a simple solution to the Surround B issue, but ONLY if you do not want to use Height/Wide speakers. I am having Denon engineering check out what I think will work. If it works the only issue is that you will either need to power up and down the surround A/B speakers as you require them or use a GPO from the AVP to externally route the required surround signal or even turn the surround speaker power on and off as required.
Hopefully I will hear from Denon this week as they are trying my solution out on their demonstration system at their HQ in Mahwah, NJ.
As soon as I hear I will let you know.

^^
Thanks to all 4 of you for replies.
At least it's possible if not convenient I'll read thru the discussion on audyssey pro cal's - thanks for the link!

When Denon, Pioneer & Yammie flagship AVR's were in vogue, they might have been the only ones that offered the a/b surround feature. And it made sense for movies vs music setups. I do have 2 sets of side surrounds would really like to continue if I do swap gear.

Approaching this from the audyssey angle...would the pro kit give you similar resolution as Multi32XT or are they 2 different animals?

With large 6 ft tall planar speakers, magnepans, I have no immediate need or plan to try to implement heights/widths. And no burning desire for 3D. So the important part of the upgrade for me would be Multi32. I'm sure many many of you felt the same way

On amps, I've researched the options for several years

Wyred4Sound, ATI, Outlaw, Parasound, Anthem among them. I'm not married to class D amps Amps in the cost range of Theta/Krell etc are out of the question plus I'm not a subjectivist amp person

Even adding up what it would cost to replace the SC09 with AVP, amp, upgrade, getting a Denon player to take advantage of D-Link, it's pushing $10K+ territory. That's why I haven't done this yet

I keep hoping to find good used AVP's sometime that 20 other people aren't bidding on

As the next few months go by, I'll have done my homework so can make intelligent choices.

That would be fantastic!! After all, it's a relay option. The complication I would think is the different distance, level and EQ calibration. That's seems to be the rub.

But if you & they can figure out a solution, man, that'd probably make a lot of owners happy!

Exciting news, at least for me, potentially getting one down the road

Also, PM sent.

I agree with keeping the monos unless you'd prefer going to a multi-channel amp for convenience. The general consensus on the POA is it's an excellent amp but that there are better value for dollar options available without giving up performance. That's basically a budgetary decision to make.

You will not believe the quality of XT32 Pro, as good as Erksine could tweak your system, and no doubt that's quite good, he's limited by the tools available in the Lexicon. Audyssey's set of tools is far more complex than a standard GEQ or PEQ......and you don't need to call Dennis in to do it for you!

The other thing is you're going to be impressed by the quality of the new hi-rez codecs like DTS HD MA and the other AVP's digital music options like Denon Link and streaming lossless audio can bring.

The Pro kit can only use the filters available in the unit, so it doesn't have greater resolution, but what it does is take the computing out of the pre-amp and does it on your laptop. This enables Pro to compute up to 32 measurements, create custom target curves, select from several Audyssey curves, store and re-load measurements, generate before and after graphs of its' work, plus it'll recommend the best crossover points, even if the AVP sets a speaker to large.
It comes with a higher quality mic, pre-amp and mic stand.
Unfortunately the Pioneer room correction is one of the few I haven't heard or tried so I don't know how it compares. I'd probably own the 09 if it had Audyssey Pro when I was looking to upgrade...

If you're going the used route, an un-upgraded unit will be cheaper and still have the very capable XT Pro, so you can decide if that's good enough before upgrading. I think there might be a finite window that the upgrade will be available though so you might want to look into that.

I think the SC09's media streaming is a bit more developed than the AVP's if that's a factor for you.

If there any upgraded users of the AVP that have the time, interest and inclination to test the following, this is the relevant part of the Denon e-mail exchange:

The intent is to connect B surrounds to the new “Height/Wide” outputs (old Surround B), enable these outputs as Height (or Wide) and then run XT32. This will correctly apply XT32 EQ to both the Surround A & B speakers.

2. Once this is complete use “Free Assign” to assign the “Height/Wide” speakers (now the old surround B) in parallel with the Surround A speakers.

3. Then program a GPO to externally select the Surround A/B speakers line level signals dependent upon either Music or Film surround modes. (or turn the power on/off to each pair as appropriate using this GPO or do it manually).

What I need confirmed are the following:

1. Will the “new” free assign table allow both Surround A and the Height/Wide speakers to be driven simultaneously?

2. Once the Height/Wide speakers are assigned in parallel to Surround A, is the original Height/Wide XT32 EQ still active on the Height/Wide output or are the Height/Wide speakers now driven by the SAME XT32 equalized signal that was created for the Surround A speakers?

If simultaneous assignment is not possible would it be possible to just go into this table and assign Surround A or Height/Wide (Surround B) manually as required as each set of speakers XT32 EQ should follow this.

Maybe somebody can beat Denon to the "draw"

Update.

Based upon my tests with an unmodified AVP simultaneous assignment is possible. It is possible to assign Surround A to multiple outputs, I therefore hope that Height/Wide can be assigned to other signals.

If free assignment of H/W is possible the issue that remains is, are the Height/Wide outputs active when no Height/Wide processing is being used.

A word of caution - not all AVPs can use Pro Tools - units produced for the US market apparently can. Those produced for much of the rest of the world cannot until they have been upgraded to the new 3D state. If you buy used, check which model you have.

He's from Hot-lanta so no worries there.

Speaking of location, anyone here from the Phoenix area that I can PM for some recommendations for an upcoming golf trip to the area?

I noticed that web control was faster, after the update.

Thank you very much. Having gone and learned about Xt32 I have one more question. What pre/pro offers the best price/performance point in your opinion?

Thanks,

Bernd

sorry, what's a GPO? is this something in the Denon or something like an ext. programmable switcher? voltage/current sensing?

I haven't seen that acronym before

thanks

It's a 60's ditty by Ronnie & the Daytonas...

I remember the song so we're both showing our age

How did it go? You OK or still stuck?

Still stuck. Called their service department and they're going to have me reset the network card (although I think it's really resetting the entire unit as he said it's going to reset all my settings as well).

I power it off, then hold the up and down arrows while powering it back on. It's supposed to blink at me 3 to 5 times and then I stop depressing the up/down arrows. At that point i"m supposed to retry the firmware update process.

I'll be trying this shortly. Hopefully, this will do the trick.

That particular reset is indeed just for the Network card. You'll want to save your settings to a Config.dat file, or be prepared to re-do everything from scratch.

This reset is known as the "Network" or "Deep" reset as it not only resets the network card but also does a microprocessor reset as well, so as Sam noted, you'll want to SAVE your settings to a PC file or be prepared to run AUTO SETUP again.