The "Official" Pioneer VSX-1020-K Owner's Thread - Page 130

I tried changing the setting to the lowest setting for the BDP, no luck Still stuck in pcm. The BDP is plugged into the BD input on the rear, so it's not that.


ETA: I can get a Dolby or DTS signal from the HDMI, right?

What I was saying is that your BDP may be decoding the Dolby stream and sending the decoded stream as PCM to the receiver. So instead of the receiver getting a Dolby or DTS signal and displaying Dolby Digital or DTS on the front panel, it simply displays "PCM". The upper left portion of the 1020's panel shows which channel are *input* to the receiver. So if you see PCM and all 5.1 channels (or 7.1) are lit up, then it probably means that your player does the decoding and the receiver simply deals with decoded PCM streams. There may be a setting in your player to send the undecoded stream to the receiver; but as I told you on some Sony products, the HDMI chip is not able to send some format (namely DTS Master Audio and the lossless Dolby digital format which name eludes me right now).

Ok, that helps.

I found in another thread this:


Which worked. Now when I watch my BRD I get the True HD lit up. My question on the other thread was to make sure I wan't losing anything by making that change.

Should I run an optical line to the AVR, would that make a difference with the possible HDMI chip not working?

I'm looking at a VSX-1021, but see that the VSX-1020 is discounted. I'm thinking of saving a few dollars and picking it up.

What are the differences between these two units? At first glance, it doesn't seem to be much. Airplay, but I don't see myself using that. Is there anything else that would make the 1021 stand out?

One specific question I have is does the 1020 support DLNA or some other method of streaming music from a pc to the AVR?

tx

What's the discount? You know that NewEgg has had the 1021 for $299. Unless it's substantially different I'd go with the newer technology. If yoiu read through this thread I believe someone stated the main differences not too long ago.

Over the 1020, the 1021 has:

• One less HDMI input
• 10 W RMS more per channel
• Audio return channel
• Standby passthrough
• Firmware updates via internet
• DLNA client
• AirPlay (for audio content only)
• Net radio services (vTuner), more net radio presets
• Compatibility with the iControlAV2 iOS app
• Not sure about that: network standby (wake-on-lan)

No; the network on the 1020 is only used for control via the iControlAV (v.1) iOS app, which doesn't do much, and net radio, which is very nice. DLNA would be a plus if it's well implemented (I have not tried it); otherwise you may be better with a dedicated media player (PS3, WDTV Live, Boxee Box, etc.). AirPlay is a nice feature but it's audio-only (you can't push your pictures to the 1021 and have them show up on your TV). If AirPlay is a huge deal for you, you should get an AppleTV. Also, AppleTV-like functionality in some iOS apps can be found for other DLNA-based media players.

As lsilvest stated, unless the discount is huge, you're probably better with the 1021 unless you absolutely need the sixth HDMI input and don't care about network features. If you can buy the 1020 plus an AppleTV for less than the 1021 for example, that may be a better deal depending on your priorities. But if you can find the 1020 under 200$, well buy it anyway and put it in your basement or bedroom, it's still a good product

Thanks for the answers neutro. I did have a look through parts of this thread, but at 130 pages...

I'm not a big Apple fan, don't even have iTunes installed on my pc (for various reasons, don't need to get into it!) so am much more interested in DLNA or some other sort of way to stream audio to my receiver. My current set-up is old school - sound card line out jack from my sound card to an RCA adapter, along the baseboard to analog input jacks on my old VSX-D498!

ARC and stand-by passthrough would be nice to have though. I saw in some other thread that the 1020 was considered underpowered, so maybe the extra 10W would be nice, the room my home theatre is in is quite large - maybe 14x20?

If the 1020 can play net radio, there must be a way to get it to play streamed audio...maybe setting up your own 'station'?

Nice pricing tip Ilisvest. Unfortunately, I'm in Canada, and prices on this equipment is quite different here - the 1021 street prices are 649-699! I'm trying to find someone who will 'freight forward' for me 8-)

Yeah even searching the thread the task is daunting


I'm in the same boat. However I use a cheap media player (WDTV Live) and a PS3 to provide a pleasing interface for that purpose. I'm not sure how good the 1021 media interface is, and if it even can play video. If it does, fine; but if not you may want to get a dedicated player instead or even an HTPC.


You got to have a TV that supports ARC also; I just run a toslink cable from TV to receiver so it's not that big of a deal in my case. I wouldn't want sound coming out of my TV anyway so standby passthrough was not an issue either. As far as power goes, I doubt the extra 10W would be really noticeable. If you have an honest subwoofer handling the power-hungry bass, I'd say the 1020 is enough for most use. My room is small but I never came close to 0 dB (reference level). Depends on your taste though, but compared to other receivers at the same price, the Pio has about the same total power. It also runs very cool, which is nice in a cramped home theater cabinet.


That my friend is a terrific idea. I should try this... It should be easy since the net radio interface is just a list of URLs. You could provide an URL inside your LAN and if you have a compatible stream server, there shouldn't be any problem with that. I'm happy with SomaFM and Digitally Imported though


Welcome in the club. We're really getting shafted here in Canada. If you have an amerifriend, that would be great getting the 1021 for 300$. But you'd have to say goodbye to the warranty I guess.

One thing though: in Canada FutureShop carries the 1026 (while BestBuy carries the 1021). The 1026 is exacly the same as the 1021 except that it has 6 HDMI inputs instead of 5, and it's priced either the same or sometimes below the 1021.

I've got a TVIX 4000 I use, but I'd like to be able to use Winamp.


I don't - but the system is daunting to my parents, who don't want to turn the system on to listen to the news when they're visiting.




I'll probably do something like that - hope for the best and hopscotch it back to them if I have to.

What a pita though - close to $300 difference in the street price.

Hi all!

I need your help to solve an issue i'm having with my new PS3.

I bought a VSX 1020k in May and have been pretty happy with it overall. Everything works well with it: PC, Xbox, DVD player.

I recently bought a PS3 as a Blu-Ray player but things aren't working: I have sound but no picture. I feel like a huge noob asking, but is there a special setting I have to set either the receiver or the PS3 to receive a video signal?

If I plug the PS3 to the TV directly (Panasonic plasma ST30), I get great picture and sound using the TV speakers, but when I plug the PS3 through the receiver, I get no picture. It's really weird.

I've tried different HDMI cables (cheap internet ones and a little better ones) with no real difference which leads me to believe it's not a cable problem especially considering my xbox, PC and DVD player work fine. Also, I've tried the different HDMI ports on the receiver and that hasn't changed anything...

Any help you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hi Vsx1020mtl. I'm not sure what's wrong but odds are good it's fixable. I say this because 1) the PS3 works well with the TV and 2) other devices seem to work well through the 1020. So neither the PS3 nor the 1020 seems broken.

I don't remember having to fiddle with any setting on the PS3 when using only an HDMI cable. Are you using HDMI for both video and audio? I guess you could just check in the PS3 settings that both video and audio are configured to go through HDMI as a first step.

So what can it be? A few hypotheses:

- HDCP handshake bug. That just happens sometimes. Try turnin on and off your TV, PS3, and receiver, that may go away.

- Check your receiver's video settings. Are you using upconversion? An interesting bug happened to an Xbox owner earlier. The console was set to output 1080i instead of 1080p and the receiver was set to upconvert to 1080p. However the Pio 1020k is unable to upconvert 1080i to 1080p. Anyways, you may want to try different upconversion settings or set the PS3's resolution to 1080p.

- A dumb question perhaps but are you using the correct "input function" on the receiver? They can be re-labeled so maybe you select the incorrect input. Ok if you get sound that's less probable, unless you use an optical cable from the PS3 to the receiver, which is not advisable since it's much simpler to go HDMI for both audio and video.

I turned everything off a few times and that didn't change anything. I'm pretty sure I've been using the right input everytime so maybe it's the 1080p/1080i problem? I know the PS3 is set to 1080p so how do I look for the receiver's upconversion setting? (Sorry for the noob question)

HDCP handshake bugs typically are cleared with a reboot of one or all components so I guess this is out of the question. Also, HDCP problems will typically show an error message on the screen.

If you're sure PS3 is outputing 1080p on HDMI, then let's work on the receiver. I'll let you just make sure the receiver and TV are set to the right input first. If you get sound from the receiver but nothing on the TV, that may be because the TV is not set to the right HDMI input. Although on Panasonic TVs, there's typically a message displayed to the effect that there's no signal detected on that input if it's the case.

So let's assume the problem is on the Pioneer from now on. Can you confirm that you're indeed using HDMI for both audio and video? It seems to be the case but you never stated it directly. Also I just want to make sure you're using HDMI between the receiver and the TV. I guess you do, but it would explain the problem as the 1020 can only output HDMI inputs to the HDMI output.

If the PS3 is outputting 1080p, then everything should be fine as the receiver will not use the upconversion chip at all. If the resolution is 1080i on the PS3, switch it to 1080p.

Now on the receiver, use the VIDEO PARAMETER button on the button and select the V.CONV parameter. Normally it should be ON. You can try OFF to see if it works for the PS3 but this will disable upconversion. If V.CONV is set to OFF and the problem goes away, this means the PS3 is outputting a resolution that the receiver can't convert (typically 1080i).

Next, assuming V.CONV is set to ON (which enables the rest of the video parameters), select the RES parameter. Normally it should be on AUTO. You can try PURE. The difference is that with AUTO, the receiver will negotiate the highest resolution that your TV can handle (1080p in the case of your Panasonic ST30) and upconvert all sources to that resolution. With PURE, thre receiver will perform video processing but will not change resolution. So if you feed 720p input to the receiver, it will pass 720p content to the TV, which will then deal with it.

I'm not aware of any other setting that could cause the Pio to not send video to the TV. So I hope this will help you. If not, as I'm out of ideas, maybe you could try to describe how everything is connected in your setup in details (e.g. Xbox to receiver HDMI2 using HDMI cable, DVD player to receiver using OPT1 + component, etc.). Maybe this will spark an idea.

Hey Neutro

Just got home a tried a few things, none worked. I first tried the video reset trick and that failed.

Then I tried to set up the VIDEO PARAMETER thing. Here's what happens when I click the V. PARA. button: I'm given the option to choose between PURE, 480P, 720P, 1080i, 1080P. I think this is the RES (Resolution?) thing you were talking about. I didn't have an on or off option... there's probably a way to check that but I couldn't figure it out. I left it on pure for now.

Here is my setup:

Currently in HDMI 1, I have the PS3 only emitting sound.
HDMI 2 is the xbox, with sound and picture.
I don't regularly use the other inputs, but sometimes I'll plug in a HDMI cable in input 5 to watch stuff off my PC.

HDMI OUT is sent to the TV (Panasonic Plasma, 50 inch ST30) into the TV's HDMI 1.

Before installing the PS3, I had a pioneer DVD (not blu-ray) player playing through HDMI 1.

When I put the receiver on HDMI 1, I get the sound from the PS3 (i.e. navigating the menus and clicking on stuff) but no picture. My TV tells me that there is no signal and that I should check that the external device is properly connected etc.

So that's all I have for now... I'm very perplexed and wondering if I should just return the PS3

Success! (Kind of)
So I finally got the picture to work!!!!
One final problem that should be easier to fix: When pressing on AUTO SURROUND the receiver doesn't automatically go to surround sound. It stays on stereo... I'm watching a Blu-ray movie mixed for 5.1 so I don't see why it's not going to Dolby 5.1 or wtv DTS etc.

Any ideas?

PS Thanks for all your help!

Your case is kinda weird...


You said that the same thing happens in all free HDMI inputs though, am I right?


That's interesting. Video was showing then? Do you know if you were using upconversion for this DVD? When you checked the RES parameter, was that with HDMI1 selected? Maybe the receiver thinks the DVD player is still there. Did the audio for the DVD player go through HDMI or was it using OPT1? Not that I know what's happening, it's just that HDMI1 on the 1020 is special: it's the only HDMI input that can take video from HDMI and sound from optical or coax links.

Also your DVD player was also a Pioneer. Go to the receiver's settings about HDMI control (I don't remember the exact path right now but you can access it through the graphical interface). Turn HDMI control off. I'm not aware that it could cause *video* problems, but we never know. Maybe the DVD player and receiver were speaking to each other through HDMI control...


I'm perplexed as well and I'm running out of ideas, frankly.

How did you run through the PS3's video setup though if you can't have video output? You did it when the PS3 was plugged directly into the TV?

I just reviewed the process on the PS3 (Settings, Display Settings, then you run through dialogs, selecting HDMI output, and then there's an auto-detection step if you don't select "custom") and it seems to me that you should go through that even while blind to be sure it works, so that the PS3 negotiates the proper output format with the receiver. But if resetting the video config fails, I don't see what would work.

Right now unless you have new information, I'll have to wish you best of luck since I'm out of intelligent things to add. Sorry for not being of much help. Keep us posted if you find the problem.

Edit: Cross-post! please tell us what you did...

Well there's no good fix that I came up with. I think it was an issue with the TV. I unconnected everything and then once I connected the xbox again, even that wasn't working so I had a major ''SERIOUSLY?!?!?!'' moment. I tried plugging everything in the TV's HDMI 2 input and it worked!

So here's my sound issue: In the top right corner, it says DTS-HD MA but there's just stereo coming out of the receiver. I'm watching Horrible Bosses and I haven't heard a peep from the rear speakers up to now... So it's not working properly... I pressed the autosurround button and it didn't change anything, it just reverted back to stereo. In fact, I don't see the 5 little speakers in the top left corner of the receiver screen. I do see a little 'PCM' above the STEREO letters...
Sorry for my ignorance in these matters...

What do you think?

Thanks!

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know if there is a wiring schematic available for the VSX-1020?

A few weeks back I was snoozing on the couch when a loud "POP" woke me up only for me to find that my VSX-1020 had blown something. The blue light was indicating from the manual that there was a power source issue and my unit needed to be returned to a Pioneer authorised service centre.

Unfortunately I live in Trinidad and Tobago and we have no authorised dealer here. So I took it to a repair guy, he did an initial check and found nothing wrong but doesn't want to go any further without something to reference to.

Perhaps someone has had a similar problem and can tell me what the diagnosis was or if there is a schematic available that would also really help.

Thanks a lot.... TV and movies just aren't the same right now!!!

Hi Vsx1020mtl, possible a HDMI handshake issue but here are some suggested settings.

Receiver:
- try turning off Kuro Link (HDMI Control). Should find this by going into System Setup -> Other Setup -> Kuro Link Setup

PS3 (slim):
- set audio output as Bitstream. Should find this by going into Settings -> Video Settings -> BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI) -> Bitstream
- set Audio Multi Output to Off. Should find this by going into Settings -> Sound Settings -> Audio Multi Output -> Off

Xbox 360:
- set audio as DD 5.1. Should find this by going into System -> Console Settings - Audio -> Digital Output -> Dolby Digital 5.1

I'd blame HDCP then :P


If you just bought the PS3 I guess you have the newer slim version, not the old, fatty, piano-black one. The difference is important because they do not deal with DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD in the same way.

On older, fat PS3 models, the HDMI chip could not bitstream DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD. So the 2.30 firmware update enabled the PS3 to decode these formats and send 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 channels of decoded PCM streams through HDMI. The Pio 1020 can accept 7.1 channels of PCM so it just grabs the raw streams and play them. The downside is that you don't see the DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD logos on the receiver as decoding is done on the PS3.

On the newer, slim PS3 models, a new HDMI chip enables bitstreaming the DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD streams so that the decoding can be done by the receiver.

Back to your problem. If during the movie you still see STEREO and the channels indicator on the top left part of the 1020's display do not indicate 5.1 channels, then it's not getting surround audio. This indicator is very nice to debug this kind of problems: it indicates the channels present at the input (opposed to channels played after processing). Even the LFE (.1) channel will radiate like this (( LFE )) when LFE content is played. So you can trust this: your PS3 is likely not sending surround audio to the receiver.

The problem is therefore probably in the audio setup settings for the PS3. Go to Settings, Audio Settings, then I'm not sure exactly where to go but you probably have "stereo playback only" or something like that selected. Fiddle around with the settings -- there's probably an auto setup feature which will select the allowed audio formats. Stereo is a sensible fallback option which works with all setups so it probably selected this when you reseted your PS3.

Good luck!


No need to apologize for asking question in these forums! They're their raison d'être.

I really don't know, and I even doubt it. It really sucks for you, but it seems that only autorized dealers will have access to theses kinds of schematics as they are now considered trade secrets.

I hope you find a way to fix your receiver, but no doubt Pioneer would rather see you buying a new one.

It seems some shady websites (well looks shady to me) like ManualsParadise.com will sell you the service manual for 20$ and the diagrams for 15$. You can also try this, but it looks even shadier:
http://elektrotanya.com/pioneer_vsx-.../download.html

@neutro well pioneer said they would also sell me the service manual which includes wiring diagrams, for about $19!!! So it is possible some of these guys are legit, I'll look into it.

Thanks for your help

the manual from elektrotanya.com is the actual 132 page service manual for the 1020!! no viruses or malware.

Thanks neutro

That's nothing, a simple google search away.
However in these forums I guess it's better if we say we don't advocate getting the service manuals there. You should buy it legit from Pioneer

Has anyone gotten good at using the Sound Delay feature that I pasted below from the manual? Is there a technique to use when there is a slight lip sync problem? I notice the problem and set the delay at 1.0 then 2.0 etc, and the problem only seems to get worse, not better. Maybe I need the sync to "advance" rather than "delay"? Any tips or hints would be appreciated.

DELAY
(Sound Delay)
Some monitors have a slight delay when showing video, so the
soundtrack will be slightly out of sync with the picture. By adding
a bit of delay, you can adjust the sound to match the presentation
of the video.
0.0 to 10.0 (frames)
1 second = 30
frames (NTSC)
Default: 0.0

As the name implies, the Sound Delay parameter can only delay sound. What source are you playing? In some media players there may be decoding problems in which audio is out of sync with video in arbitrary ways. In such media players, there's often more versatility to correct the audio sync.

Since the receiver just receives the audio stream (it's not decoding the whole file), it cannot advance it. And since it cannot delay video (which would produce the same effect as advancing the audio stream), you can't fix your problem. So I'd try fixing the problem in the source (media player) instead, if this is possible.

The source is an avi or mkv file from wither of my media players (Samsung Smart TV and/or Samsung BRP), the BRP is HDMI via the AVR and the Smart TV is USB and/or CAT5 (with Toslink/optical to AVR). None of those media players are letting me adjust for sync issues, which is why I tried the AVR.

What you're saying about it not handling the video, in some of those cases, makes sense.

I really don't know much about Samsung products alas. If you can play the source on a computer for example, VLC media player should be able to compensate for audio delay/advance. Other physical media players (e.g. WDTV Live, Boxee Box) may be able to correct for this also. Or they may also decode the same file without audio sync problems.

Thanks. Some follow up questions... A menu option that's later than Audio Delay is called Auto Delay (on/off). What is that setting, and how does it relate to the first one? Also, if you set an audio delay time interval, does it stick? Does it reset back to 0? When?

Thanks for your help!

Thank you for all the help and suggestions on this thread. I think I've found a solid solution to my continuing problems with green pixels/HDCP errors on my home theater PC setup. Here's a page explaining the problem, attempted solutions, and hopefully my final working solution.

S.