The "Official" Pioneer VSX-1020-K Owner's Thread - Page 138

This problem seems to be repeating itself every few weeks. Had to do the screwdriver poke in the headphone jack again yesterday evening. That is the third time. At least I don't have to do the reset of the system. Worried that one day it just won't fix anymore. This receiver was a major purchase for me, it will be tough to afford a replacement.

Well your problem seems to be of a mechanical nature since running the screwdriver works, even temporarily. I think the headphone jack triggers a switch when a conductor is inserted into it (bridging connectors inside). There may be a small metal object inside the headphone jack. In any case, I'd say the problem is likely limited to the headphone jack, which could be replaced easily by a tech, incurring costs that should be well below complete replacement.

Having a weird problem with my 1020k. I have this connected to my cable box via hdmi, and out to my Samsung tv via hdmi. I have HDMI CEC control turned on with both, but the only reason I use this is so that when I turn the tv on/off, it also turns the receiver on/off. I have a few other hdmi devices connected, as well as an optical cable from my tv to the OPT1 input, for the rare occaision I have an antenna plugged into the tv.

About a month ago the problem started. Before, whenever I turned both units on, the receiver would be on whatever input it was left on, usually the cable box. But now all of a sudden, the receiver is defaulting to the OPT 1 input, which obviously doesnt have any video connected to it. When first turned on, it will stay on the cable box input for about 2 seconds, then switch to the optical. I then hit the HDMI1 Cable box input on the remote, and again, two seconds later it goes right back to the optical port. The second time I switch to the cable box, it finally stays. So every time I turn them on, I have to switch the inputs twice to get it to stick. I tried unplugging all other inputs except the cable box, and it still goes to the optical port every time.

I tried turning the hdmi control off in the tv settings. This corrected the problem, but then I lose the hdmi on/off control.

Anyone have any suggestions? The tv's settings are hdmi-cec on/off, and receiver on/off, no other settings. It seems to be that the tv is telling the cable box to connect to the optical port by default. I have tried changing every setting I can find in the receiver but nothing works.

Hi all,
Well I'm reading about 1020 problems...
I just dropped off my 1020 to the local authorized Pioneer repair facility.
This is the note that I had taped to the top of it...
It cost's $50.00 to check it out (no longer under warranty) and if I choose the repair, the $50.00 will be credited towards the final repair bill.
With so many problems, the guy at the repair facility questioned if it will ultimately be worth repairing, but said that they will check it out.
I told him that it will either be one simple and stupid problem (hopefully inexpensive to repair) or a major no fix problem...but I just gotta know!
If I HAD taken the extended warranty at the time of purchase, it would have cost me at least a hundred dollars, I didn't pay it then, so I'll pay it now, if it repairs it.
I figure I'll go a hundred maybe hundred and fifty to repair my 1020, if it's two hundred or more then I'll get a new receiver. And a 4 year warranty!!!
I'll let you all know what the final result will be. Maybe it will help some others.

NOTE: I told him that I hate to think that today, I have to get a warranty with every electronics unit I buy because I can't trust it!
He said that unfortunately in these days, he would NOT get a warranty, with ALL Manufacturers, he sees them all!
While I was turning in my 1020 a guy was picking up his Samsung HDTV that was turning itself on and off,
I heard him saying that Samsung admitted that they put too small of a Capacitor on the power supply board and that they had a lot of the off and on problems with that HDTV.
He had it repaired under Warranty.
A girl behind him was turning in a large Samsung HDTV but with no picture and also thankfully under warranty!
Let's face it, "Stuff Happens" I cleaned that up but you know what I mean!
My last Sony circa 2000 lasted me 10 years before it had any problems, I think that those days are behind us folks!

He did tell me that HDMI Control Board problems have usually been found in the higher models and higher serial numbers, HDMI Control PCB Cost..about $400.00
Hind Sight is always 20/20...Get a Warranty! At least for 4 years you don't have to worry!
Later,

Bud B
Edited by Bud B - 8/31/12 at 3:28pm

Hi Sitlet,

As far as your HDMI Control issues, if you look back through this forum you will see that many people have issues with HDMI Control.
It has been advised to leave it off unless you are using it with another Pioneer product.
Even in the manual it states the the HDMI Control is really best when used with other Pioneer equipment, in other words a manufacturer mismatch with Pioneer does not play nice.
Get yourself a universal remote like a Harmony Logitech and you can program it to turn your equipment ON and OFF at the same time.
I can also do that with my Comcast Cable remote with it's ALL OFF or ON button.

Good Luck,
Bud B

Hi Neutro,

If it is still under Warranty, get it in to get it looked at ASAP.
You shouldn't have to shove a screwdriver into a receiver.
If the receiver does go in for warranty service and a tech sees scratch marks from a screw-driver, he could void any warranty that you have.

Good Luck,

Bud B
Edited by Bud B - 8/31/12 at 5:26pm

Perhaps this is not the right place to post this, if so please direct me in the right direction.

I have my 7.1 setup with a Pioneer VSX-1020 receiver connected to my computer/HDTV in my living room. With so many options on the receiver, can someone explain to me what would be the best settings for a great experience with games and movies through my computer? Im hoping someone with the same receiver model can enlighten me on how I should be setting up.

It's certainly the right place but the question is rather open-ended. First, is your computer connected to the Pio through HDMI?

The thing to know when connecting a computer to the receiver is that they both can do similar jobs. For example, the receiver can decode many stream formats (such as Dolby Digital and a slew of others). But your computer's hardware is also very apt at decoding those and unless you specify that you want to send the raw streams, it will pre-decode them and send them to the receiver as PCM streams.

If this is the case, the receiver will display "PCM" when playing from the computer. The diagram at the top left of the Pio will tell you which channel the receiver is getting. You should get the whole diagram full if you're using 7.1 sources. However you way have to fiddle with your sound adapter driver settings to get the full 7.1 sound as by default it may assume you're listening on stereo speakers. The computer has now way to "discover" how many speakers are connected to your receiver.

So I'd say the first step is to ensure you get 7.1 playback on your receiver.

Yes, my computer connects to the Pioneer through HDMI on my high end video graphics card. I am getting the whole diagram full as I am using the 7 speakers and subwoofer, along with setting up the Properties on my video card to send 7.1 surround. The receiver is mainly displaying "Ext. Stereo" as it seems it is the best general setting compared to specific ones like "Action" and "Sports". That option is selected if I press the Advanced Surround button on my remote. There is also the option of using PCM if I press the "Standard" button. Im not sure which one is prefferably better, though in Ext. Stereo things sound louder.

If you're getting the diagram full on the Pio, then you're getting 7.1 surround sound to your receiver, which is perfect.

However, Extended Stereo Mode simply takes the L and R channels and replicate them across all surround channels, so that the surround L and surround back L plays the L channel, etc. It is indeed much louder when you have three times as much speakers playing the exact same content. I use this mode principally to listen to ambient music. If you want true 7.1 sound you have to get the PCM marker on the receiver. It is indeed generally more "bland" as there isn't as much action in the surround channels as there is in the front channels. But if you play a movie, or play games, you'll lose surround content if you keep using extended stereo.

Thank you for the tips. Is there anything else I should know in terms of settings?

If you can test that you get full 7.1 surround sound (e.g. playing a shooter on your computer, turning around to hear sound panning on all your speakers), I guess you pretty much nailed it

There are a bunch of interesting features on the 1020 pertaining to having multiple sources, calibrating your speakers, etc. But in terms of integration with your HTPC, I guess you're done. You can try different surround modes but if you want to play what's on a bluray release, if you achieve the above, then you're all set. Advanced Surround modes simply add DSP effects (echo, reverberations, etc.) or redistributes sound to your speakers in non-standard ways (e.g. extended stereo). IMHO it's pretty useless as I prefer getting the original soundtrack as close to intended by the mixer as possible.

Of course if you have front height or front wide speaker, you might want to select the appropriate mode to use them. But the Pio 1020 has 7 amps, so if you use wides or heights you'll have to forfeit the use of your surround backs.

I'm not sure if I'm answering your question in a satisfactory manner... There are lots of interesting things you can do with your 1020 but nothing else, in my opinion, that would be specific with HTPC integration. You might want to try to send the undecoded stream (e.g. DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital) to the receiver if you can do that and see if you prefer when the stream is decoded by the receiver or the PC. You never know what processing the driver is adding to the stream. But if it sounds the same, then it doesn't matter much.

I am happy to have found this forum and could use some help or advice.

I have owned my Pioneer 1020-k since they came out around 2010. I recently bought a new TV. My set up is below and the issue I am having is below that:

Pioneer 1020k
Samsung 60" plasma TV (PN60E550D1FXZA)
Direct TV home home HD DVR
Samsung Blu Ray player (3D)
Apple TV (720p version)
Harmony One remote

When I power on TV, Blu Ray, Apple TV, or XBOX the Pioneer comes on, turns to the proper HDMI channel then within 10-15 seconds it switches to: CD in (analog control). After a few seconds with I hit help on my Harmony remote and it fixes the problem... but I am not sure why this happens.

I have all connections via banana clips, I have current generation HDMI cables... Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If turning off HDMI control in the settings doesn't help, then I don't have a clue...

I am trying re-ordering the power on setting and adjusting my delays in the Harmony One right now... I'll also turn off the HDMI control.

Thanks!

Thanks neutro, HDMI control "off" fixed the problem. Cheers to you!

Glad I could help

Thank you very much, you answered my questions and much more!

Is there a way to change the subwoofer frequency? I'm using KEF 2005.3 speakers with the Kube 2 sub, and the manual says to set the subwoofer frequency on the amp/receiver to 120hz. I'm assuming they are not talking about the crossover, because the speakers only handle up to 80hz.

Thanks in advance.

Yes they are speaking about the crossover. The speakers go *down* to 80 Hz, not up. But this is likely the -3 or -6dB point, so it would make sense to cross them at 120 Hz. You can set the crossover to 80, 100 or 120 Hz on the 1020.

Thanks for the info! One thing I noticed though, it's 80, 100, and 150. So 100?

Ah yeah you're right... Try both and see which one sounds best. 100 Hz will sound less directional but you may get a slight dip in frequency response. I bet you won't notice much difference between 100 and 150 Hz but 100 Hz is probably the best choice.

Thanks for your help with this. I have it set at 100Hz and that's where I'm going to leave it. I could hear a difference between 80Hz and 100Hz, it sounds much fuller.

Yeah if your speakers go "down to 80 Hz", typically that means that at that frequency their response has already begun to decrease. If you had managed bass manually with your sub's low-pass filter setting, you would have crossed around that point. But when doing bass management with the receiver, the AVR itself creates numerical high-pass filters (for the speakers) and low-pass filters (for the sub) that merge well. If you combine those with the declining response of your speakers, you'll have a zone around 80 Hz where the combined response is too attenuated. By crossing at 100 Hz, the AVR filters are created in a frequency band where your speaker response is relatively flat (has not begun to drop too much), and the sub can pickup everything below that with no problem, hence the fuller sound. If you don't see any difference in fullness between 100 Hz and 150 Hz, keep the crossover at 100 Hz, because as frequency rise, the sounds become more and more localized.

I'm hoping to get a chance to test the 150Hz at some point this weekend.

Maybe this will help,

http://www.avforums.com/forums/av-amplifiers-receivers/1019893-crossover-speaker-settings-relation-bass-management.html

Pretty immature and petty way to respond to members.

My unit suddenly stopped connecting to all of the stations on the internet radio. I checked the stations and all work on my computer. I checked the modem, wireless connections and all else. It only connects to two stations and the rest show connection errors. I unplugged the unit and all internet that connects to it with no change. Does anyone know how to reset this unit or what the problem may be?

I was able to reset the receiver and this fixed the problem. The only disadvantage of resetting is that all setting need to redone and MCACC has to be re-calibrated. Internet stations i input in the past had to be re-input.

My audio settings keep resetting every time I pause my cable tv. They keep going back to Dolby Movie when I keep setting Dolby Pro Logic. When the channel is paused, and I change it to Dolby Pro Logic, and hit play again, Dolby Movie comes back up instead of Dolby Digital! What's going on here? Why won't it stay on Dolby Pro Logic then Dolby Digital when the channel uses it? I don't understand.

Also is it good to keep the default audio decoded on dolby pro logic, or is auto surround the best?
Edited by 413X3 - 10/1/12 at 1:13am