The "Official" Pioneer VSX-1020-K Owner's Thread - Page 27

Hey guys, just joined this forum to learn more about my new receiver. So far its awesome, It has alot of great features that i wasnt even aware of. Like the video upscaling to hdmi, fully cusomizable interface, internet radio, the list goes on haha. And I would like to thank Bud B for solving my DVI to HDMI delema, I had no sound, but it works perfect now!

I have my 1020 connected to a Panasonic G25. If I first turn on the receiver, and then turn ON the TV, the receiver shuts off. Is this normal?

If I shut off the TV, it also shuts off the receiver, but it's my understanding that's expected if you have Control turned on.

I'm new to the forum but I have to say after reviewing all the posts regarding the Pioneer 1020, I'm surprised that there seems to be very few end users that are completelely happy with this AVR. By contrast, I went to the Onkyo 608 thread (the other AVR I was considering) and even though there are some setup/configuration issues, the general consensus seems to be much more positive. I'm considering cancelling my order for the 1020 and buying the 608 for aroung the same money. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated

By digital zone 2 are you saying that the Denon does not need analog inputs to play music to zone 2? Where did you get that information?

Edit: I found the answer in the Denon 2311 manual, you can only use analog inputs for zone 2.

I'm happy. We happy people have fewer problems to post about. My 1020 sounds great, and I've had no issues. Comparing to the Onkyo, the only feature I would find useful that is missing from the 1020 is an on screen volume display, which I hear the Onkyo 608 has. I just walked over and felt the top of my 1020 (which has an inch of clearance from the shelf above), and it is barely warm. Contrary to some earlier posts, the 1020 does upscale digital HDMI video to 1080p (or whatever you ask for), and I think having the 1020 do the interlacing of 480i and 1020i digital inputs from my satellite receiver gets me a slight picture improvement.

Have a settings question and hope you guys can help. I set up the 1020 using the mic and automatic MCACC. The crossover frequency from the auto MCACC was either 150 or 160 (can't recall), I changed this to 80 and have my sub set to 80 crossover frequency as well. I left all other settings from the auto MCACC intact.

The receiver sounds great for cable and most movies. However, when watching war movies at loud volumes (e.g., Private Ryan opening Omaha Beach sequence) I cannot hear actors yelling at times when loud explosions are occurring. It sounds as if the yelling is muted. In other parts of the scene you can hear the actors yelling and clearly the audio tract is intended to have the yelling heard that I am unable to hear.

Is this a crossover frequency setting issue? Do I need to turn the center speaker up? Turning up the central does not seem right as the receiver otherwise sounds great.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You don't mention re-running MCACC. If you haven't already, you should run the equalization part of MCACC now, so it can take account of the change in crossover (or else try the crossover value that MCACC set originally), to see if that improves the audibility of shouting.

Gentlemen,

Just picked up this unit for a friend. He has a Viewsonic 8100 pro pj.

Cannot get the OSD to show. any ideas. He tried another small monitor with HDMI and it worked fine.

Viewsonic says it must be an issue with the Pioneer. (I'm guessing that since the pioneer works with the other monitor they will say it is Viewsonics issue...)

any ideas on what he can try.

Thanks
Miles

Thanks for the positive feedback. Question, I'm looking for suggestions for a speaker system to accompany the pioneer 1020 for around $1000. my room is 15 X 20.

Is there any way to get video to display on non-video sources? I'd like to be able to play music and have the cable box play video, connected via component. I used to be able to do that on my Sony and Yamaha. I wasn't able to find anything in the manual. Ideally I'd like to be able to do that with the internet radio, but that displays a rather useless video signal.

On a related note, why did they make the internet radio screen so ugly? I wish it moved around a bit or had a screen saver, I get image retention on my plasma of I leave it on for any length of time.

From my experience so far, I'm very satisfied with it. I also own a Yamaha RX-V663 so I was able to compare the two. I bought the 1020 for it's 6 HDMI inputs (1 front), excellent low-volume listening options (midnight modes), USB input for mp3 devices and HDMI 1.4a (3D) forward-compatibility. My 663 only has 2 HDMI inputs and it doesn't pass WTW and BTB infos which was annoying with my RGB devices (PC & such).

The Pioneer lacks the build quality (front panel is plastic), beefier amp and pre-out of the 663, but you're able to do almost everything via the remote w/o going into the menus, it's easy to use, it sounds just as good at normal listening levels and it's smaller/runs cooler.

I dismissed the Onkyo 608 for a couple of reasons. I don't like the fact it has a fan in it, reliability is always a big question mark and I don't like the green front LCD / front panel.

Either way, AVR/speakers appreciation is highly subjective, and your room will have a huge impact on your evaluation, especially if you need a lot of power.

It's a shame I can't compare it to the 1120, but so far I'm quite happy with it, especially at < 450$.

The description says you can play iPhone/iPod into zone 2.

I reran the full auto mcacc and it set the crossover at 150. Set my sub to 150 (there is a dial on back to set crossover). Still having the same problem of near muted shouting during loud action scenes (can't or can barely hear shouting). I'm using a 5.1 canton speaker set that costs $1200 so the speakers should not be the problem. I also notice that certain machine gun fire is nearly muted as well. If I change crossover to 80, how do I "run the equalization part of mcacc"? Thanks!

I have both. The 1020 has some advantages over the 608, but also has quirks and problems.

Pros:
- power efficiency (output/draw about 3x better), runs much cooler, no fan
- iPhone/iPod integration
- USB/networking/Internet radio
- noticeably better video upscaling quality
- learning remote

Cons:
- 20% less power, no THX cert.
- no overlaid OSD for volume
- OSD setup does not handle everything, half of settings are not available there
- no HDMI ARC
- limitations on input assignments
- volume indicator is negative (in dB) - fine by me but may affect WAF
- remote is poorly laid out and crowded, no direct buttons for HDMI inputs
- loud clicking when audio mode switches (happens a lot between main program and commercials)

And the one serious problem:
- persistent and frequent HDMI signal dropouts when used with Samsung 3D blueray player.

This problem seems to affect PCM stereo signal (such as CD playback, or a typical DVD/BD menu). Seems like 1020 can't make up its mind whether the signal is 5.1 or 2.0, so it switches back and forth, causing audio hiccups and video blinking/flickering. This happens even while playback is paused (I see stereo/PCM indicator flip on the receiver and TV screen keeps blinking).

I hope it's just a bad unit. I don't have another HDMI BD/DVD unit to try. But this does not happen with 608 in place of 1020. If anyone has Samsung BD-C6900 and 1020, please share your observations.

UPDATE: looks like I have a bad unit. The dropouts only happen on one HDMI input -which happens to be the dedicated non-reassignable BD input.

You have to select 'keep speaker settings' in the auto MCAAC menu if you want to manually set crossover or speaker size.

Are you using auto surround so the AVR automatically goes to the correct source mode ?

Do you know the frequency response of your speakers ?

The crossover setting on the sub should be "off" (if that is possible) or as high as possible, since you want to avoid double filtering.

I don't see where the "keep speaker settings" is on the auto MCAAC menu. But, I turned off the receiver earlier this afternoon and just turned back on. My settings saved.

Yes, I use auto surround.

Frequency response of the "satellites" is "45...25.000 Hz" / "center" is 45...25.000 Hz" / "Active Subwoofer" is "80...140 Hz (adjustable)"

Thanks again! Still having the low shouting problem - per the post below yours I set the crossover setting on the sub to 150 (highest) and the crossover on the AVR is 80.

Thanks! The sub itself does not have an "off" so I turned the dial on the crossover setting to the highest setting, which is 150.

Still have the near shouting getting drowned out by loud explosions problem. If this helps the frequency response for the speaker set is that for the "satellites" is "45...25.000 Hz" / "center" is 45...25.000 Hz" / "Active Subwoofer" is "80...140 Hz (adjustable)"

Thanks again!

It's on the top line. The default is "ALL" -- hit the right arrow key to get the next option, which is "Keep SP System".

That doesn't look right, with the lowest frequency of the satellites so much lower than that of the subwoofer. Maybe "80...140" is the range of the crossover adjustment?

I apologize, the writing is tiny on this data sheet and I mixed up the lines. Here is what they are:

Frequency response: 45...25.000 HZ (Satellites and Center), 30...140 Hz (Active Subwoofer).

Crossover frequency: 3.900 Hz (Satellites and Center), 80...140 Hz adjustable (Active Subwoofer).

Does this help? Thanks again

Yes. So that must be the Canton 150 QX system? I looked up the CNET review here and found that the CNET reviewer recommends a crossover setting of 100Hz, FWIW.

You have the correct speaker set and I manually changed the crossover setting to 100Hz on the AVR (have the crossover setting on the sub set to 150Hz - there is a dial on the back of the sub to set the crossover). After that I ran the auto MCACC using "Keep SP System" rather than "All". After doing these items I still have the problem that shouting and certain machine gun fire is nearly muted. The audio track clearly should have these shouting among the actors heard. I have the problem on multiple blurays (Private Ryan opening Omaha Beach scene and Band of Brothers Carentan battle). At other times, the shouting and machine gun fire is appropriate. Any more ideas? Thank you very much for your insight!!

No, fresh out.

How about DRC (dynamic range compression), maybe its set to midnight mode.

hi all i own a vsx-1018ah and have notice that my sound echos on all componets connected (foxtel and dvd player and standed TV ) some somone can help


thanks all

Jon

see if your tv volume is on too.

A lot of the happy posters were responses to the rash of video processing bug posts. Forums are always like doctors offices. Full of folks complaining about problems with their receivers, blu ray players, or tvs. Most are really not problems with the receivers, but ignorance on the part of the poster.

I have DRC turned off on the blu ray player. Is there a DRC on the AVR? Thanks