The "Official" Denon AVR-4311CI/AVR-A100 thread [NO PRICE TALK] - Page 657

Okay cool thanks, gotcha.

I'm going to order one off of amazon tonight along with that adapter.

I have to say that if I sprung off my 4311 to the 4520 I don't know if I could ever forgive myself.

God bless anyone else who has, as it's a fantastic AVR, but I simply cannot justify spending another $1000 to LOSE digital inputs to the zones and gain virtually nothing of consequence, elsewhere.

The 4311 will live on for at least another year for me...what a machine!

James

^^^

eventually, all is forgiven...

if you find the right buyer for your existing unit, it won't cost you $1k to "upgrade"...

I was looking at the spec sheet for the 4520 and comparing to the 4311 on the Denon site the other day and was surprised to find that the 4520 does not decode HDCD's, whereas the 4311 does. So another "point" in favor of the 4311!

+1 on this. Unless there's a discernable improvement in capturing a flatter bass response with multiple subs (and in my case, also powered 'mid-bass' for my DefTech mains and center) in the crossover region by running Audyssey Pro with the 4520 vs. the 4311, and better handling of room reflections and the time domain than in the 4311, I'm sticking with the older AVR. I've only had it for a mere eight months anyway.

The other stuff like multizone HDMI, 4K passthrough, and matrix switching isn't that interesting at the moment. There's other new toys that want first dibs on my credit cards.

Having said that, I'm expecting a 'resistance is futile' message from the usual suspect....

You not only have great taste in AVR's, but in speakers as well. I am running four Def Tech bipolar towers, plus their new center(powered)!

@stuart...

the dalek may yet arise from it's slumber... first, the big empty spot in my rack needs to be filled again... that yammy neohd thingie lacks a certain amount of, ummm, size... works though... to a certain level, anyway...

Funny, that's what I said about my 5700 (purchased in '98) when the 5800 and 5803 came out. Ended up retiring the 5700 just a few months ago for the 4311!

Thanks! FYI I've got only three powered DefTech's, and they're not bipolar as such: Mythos ST fronts, CS-8080 center, and Gem XL rears (although I reserve the right to swap them for something else in the Mythos or BP line at some point, and move the Gems to FW or FH duty).

With two HSU ULS-15 subs I think I've got more than enough bass coverage, particularly if you think of the center as filling some dips in mid-bass coverage in the 80 Hz - 200 Hz region due to the integration of the powered and non-powered section of the Mythos. It's a bit of a labor of love to integrate them optimally in our room (I couldn't have done it without the OmniMic, frankly), but it's worth it at the end of the day.
Edited by sdrucker - 11/1/12 at 10:06pm

Sounds like my experience. I retired my 5600 purchased in 1997(!) for the 4311 when I bought it in 2010. I gave the 5600 to a friend, and it's still going strong.

My personal Dalek would have a Lumagen head rather than a Denon for the moment...which is a different story altogether.

You're gonna need a certain amount of objectivity to sell the 4520, though...not just the shiny new toy paradigm. But ultimately the metaphorical dam may burst. We're still in the bleeding edge adaptor phase here.....

Won't Apple TV replace some of your need for the Yammy once you get the 4520 up and running? Or is it giving you something above and beyond what ATV will do with an AVR?

If you're looking for AIO media center, there's always the Dune....

Hi,
I have the Denon A100 and the OPPO-103 in the main room (audio nirvana). I need another AVR for my den. I can either get another Denon 4311 (discounting rapidly) or a Pioneer SC 65 which will get me the ALAC/AIFF that I desperately want and gapless by their guranteed Winters upgrade. I dont see my future with a 4520. I don't see any breakthru on the Denon with an ALAC improvement. Any thoughts as I see the Pioneer a generation ahead at the moment?
dave

A question on the 4311 Video processing front. I currently have an OPPO-93 connected via HDMI to the 4311 and then HDMI to my TV. I have the 4311 set to just pass the video signal without any processing (for the Oppo). This, of course, means I don't get any of the 4311 menu's overlayed on the video playing from the Oppo (such as volume control). I am doing this because I believe the Oppo's upscaling does a fine job and I don't need any extra processing from the 4311.

That said, if I could force the Oppo to always output 1080p and then turned on video processing in the 4311 JUST to get the on screen overlay would I be seeing any video processing/upscaling at all? I guess I am wondering if the the Oppo is already outputting 1080p is there anything left to be processed/upscaled?
Edited by gtm73 - 11/1/12 at 8:40pm

^^
Note that you can set the "i/p Scaler" setting to OFF to avoid any upscaling but still leave the "Video Convert" setting to ON to enable the GUI overlay.

Depending on your requirements for the Den setup, you can get a Denon XX13 "CI" model and get the gapless ALAC/FLAC now.

lol... "cal-i-brate! cal-i-brate!"...

yea, i don't expect (actually, i'd be very shocked) to be able to come across any "objective" rationale (other than any features you might use) for upgrading... i cannot lie, this is a "want", not a "need"... although if i was you, i'd unsubscribe to the 4520 thread...

still using the atv (and the mac mini, ftm) and will continue to do so... i'm only using the yammy (it was sitting in the pile of misfit a/v equipment ) to power the speakers, since the a100 sold too fast and the 4520 isn't here yet (the 5800 that is in the pile doesn't have hdmi, it would be a royal pita to retrofit it in to only use it for a few weeks)... it actually works remarkably well for that, although i have to be careful with the volume knob... once the 4520 gets here, it'll return to the emergency parts pile...

not that i didn't "know" this before, but using a unit that doesn't do "good" eq in the modal region really highlights the value of xt32... once you are "used to" proper bass, non-proper bass sticks out like a sore thumb...

go ahead and turn on the video convert so you can get the overlay... the unit does not molest the signal when it does the overlay... i used my a100 as a switch to feed my lumagen, and the testing i did shows no issues with straight passthrough in this way...

Thanks JD,
I'm not keeping up on my research fast enough and will check it out.
dave

Thanks Guys. So I went looking in the manual to try to figure out exactly what "Video Convert" does....As best I can tell it is to make sure that different "types" of video inputs (component, HDMI, S-Video) all play nicely together with the "type" of video output. Obviously my question/concern was that Video Convert would manhandle the signal somehow.

ccotenj, what tests could I do to make sure that nothing is getting modified? I don't have any video calibration tools other than the AVS test patterns, the Spears & Munsil calibration BluRay and my eyes. Any suggestions of what I can go looking for? What did you do?

Everyone, so what exactly is Video Convert doing if it isn't molesting the video signal? Is it JUST providing the GUI overlay?

^^^

if you don't have measurement equipment, just "visual" checks with some of the patterns available on the spears & munsil disk...

i'm "picky" about video*... if it molested it in any way, it would not be routed through the avr...

* i'm not alone there... if there were issues with the osd overlay causing problems, "we" would have beaten it endlessly in this thread...

It converts an analog video signal to HDMI which includes the GUI overlay which is 480i.

it is PROCESSING the video signal but that doesn't mean it is "molesting" it

think of it this way: the Video Convert setting is the on/off switch for the entire video processing "block" in the receiver. If the Video Convert setting is turned OFF, then the video signal completely circumvents the video processing block and just passes straight through. This means that video signals cannot be cross-converted to a different format (e.g. composite > HDMI) and it also means the video processor cannot overlay graphics, nor can it administer tweaks like brightness, contrast, chroma, etc. (found in the "Picture Adjust" menu).

the i/p scaler is just a specific SUBSET of the video processing block that has one function -- changing of resolution (scaling). This feature has its own on/off switch so you can separate the general video processing functions from the specific scaling function.

so if you want to cross-convert analog video, or make tweaks to brightness/contrast/etc., have the GUI and volume graphics overlay, but do NOT want to make any changes to resolution, turning Video Convert ON with i/p scaler OFF will accomplish this. Turning Video Convert OFF will "guarantee" that the video signal isn't "molested", but it just so happens that this receiver doesn't do any "harm" when the video convert is enabled. If you have Video Convert ON with all of the Picture Adjust settings set at their default "0" values, the picture should still pass through untouched while allowing the video processing block to overlay graphics.

While looking thru the specifications, I notice that there is a Standby Mode of.1 W and a CEC Standby Mode of 2.2 W. I normally just turn mine on/off from my Harmony Remote as needed. Is Standby of any use? If I leave it on Standby and just happen to hit Airplay on my PC I assume itunes would play thru the Denon. Could it save on some of the relay switching wear and tear if I place it on Standay-or should I just leave it alone?
dave

when you "turn it off" from your Harmony remote you ARE putting it into Standby. The only way to actually turn it off completely is to unplug it.

OK, I see. Thanks
dave

what's sad is that your old piece of crap receiver you conned me into buying is STILL sitting in the garage as I have not had a chance to hook it up yet! my audyssey pro kit gets here on Monday(of course) but I hope to get your A100 up and running while the wife is out tonight...

^^^

geez, if i had known you going to bother using it, i woulda, ummm, run into shipping difficulties... and taken that opportunity to abuse it some more...

fingers crossed that it survived the tender mercies of fedex...

@batpig...

you always give a much more complete response than i do...

With the weather you had, you could have totally gotten away with the shipping delays!
Sitting at the pool waiting for my son to finish up and then home to install that bad boy!
Just wish the audyssey kit would have made it today instead of Monday..

HELP NEEDED..... I want to access my 'media server' PC but the 4311 (via the NET/USB input) says "Not Authorized" against the media server name.
What does this mean (apart from no access) and how do I fix it. I get access to this PC and files across the Win 7 network via my Divco and an Aldi multi-media box at two other locations so why not via the Denon? Is it the dreaded Win 7 network demons still at work? I am perplexed.