The "Official" Denon AVR-4311CI/AVR-A100 thread [NO PRICE TALK] - Page 98

In my case I see the problem with output from my HDI Dune base 3.0 media player as well, this is with 1080p /24 hz output. HDMI signal info in the receiver lists, 1080p/24 -> 1080p/24, 4:4:4 -> 4:4:4 and 8 bits in and out.
I have a replacement unit inbound for end of next week, will be interesting to see if there are any differences (one hdmi output is dead, so need replacement even if blue rain is firmware)

DSD inherently has very low noise w/in the audio band but increasingly high noise above the audio band (i.e. >20 kHz). Unless it is low pass filtered, that ultrasonic noise remains in the signal even when converted from DSD directly to analog or decimated from DSD first to PCM and then converted to analog.

The ultrasonic noise shaping may not be the cause of the problem. But it is a key differentiator between CD converted to analog and SACD converted to analog. And, in a poorly implemented ADC or preamp, it could cause non linear behavior.

AJ

Yep... I'm guessing bad chip or worse something needing firmware upgrade of some sorts. Let Denon know your exact problem. I don't know the Dune mediaplareat all but understand it has a fairly big following.

SeattleHTGuy. Thanks for the response. I promise you it's not an ATI problem. BEFORE getting my slick fanless ATI 5570 (our set ups really are very alike) I used both optical and coax S/PDIF output to the 4311 and each had the audio drop problem. This was with Realtek drivers. The ATI HDMI output is behaving exactly the same way.
Also, I update to the most recent drivers before posting problems anywhere.

Even though I know hdmi has nothing to do with the issue the following explains what I'm doing with the hdmi connection as it may be useful for others.
Using Reclock, I'm outputting unmodified audio through WASAPI in exclusive mode. Here's some info on WASAPI. Emphasis mine.
Basically, I'm passing the untouched audio stream out the hdmi cable to the 4311 where it can do all the processing. Why pay $1000-$2000 for audio equipment if something else is going to do the processing? :-)

I've listened to almost all the audio/video formats you mention above without issue as well. I really think this is a Dolby Digital Stereo problem. My HD-PVRs are now set to record the full DD 5.1 audio signal. This will be a good test of the theory. If we don't get drop outs during this week of TV watching we'll have it narrowed to DD Stereo.

Thank you for the clarification. Sounds like something Denon tech support needs to answer.

Hi, just wanted to report back I think I figured all this out. I went into audessey check and used "restore" to get back the most recent auto run. From here, I set the front 3 speakers to "small", and changed their crossover to 80hz (left the surrounds at 100hz). Played both a BD and DVD movie and they were still very, very quiet (I have my ps3 slim set to pass audio via bitstream). Tooling around in the denon menus, I found the MultiEQ settings, and wala, it defaulted to "off". Unlike last time, it had an option for both Audessey and Audessey Flat, so I selected Audessey. I think I didn't have those options last time as I adjusted the sub volume (gave it +3db so it wouldn't be as rumbly). The Audessey MultiEQ setting gave me a little more volume, then selected the dynamic audio options and set dynamic volume to "day" - now it sounds much louder; if that's set to off or any of the other settings, volume is very quiet. Am I doing this right?

In that same sub-menu area, I found the "dolby volume" option. If that's set, then MultiEQ gets turned off, so obviously the two cannot exist together.

Are there any other settings I'm missing?

Thank you for your time!

Geez AJ, are you trying to make me feel ripped-off about spending a fortune replacing my $500 Onkyo AVR, which apparaently had a better implemented preamp??? Well it's working.......

So many options! I think expensive should equal simpler.

I dunno why Audyssey turned all of my speakers down so much??? I ran it a second time and it reduced my fronts by 9db and my centre by 8db. I am struggling to understand this

At least there is a section to manually change 2 channel and stereo settings manually, so I did and for now have left the Audyssey settings for HT.

All the options wouldn't be so bad if they were a little more organized.. it's like the menu was designed by an engineer..

I read in audessey setup faq thingy, apparently after audessey setup runs, it only sets up your speaker distances. Then you have to manually go and set the "curves" that were calculated (I think these are to help make the best of your room acoustics?); i.e. it doesn't automagically set those curves for you. The options are in the main menu in the audio/video->audio->audessey. From what I've experienced, you won't have the options available if you increased the dB manually per speaker, just a heads up.

Hope that helps..

I lost AC-3 audio input (the input channel indicators went out) while watching television. This is a (sadly) somewhat common problem with my DVRs. Normally it's missing in the source (the AVR will report an AC-3 signal but there's no sound) but tonight a quick rewind fixed the problem. I'm fairly sensitive to this and I'm confident it's first time it's happened since I've been using HDMI (the last three years).

4311 users, I must be missing something. How do you get the HDMI from my television to feed back the audio to my AVR? I assumed (possibly wrongly) that the monitor out was two-way and when set to "TV" the signal would be audio only back.... is this not the case?

I can also confirm the existence of the blu rain phenomenon on a sony es1000 and a ps3 this evening being projected by a calibrated (6 months ago) pioneer fpj1 @ 1080p24 for both sources. It is 100% repeatable in the same scene with either source while watching The blu version of Jonah Hex. For me it was during a preview of inception (dark scene) and again during a similar dark scene at the start of the movie.

The issue does not present itself when connecting either source to a pioneer 1120 or direct to the pj bypassing the A100. I also tested with video convert off in the A100 and again the rain does not present itself( It does if ip set to off and video convert on). NET, the culprit of the odd rain, appears to me at least to be the A100. Especially given that the 1120 did not manifest the same issue with same sources projected by the same pj. The positive thing is that other than in the one initial scene at the beginning the rain wasn't present anywhere else.

Set Anynet+ on your Sammy to ON and set HDMI Control on the 4311 to ON (factory default is OFF). ARC should work with either HDMI Monitor Out jack.

Well, I just spent the day watching movies and I need to correct my statement regarding the blue rain only happening on 720 res or less. I am getting the blue dots on 1080p as well, from the new DBP-A100 I just got. The difference is that at lower res, the blue rain is much more prevalent, while at 1080p it only showed up a few times and only in very black, dark scenes. Everything else is the same - turn off video convert, and the blue dots go away.

On a positive note, I've had no audio drop outs, though I've had issues with the audio when first switching to a new source. However, once I get the sound on, it stays on.

On my defective 4311, I started having the "Blue Rain" issue in the last 2 days before my audio L and R became garbled and the unit became unusable. I don't recall posting about it because I was waiting on a replacement and thought it was part of my no GUI issue.

I took a bit of grief when I first posted about my video issues and I felt that Denon had a serious issue on their hands. Maybe they do, or maybe it was the first run of units and only a small percentage of those.

I would be curious to hear manufacture dates for all those expereiencing video issues along with serial numbers (doesn't have to be exact but even 6xx would be helpful for example.)

FilmMixer,

After doing some additional testing of the video characteristics of the A100 this evening I would have to agree. If video convert is on and or you are not using game mode some degradation is present. I have seen colorspace shifts and this rain affect on both my pioneer 141 and fpj1 when the A100 is inserted in the chain from multiple sources. I am not sure if this is software or hardware but it's definitely repeatable and can be attributed to the A100 as cause.

I would probably think differently if the A100 wasn't supposed to be uniquely tested as affirmed prior to shipping. The fact that it supposedly was doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. If I was one of the original offendees my apologies. Looks like your original position was dead on there is def some video issues with these units, hopefully it's a defective something in the production components and denon can solve quickly.

serial number for my A100 is 0101500121

Ok, anyone getting this on the old stock 4311? I might of missed this... Other than film mixer's first unit.

FLAC happy in Seattle..

I do not have golden ears. Never said I did, never will. Having said that, I can tell the difference between a moderately compressed MP3 or Apple smashed track. When I upgraded my mains, I got quite a bunch of free pretty spiffed up cool FLAC albums (oops tracks ... Dating myself) from Peter Gabriels production company. So.... Being an admitted video/movie guy, I do sometimes pull out some music and just listen a bit. I wanted to try tunes with nothing but my 803s, two ASW 2500s.

As a refresher, I use to own the 4810 and loved it, other than 4 of them giving their life to my media room. so, I listened to some Dianna Krall, Dave Mathews and mostly Julianna Raye. She is a sort of quiet bar singing gal discovered by Gabriel. I could go on forever but, to the chase. the 4810 sounded fantastic in simple 2 channel stereo playing 24 bit FLAC files...... from my perspective, the 4311 was identical. The track "Slowly" put her at the mic, in my room 7 feet away. The Piano playing to the right and the drum slightly in the back. Bass Strings thumping along as well. lossless audio is da bomb and with the 4311 basically just doing it's DAC thing only. I am happy. Really, no esoteric is going to do much better. I do have to say, I am using two 500 watt + mono blocks but other than the effortless traits they bring to amplification, I just listened to most of this material at - 20 to - 15 db reference. This is a bit higher though with no EQ and high gain Emotiva's.

Bottom line, if you are 2 channel, lights out audiophile, the 4311 should not disappoint. It may not beat the vacuum tube or pure Class A 300 lb amplifier with Buddha blessed cabinetry but it is very good gear. right now listening to a fantastically positioned guitar on "Summer On My Mind" by Raye.

oh yah, MP3s sounded pretty decent and I haven't tried the restorer function before or ever. They do need some help.

Are you experiencing any anomalies with your replacement 4311? I ask because I too have a 4311 from the first run and am beginning to experience some weird things. I get random audio/video dropouts, which I haven't had until this weekend. Video convert randomly stops working (menu and volume control won't display over HDMI) until I turn the 4311 off/on or switch inputs. This may or may not be an issue with the 4311, but when watching some TV shows the quality seems to fade in and out. Kinda hard to explain. Its not pixelation... but its not blue either.

I'm not looking forward to sending this thing back in to EE for a replacement.

First of all, for the people that just bought a Audyssey pro kit, or for the previous owners of a kit that just got their new version of the software and the device key that supports these new Denons. Is that the new software that does offer the support, was only released on Friday, and they have had relatively very little time to work with it a lot. In which case many of them may not have had much time with running it to arrive at the optimal setup yet.
So you may want to re-think that idea that the addition of having Audyssey Pro can only a small or slight difference, or even worse, that it's just a placebo. Because it certainly has the potential to offer way more than just a being little bit better.

For example, look at this post made by streetsmart88 in the Audyssey thread, about his preliminary experience so far with running Audyssey Pro on his 4311. It sure looks pretty positive to me, and I would wager that with some more time he will get it setup even better.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post19445182

I do have exactly the same bug with ..

AVR-A100 EU



Maveric

Knock on wood, so far, no problems. I was one of the firsts with a 4311. Maybe it is all of you guy's cables. I know I would never need 3d, but upgraded all my cables to hdmi 1.4 with ethernet from monoprice, just in case. I will update if I get any anamolies......

Please

Not that I am - But GREAT to know

are you using 44khz flacs or studio master 192khz?

so far so good with my AVR-A100: no blue rain or audio dropouts but I do have a couple of minor issues that I think are my setup errors:

--Black levels seem slightly higher (worse): have not done any video recalibration yet

---RS232 commands for some input sources do not always work

I completed a couple of Audyssey runs and it gave consistent results: it reported both my fronts and center were out of phase but I skipped that knowing they were correct

This is the first device I have found that can play FLAC files perfectly from my Olive 4HD music server complete with cover art: a big plus for me

I had the black levels being off as well. If you leave video convert off or in game mode they are better.

Fellow forum members. How do you setup the AVR to watch TV while in standby mode. I thought I had it figured out, but according to my wife I don't. To say Denon owners manual is not the most intuitive would be an understatement. If someone could outline the steps or point me to the page number in the owners manual that would be greatly appreciated.


Willie

Can't point to the page as the manual isn't posted on line yet ....

Set HDMI Control to ON (default is OFF and the power ring will glow "red" when the unit is in Standby to indicate HDMI Control is ON) and then set the HDMI Standby Source to either LAST or whatever HDMI jack the source you want to pass is connected to. Also you'll likely have to set the HDMI-CEC in the TV to OFF.

This looks like it is indicating a bad chip. I'd get a different one. Don't know what else to say but if it's all source material.... with Video Convert on, well..... probably not EDID issue. Which I kind of figured as most of these problems lose audio or all video and don't give rain stuff on screen.

How are you playing flacs with the 4311?