The "OFFICIAL" Pioneer Elite VSX-52 / 53 Owner's Thread - Page 37

Hey guys, need some help here.

I picked up a VSX-53 for a screaming price (close out). I have a Samsung 8000 series LED TV, a XBOX, a Samsung BD, and my DirecTV connected to the reciever. I get video just fine and my external speakers work but I also want to leverage the speakers from my TV. I have an optical cable directly connected between the receiver and the TV in addition to an HDMI cable. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

If possible I would like to get the speakers working through the TV with both the reciever on or off.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Gymmbo

Hook up the AVR to HDTV using the ARC HDMI ports.
Connect DirectTV via HDMI to the AVR.
To watch TV and not use the AVR just use the TV and DirectTV box. When you want through AVR then you just turn on AVR and ARC will feed the audio signal to the AVR.
I have it setup like this.

don't mind asking where you got the great price? online or BM like BB?

I paid $450 as an open box from Best Buy. I was initially watching out for the VSX-52 to be reduced but I missed that boat and I was contemplating the VSX-53 since it was now reduced to the price of the VSX-52. Then I started talking to one of the sales guys and I started to drool over the SC series with the 4K passthrough technology, even though there is nothing on the market that can take advantage of it. It was just on a casual weekend when I popped into my local BB to just be nosy, saw the VSX-53 open box in the Magnolia center for $750 (from $899) but I wasn't that impressed but then I walked to the general area and there were several open box items including three VSX-53s for $450. I just had to pull the trigger.

BTW, what do you mean ARC HDMI ports. I have my HDMI cable going from the HDMI OUT 1 to the TV. Should I connect the DirecTV box to a specific HDMI input?

You need to look at the manuals. your TV should have one of the HDMI supporting ARC (labeled too perhaps) and follow what I wrote earlier.
check this link on ARC
http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdmi_1_4/arc.aspx

AHHH, RTFM. Got it and found the HDMI ARC port. Will test this weekend. Thanks. I knew it was simple.

I've had my VSX-53 for about 3 weeks. I've worked my way through the setup using the AVnavigator and I'm having one problem.

I was calibrating my TV and the disc has an audio optimizer. When I ran that, when it was supposed to be playing out of my SB speakers it would play out of the SL or SR instead. I got the same result from the Hunger GameBlue Rayay DTS 7.1 sound check.

My settings are
Speaker System- Normal (SB/FH) Surround position is set to Rear. I changed the setting to Side and that reversed everything. Instead of playing out of the of the side the sound comes out of the SB.
On the front of the unit Speaker A is lit. I pushed the Speaker buntil unitl SB:On was lit.

When I did the Full Auto MCACC the sound was coming out of the correct speaker during each test so I know that speaker connections are correct..

Any ideas what setting may be wrong?

Thanks.

Issue resolved.

It turns out not only did I not have the HDMI cable in the correct port on my TV but the cable was only v1.3. 1.4 supports ARC. Holy Christmas what a pain and waste of money shelling out on cables that I didn't need.

must be a really old HDMI cable because all the HDMI cables I have bought in last 3-4 years seems to work with ARC.

Has anyone played around with the RS-232C port on the VSX-53? I'd like to hook it to the computer to control the receiver, but I don't know the control set. I can't find anything published on it. I'm comfortable programming serial communications, but I need to know the commands.

Thx

^^^

here you go...

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/StaticFiles/Custom%20Install/RS-232%20Codes/Av%20Receivers/2011_Pioneer_AVR_IP_&_RS-232_USA%20Models_8.6.xls

Did you ever find a reason why you received the "server error" message? I have the same exact issue as you. It was working for about 6 months and then all of the sudden, I started getting the 'server error" message.

I have set my receiver up but not satisfied with the sound completely. Can anyone share what levels their EQ's are set up at? And yes I did do the auto setup with mic.

^^^

it would be completely pointless to compare "eq levels" with others...

what aren't you "satisfied" with?

describe your setup and room (and dissatsifaction). and help us help you...

Check the MCACC forum. Follow post #1 instructions. It is not straight forward as it may seem. You have to do a few iterations to get optimum results.
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1112470/official-pioneer-mcacc-thread

If you have complaints about the fullness of the sound or missing bass than I recommend follow the instructions in the above 1st post, especially use reverb info to reduce the sampling delay used by MCACC manually. This will make the sound fuller and bring back the bass.

Just picked up the 52 yesterday so I'm still get my connections worked out. I have one question though. I'm using the arc feature with one hdmi cable going fromtv to the receiver with other hdmi connection's like Time Warner cable box & BD to the receiver. My question is, is it possible to listen to audio from the tv without the receiver being turned on? Sorry if this question has already been answered earlier in the thread.

Video signal keeps dropping out, a quick blink every few seconds.
I have an AppleTV via HDMI into the VSX-53 via HDMI into a HItachi P50H401 plasma panel.
There is nothing else connected aside from my surround speakers, and my amp for zone 2.

I can connect my laptop via hdmi to the panel and there is no dropout.
I can connect AppleTV directly to the panel, no dropout.
Both my laptop and AppleTV have video dropout when routed through the VSX-53. I have tried multiple inputs.

I suspect this might be HDCP error related but the message is no longer popping up.

Back when I had just a DVR connected to the 53, there was no dropout. However, that was using component cables.
For a short window of time, I had the dvr via component, and the AppleTV via hdmi, and I would receive the HDCP error message when I attempted to use the AppleTV. Now that I have eliminated the dvr and all component wiring, there's no HDCP error message just the blink every 2-3 seconds.

The HDMI indicator is lit and solid when trying to route through the receiver.

I have restored/updated the AppleTV. The 53 tells me it's firmware is current.

I have tried searching this thread and can't find a solution.
Please help me because the 53 is almost useless now that I have ditched cable and gone to streaming only. The only thing I use it for anymore is to stream Sirius satellite radio

edit: Update- I let the AppleTV sit on screensaver accidently until the panel went into sleep mode(ATV via HDMI directly to panel). Once I awakened it, the skip was back. I tried restarting the A-TV, and also cycled the panel and it made no difference. Now I'm not sure whether the skip is the fault of my VSX-53, or if the panel is causing it. This is getting hard to diagnose.
Edited by shelljeep - 11/8/12 at 4:38am

Finally joined the party and got a Blu-Ray player (yay!). Since I'd had my digital optical cable for only a few months, I didn't want to put it away yet. So, I used that for audio to my VSX-52 (and HDMI for my video to my flat panel). But when I play my BD's, the VSX-52 display only shows "DTS" rather than DTS-HD MA. I double-checked the manual to make sure DTS wasn't just the default acronym even when playing DTS-HD MA, and it wasn't. I also made sure that the BD I was playing had DTS-HD MA available and I had it selected. I did.

So my noob question is, can I only get as high as DTS when using the digital optical cable? Do I need to go HDMI all the way? Thanks in advance. Reagular reader of the forum.

^^^

yes...

connect your bluray player to the avr via hdmi... then connect the avr to the display...

Thanks! I had a feeling that was the case, but needed confirmation.

Guys, I have my avr set up in another room so I was wondering if there is any way to get the volume to overlay on my display via hdmi? I know that the menu does not overlay so I would think that the volume would not overlay either, but I thought I'd ask guys with more knowledge than myself just in case. Not the end of the world if I can't but it would be nice.

Yes, the volume will overlay over HDMI. I don't know exactly how to make it happen though. I think it might require HDMI control be turned on. Sometimes I see the volume on my TV, but sometimes I don't so I don't know the exact setup to make it happen. I just know its possible.

Hey folks,

Hoping someone can help me here to make sure I do this correctly.

I have a VSX52- how do I set up wireless headphones (Sennheiser RS180) using my current reciever? Can someone give me the steps? I haven't checked but I think there is 1 pre-out.

Appreciate any help!
Edited by BellaireAg - 11/15/12 at 4:43pm

Hello everyone,

I would like some information on how to exactly set this baby up. I have had a VSX-53 for almost 3 months now and still can't find the right settings for it. I plan on doing what the MCACC thread suggests, but I do not know what to set the crossover on my setup to. Here is my speaker setup:

Front R/L: Polk Tsi 300
Center: Polk CS20
Rear R/L: Polk Tsi 100
Subwoofer: Polk PSW111

Also, what do I set the video parameters to? I have a PS3 and a DirecTV HD DVR receiver hooked up to the receiver at the moment.

One last thing, which mode should I be listening to when watching movies to hear them as intended. Direct? Pure Direct? Auto? Phase Control?

Thanks!

Most will say xover of 80Hz should be used so you should start off there.
Make sure to set your fronts as small speaker as MCACC will set them Large which is not correct for the cals how ever large they really are.
Also follow the MCACC as described in the first post of the MCACC thread and use reverb to re-cal as many have found that to add more bass to the sound.

Thanks for the response. I see something about reverb in the MCACC thread, but I don't really understand what it means. How would I go about using reverb to recalibrate the sound?

Reverb delay is basically the time delay for the mic to start collecting sound data. This is done to account for some bouncing off the walls etc. duiring calibration so you get optimum output.
My understanding is that default delay setting is around 140-160ms. So when you do the Full Auto MCACC cals that is what delay it uses.
Many think that default delay is too a time especially when mic is only few feet away. Sounds has a chance of way too much reflections etc. causig incorrect cals. This is why usally people end up with thin voice with Auto MCACC due to the bouncing of the sounds that AVR thinks there is too much bass or sound produced and it needs to compensate for it.
Manually lowerring the reverb number you can make the mic collect data earlier before it gets a chance get too many reflections.
People have typically used 20-40ms and 30-50ms with good results. You can try some of the for reverb setting per the 1st post on MCACC thread. Also keep the Full Auto MCACC saved on one of the memory locations so you can have a good reference. Maybe you will like that better.

I picked up the new Super Slim over Black Friday and once I finished the setup, I could not get my Pioneer vsx-50 Receiver to light up the indicator for DTS-MA HD. I am running cheap HDMIs I Picked up from Newegg so I do not know if that may be the case.

I have set my HDMI output to bitstream in the Video Settings and the DTS-MA HD box is ticked when I manually go through the sound settings. I popped in the LOTR Blu-ray and got no sound and the receiver is displaying "STEREO". When I set it to PCM, their is alot of static coming from the speakers. I am running a 5.1 speaker setup and the movie is 6.1 DTS Master HD, can this be the problem?

I checked the track that is being run while watching the movie and it says DTS Master Audio and Multi-Channel 48khz. Anyone have a solution or has experienced this before?

I really don't want to use Linear PCM. It kind of bugs me knowing that I bought a DTSMA-HD and TrueHd compatible receiver and not have it do the decoding. Used Super 8 which has a TrueHD track and still no audio.

^^^

it's not the cables...
it's not the avr...

it's the source... there's still a setting somewhere you are missing... make sure secondary audio is set to off...

fwiw, it really doesn't matter where you unpack the codec... unpacking it in the player and passing pcm is the "same" as passing the packed codec and unpacking it in the avr... lossless is lossless...

Thx for the quick reply,

I'm pretty sure its the pioneer. I bought a blu-ray player that supports DTSMAHD and TrueHD from Target 20 min ago to see if my PS3 is defective but same results. No audio. Tried movies with both soundtracks. VSX-50 diplays "stereo" but plays fine in PCM. It bothers me that I cannot get my AVR to do the decoding, so leaving it at PCM is out of the question.