The Official Sony STR-DH820 Thread

got this one the other day. It is my very first receiver so hardly can compare it to other ones in the market. but it gets the job done for me in my living room. does all the things as described in the manual without any hiccups. be it ipod control, surround sound from my dvd and imac along with sound from ota channels. integrates greatly with my bravia tv. only thing that i m having problems with is standby video/audio passthrough. for some reason the tv says no signal in corresponding inputs if i turn off my receiver while playing from the dvd player or imac. but i will be messing around with it more

I don't know why there's no discussion of the Sony receivers. I have the DH810 as my first receiver. Except for the assignment of the inputs per the remote being silly, I have no complaints.

I also have the dh 810. Does a wonderful job.

nvm..i got the hdmi passthru to work flawlessly. it was off by default under settings :S

Can anyone tell me which sound field is the best option for getting the best sound? there are about 10-15 different sound fields.

right now i am using the H.D.DCS (i think its called). there are other ones like afd auto, mult st, etc etc


P.S. i absolutely love this receiver's look (it looks kinda geeky and high end with all the exposed buttons in the front :P)and the performance is amazing too for my need. Watched Battle los angeles and source code and lovedddd the experience. next in line is master and commander

I bought this receiver a month or so ago and am pretty happy with it so far. For the price it's a good deal, especially if you were able to get it on sale at amazon or Vanns. I think it's the only receiver in it's price range to support both a USB in for iPods/media and up conversion for video. I had to have up conversion since we're still using a 5 disk DVD/CD changer for both audio and video and the Wife can't/won't learn to change inputs on both the TV and the Amp. I think the up conversion on my DVD player looks fantastic- no issues so far, although I do let the DVD output a 480p signal so I'm not doing all up conversion in the amp. If you are still holding on to some analog sources, this is a good choice, especially since it has two component inputs (Denon 1912 only has one, for example).

My only real complaint so far is the drop in volume when I switch between a 2.1 and a 3.1 listing mode. I knew it did not have discrete amplifiers, but I did not expect to be able to tell the difference in volume from adding just one additional speaker (and I'm not playing them anywhere near max wattage).

I'm using the A.F.D auto mode for TV, p. audio for streaming from my Airport Express, and H.D. DCS for movies.

I've read reviews that people couldn't get their component 1 input to work if HDMI 1 was already in use. Has anyone come across this problem? I don't know this receiver but was very interested in it because I will be able to use Bravia Sync and it has a phenomenal price point. This would be one solid reason not to buy it though.

I have the dh-820,as long as the component hooked into hdmi 1 is OFF,then component input will work.Or you can reassing an hdmi input to another input such as video 2,or some other unused input.Just remember to use the hdmi input that you reassinged push that button on the remote such as video 2.

Great, thanks! That's good news, I'm excited to upgrade my audio system from the HTiB I have but continue to use the dvd player cause it's a 5-disc and still works great. I've already assumed thr 2x optical-in and digital in can be assigned to anything.

My inputs would be PC with digital audio out, dvd player, wii, ps2, and possibly a vcr. I'm excited!

for isrararrafi

do NOT use any of the stupid sony predefined sound fields. they are horrible.

i have a few year old model ES sony receiver and have several posts on how to set up these sony's for listening and configuring these receivers for your different surround sound settings. if you want full explanations i have posts under the strda-da2400ES.

but, here is the core of what you need to do and look for. most people actually NEVER set up their sony correctly. let me break some of the confusion.

1) when you set up your receiver for the amount and configuration of your speakers you are actually either turning on or off certain surround sound codecs built into the sony.

2) look at your remote and you will see a button usually called AFD (some of the newer remotes might use 2 buttons labeled Sound Field). This is the most important button on your remote in terms of surround sound. this button will determine what happens INSIDE the sony's built in logic on how to output audio to the speakers - but depending on how you configure your surround sound settings.

3) let me break down the 3 options when you press the AFD button or Sound Field Buttons.

when you hit this button you are switching the audio codecs inside the sony. here is a break down:

a) this one is critical to understand and throws people off bad some times. if your audio source is output from it's source a MULTI CHANNEL audio then the blue light comes on. What is multi channel to sony? It is anything that has a subwoofer channel combined with at least 2 channels of audio (2.1, 5.1, 7.1) or 4 channel audio (4.0). What is NOT and will not turn on the blue light? anything that is standard 2 channel audio (2.0) as well as LPCM.

but, the sony has surround sound options for all of these.

b) for MULTI CHANNEL audio - when multi channel audio is input sony uses PASS THROUGH on the audio and does NOT convert the audio unless you force it. If you have an audio source that is 5.1 of any variety sony will output to the speakers exactly as the sound engineer intended. that means your back speakers might not always be on depending on when the audio engineer wants them to play. that can be good and be bad for some people. If the blue light is ON there is nothing you can do. you must listen to it the way it was intended. you CAN mess with the stupid sound effects sony has built in but they completely screw up the audio so bad they are dumb. you can push the AFD button or the Sound Field buttons and the blue light should stay on the sound should not be affected unless you get into the stupid sony sound effects.

c) for NON multi channel audio such as 2 channel audio and LPCM you have a TON of options. each sony, depending on the model with the lower end models having some features stripped out, you can have the sony "emulate" surround sound and you have quite a few options.

when you push the AFD button or the Sound Field buttons you will be given options such as AFD, Multi Stereo, E-Surround (on some models), Analog Direct (if not a different button completely). For the E-Surround this might be a feature shown and on some newer models they eliminate the E-Surround and show the individual settings that were originally under the E-Surround option. so it depends on the sony you have as what is shown but effectively each sony will do the same thing in the end.

AFD: what goes in comes out. I do NOT recommend leaving your sony on AFD because I think most people who have surround sound want to be able to hear audio on their rear speakers and other speakers such as center channel when there is only 2 channel audio or LPCM audio input. If you leave it on AFD then when 2 channel audio is input or LCPM is input you will ONLY hear the front 2 speakers. when there is multi channel audio input and the blue light comes on then you are outputing the multi channel stereo as normal and it is not affected and the rear speakers and other speakers will play when they are supposed to play. AFD basically says what is input is what is output. The "A" is "auto" and that means it automatically does what is supposed to do.

Multi-Channel: I actually prefer this option. When you have 2 channel audio or LCPM then it takes that 2 channel audio and duplicates the 1 left channel on all left speakers and the 1 right channel on all right speakers. effectively you now hear audio on all the rear speakers. if you have Sirius or XM or you are listening to AM/FM radio you are going to get 2 channel audio or LCPM so this option allows you hear all speakers play those 2 audio channels. same with Xbox or Playstation that have just standard left and right audio outputs. you can now hear that standard 2 channel audio on all your speakers.

E-Surround (if shown as an option) or ProLogic or Neo options:
This is my favorite setting. In the slightly older sony models you had to make a permananent selection in the sony GUI screen and you had to choose between 1 Dolby ProLogic option -or- Neo6 option. Depending upon the speaker configuration you are going to be given most likely 1 ProLogic option because each ProLogic option is based on specific speaker configurations. I believe x is 5 channel and z is 7 channel, etc. Neo6 to many people actually sounds better. Both ProLogic and Neo6 do effectively the same thing - that is they take NON multi channel audio and process the audio and try to break up the audio into a "simulated" or "enhanced" surround sound. Neither option works when there is a multi channel audio exists - only when there is 2 channel audio or LPCM. I personally think Neo6 breaks the sound up better and presents a more realistic rear channel audio - and it is a newer technology. However, you can select back and forth and see what you like best. I suggest finding an older movie or older DVD that is only 2 channel audio and listen to the differences between the 2 option. Maybe a video game too would be better.
(in newer units the ProLogic and Neo6 might be broken out into their own selection options. in slightly older sony units you had to choose between 1 of the 2 in the GUI setup process and it was selected when you select E-Surround)

so, your options are for 2 channel audio and LPCM either Multi Stereo option or E-Surround (if it is shown as an option) or ProLogic or Neo6.

anything that is input as multi channel audio you cannot change (maybe unless you choose the stupid sony sound fields which i say are awful sounding)

so, you can just leave your sony set to either Multi-Stereo or one of the ProLogic or Neo6 options. just leave it set that way. when 2 channel or LCPM is input your selected option will take over. when you have a multi stereo input those selections go away and the sony receiver outputs exactly what is input. so, set your receiver to what you want the 2 channel and LCMP to output as.

Thanks for your response, it's quite informative about Sony's up/downmixing. I ended up purchasing a Yamaha rx-v667, but that description is still useful because my DVD player is a Sony and it gives a better idea of what the different sound modes are than the manual.

Hi all- I actually have the 720, but there's no forum for that so I thought I would post here. Got a problem- my unit will no longer pass thru video after using it for about 3 months. Audio from HDMI and Component sources plays fine, and my Sony TV can still control the receiver, but I get no video from any source. I've checked the cables and the sources and they are all fine when hooked up direct to the TV. I've reset the unit by holding the power button down for 5 sec. but it did not help. This has happened intermittently in the past as my wife has had trouble that I could not reproduce. I assumed that she simply did not know how to operate it yet. Now it appears to be toast. Anyone else have similar problems? Having to get something repaired after only 3 months reflects pretty crappy quality control.

Thanks walkoffhomerun. that was useful for this. I have the STRDG820 and it works great on my previous setup. but i just upgraded to a 3D LG TV and i need passthrough and 3D receiver. So i just ordered the STRGH820. My previous setup was calibrated, and since i use a PS3 slim to bitstream all audio, its good to know that my last settings at MULTI-CHANNEL was right.

i will update this as i get it next week and calibrate it

I have a slight issue with the setup between the STR-DH820 and my old style xbox 360 (the version before hdmi so component connection only).

When i connected the xbox to the component input on the receiver (sat.cbl) I was expecting the 1080P signal to be output by the HDMI but all I was getting was sound from the optical and no picture. However my component cable has a switch on it that lets me switch back to SD if i switch this i then get a picture as the unit upscales the SD to HDMI.

It seems odd to me that only upscaled images can be output from the component to HDMI process. I would have expected the system to be able to send a component signal that is already 1080P out of the HDMI too. Has anybody else had this issue or am I missing something?

This is not a major issue as I have a spare component cable now running from the receiver to the tv and it works fine, but it does mean that my xbox is on a separate AV connection to everything else and it would be nice to have everything switchable by the receiver alone.

In the xbox360 instructions it clearly says the component connections only product 1080i playback, although you can use this connection on some TV's and have your settings on 1080p they really only reproduce 1080i pictures, so changing your settings will solve your problem, good luck

I purchased this receiver a month ago, and am experiencing a number of problems:

1. I have a wii connected via component cable to component in BD-DVD channel, which works perfectly most the time. However when playing Mario party 8, the picture periodically drops out leaving a black screen and sound only for 5-10 seconds. This is the only game that does this.
2. I have a cheap freesat HD box connect to the HDMI SA-CATV channel. When I switch inputs to this channel I get no picture (black or green screen) and no sound. If I switch the box off and on again it will work normally.
3. When I switch the freesat box on, the AV receiver mutes itself and outputs sound from the telly. The remote locks up (RM setup button flashes red) and I have to turn the volume dial on the front of the receiver to get sound back through the amp.
4. The receiver is receiving LPCM from the freesat HD box, don't think this is right? The box is set to HDMI audio output and dolby digital, but I only ever get 2.1 from it.

I'm sure these problems are related to the set-up of the amp (and not a fault), any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Why does my STR-DH820 receiver now display "LPCM 48..." when it used to display Dolby Digital 5.1 or 5.0 or 2.0 etc. when watching my motorola cable box DCT3400? I'm not sure what I did to make it change to LPCM but, how do I get it to go back to decoding and displaying Dolby digital? All connections from the cable box and PS3 to the receiver ar HDMI and HDMI out to TV.

It has to be a setting on your Motorola box. The receiver decodes whatever is being sent to it.

Make sure your Motorola box is set to output Dolby Digital instead of L-PCM. I think you need to set it to Auto.

The manual is here. Try page 16.
http://www.motorola.com/staticfiles/..._Guide_New.pdf

Thanks, I'll check it tonight although I never changed it's settings from my initial connection to the receiver and it was displaying dolby digital 5.1 but now only reads LPCM...strange that it changed output formats on it's own

is it possible to add networkf features to sony dh820 amp with purchasing a sony bdp 590 blu ray player?
this blu ray player has network features.

worst thing about dh820 is it has no network features.with asony bdp 590 will it be as good as an onkyo about network?

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=BDPS590

Hello all, recently purchased this receiver. Very happy with it just got a question - can you save the sound field used for each input? For example when i switch between 'TV' to 'GAME' and back to 'TV' the sound field will have changed back to HD DCS when I want it set to AFD auto for this input and keep it like that without it reverting back when I switch between inputs!

G'day Duncan, I have also recently bought a DH820 and have just set it up. As far as I can see, the sound field for each input is automatically saved whenever selected. I selected a suitable sound field for each of my five inputs, and whenever I go to a particular input, the previously selected sound field is still there.

Changing the subject slightly, I have programmed my DH820 remote to control all of my devices (which are Sony Bravia sync.), and when I got the hang of it, using the one remote control for everything works brilliantly. However, my Hard Disc Recorder is an HDT1000 and on its own remote control it has an "INFO" button exactly where the GUI button is on the DH820 remote. There doesn't seem to be an "INFO" button on the DH820 remote. There are two remote control models, the RM-AA061 for USA and Canada and the RM-AA062 for elsewhere. On the RM-AA061 remote, button #20 is shown in the Manual as displaying information. But with my RM-AA062 remote (because Australia is elsewhere) this function does not display information. Is there anyone who has any idea of how to get "info" if we don't live in USA or Canada?

And another thing that someone might be able to help with. It is the "stuck on zone 2" issue.

If you inadvertently press the ZONE button, thereby activating zone 2, page 67 of the manual says how to "exit the zone 2 operation" by pressing ZONE then the main green standby button.

Well, this does not fix the problem, as others have discovered and reported on various other forums around the internet. It seems that it is the remote control that gets stuck on zone 2, not the amplifier.

The claimed "fix" is to remove the batteries from the remote, press every button once and then replace the batteries. This does fix the immediate problem, but surely it is not satisfactory in the long term.

Does anyone have a better solution to the problem, or some way that the zone 2 function can be disabled? Thanks from Brian in Australia.

HI MATE I HAD THE SAME PROB WITH THE ZONE STAYING ON AND HAVE NOW SORTED IT OUT AND HOPE THIS HELPS..............PRESS THE ZONE BUTTON THEN KEEP YOUR FINGER ON THE MAIN POWER BUTTON TILL THE ZONE LIGHT ON THE AMP GO,S OF WHEN IT GO,S OFF PRESS AND HOLD BOTH ...RM SETUP AND ..AVI POWER AFTER THE LIGHT COMES ON ON THE RM SETUP PRESS THE ENTER/MEM BUTTON AND THIS WILL PUT THE REMOTE BACK TO NORMAL OPP AND THE ZONE LIGHT ON THE AMP WILL BE GONE

Thanks Bry, I'll try that next time. I hope that reset doesn't affect the custom button assignments for various inputs. Thanks again.

In the last few months, I have turned the receiver "on" and get no sound output - this has only happened about five or six times and in each case if I turn the receiver "off" and then back "on" again all works as it should and sound is perfect. Has this happened to anyone else?

G'day ergo,

I have frequently noticed the same thing. Actually, when there is no sound, if you look at the front of the receiver you'll notice that it has gone to MUTING.

You can unmute it, without having to turn it off and back on again, by pressing the mute button or either the + or - sound button. But this doesn't fix the issue because it goes to mute gain the next time you use the equipment when using the normal turn on procedure, which is hitting your selected white input button and then the small green button (to turn on the input equipment if Bravia synced).

I haven't figured out exactly what causes it, but I have noticed that this starting up muted thing occurs after you have been changing inputs back and forth, going in and out of GUI mode, or otherwise doing something out of the ordinary.

And you are correct, the only way of getting the receiver to snap out of this is to turn it off then on again using the large green button ............... until next time it happens.

First posting so apologies if it's in the wrong place. Can anyone advise on how to prioritise the HDMI signals for pass through. EG .we generally watch TV through a Humax which would be the default HDMI for pass thru with the second HDMI channel ( Sony PS3) used occasionally for DVDS and Net browsing (iplayer etc) . Can the unit be set to default to the Humax as the Pass thru channel or does the sony work on the basis of which channel is active in other word do we have to turn off the HDMI input that is not required for pass thru.

many thanks

First posting so apologies if it's in the wrong place. Can anyone advise on how to prioritise the HDMI signals for pass through. EG .we generally watch TV through a Humax which would be the default HDMI for pass thru with the second HDMI channel ( Sony PS3) used occasionally for DVDS and Net browsing (iplayer etc) . Can the unit be set to default to the Humax as the Pass thru channel or does the sony work on the basis of which channel is active in other word do we have to turn off the HDMI input that is not required for pass thru.

many thanks