The "Official" Pioneer Elite SC-61/-63 Owners Forum - Page 2

what is the difference between the sc-61 and sc-63 ? the best buy's in richmond virginia are out of all elite recievers is this just a local problem ?

I guess the SC-63 has some sort of PC set up that installers use, IIRC that is the only difference.

Hey guys Ive had my SC-61 now for about 6 days and love it, I have a question about the MCACC settings and the source. Is it possible to save a certain MCACC memory preset with a specific source. For instance can you set the BD with a MCACC memory setting (lets say #2) and then the Ipad Airplay source to say #3 so that you dont have to go in and manually set the MCACC everytime you switch to a different input? I have it set for a bit more bass on the Ipad.........but its to much for the BD input, MCACC #2 Is the original setting from the mic, and #3 I did a few adjustments for music played in extended stereo! I just dont want to switch back and forth manually everytime I switch the source.

Jeez no one talks about this reciever...........is it poison?

I am looking at the Pioneer Elite SC series (61/65) to replace an old Sony 444ES. I have a 5.1 speaker setup, and want to make sure it has an option to play back music to the fronts and surrounds at the same level. Looking through the manual, it looks like it can using various dolby surround modes, but it is not clear if it can playback all at the same level . Can any PE SC owners confirm?

yes I use extended stereo for that....although I think the center is a bit on the low side but I dont mind it and havent tried to change it!

titan, you only have to do one or two button presses to change the mcacc presets. same to turn that center up when in ext. stereo

Hi All,

I am a new SC-61 owner (set it up Thursday night) so far I am loving it. I replaced an old Pioneer VSX-D710S that had become the oldest thing in my setup. The setup went pretty smooth, I feel like I am picking it up quickly. I do have one question and it is a dumb one, I don't consider myself a newb when it comes to this kind of stuff but this has me stumped.

When playing a Blu-ray I can not get the Thing to decode Dolby True HD or DTS HD. I have it connected to a Sony BDPS350 player with a newer Monoprice HDMI and no dice. I have been through both the Pioneer and Sony player manuals and it looks to me like all is right. It will pick up Dolby Digital and DTS just fine but not the HD formats all it says is PCM. Do any of you have any Ideas for me? I consider myself pretty good with this stuff but I don't know with this one. My thought is I pressed some wrong button during setup that I can figure out. Any help would be appreciated.

Derek

Go into the settings on the Sony and set it to output bitstream.

kt10r-thanks I have done that and it is setup correctly. According to the player manual the audio output needs to be set to direct and it is still showing PCM.

is hdmi audio set to auto?

Yeah HDMI is set for auto, and I have the audio dynamic range control set to wide range. As far as the audio DRC goes it was wide range or auto, I have tried both with no success. I have been through the BD player pretty close as I know it better than the receiver at this time. I am beginning to think it is something I accidentally did to the pioneer if that is possible? Or an HDMI that does not support HD audio don't think the is possible though is it?

PM sent

^^^

make sure you have secondary audio set to "off"...

the issue cannot be with the avr... it doesn't get to pick and choose which codecs it gets, it is completely passive... after the handshake is complete and edid information has been exchanged, it no longer cares... the ONLY way it could be the avr would be for it to be reporting it's edid information wrong, and we "know" this isn't happening, as that would have shown up the day the very first owner hooked theirs up...

it's a player setting somewhere... check the thread for your player in the blu-ray player subforum and you will likely find the answer very quickly...

I just received and set up the amp, i must admit that I am a bit disappointed that zone 2 and 3 will not work off of HDMI. Does anyone understand the amp bypass. I installed the amp last night, watched the football game. turned off the amp and the tv, turned on the TV and I got a no signal message on the TV. This morning, my daughter picks up the tv controller and turns it on, and bypass is working. I see this, I am happy, I try to replicate it, and I can. I then turn the amp on and off, and then turn the tv on then off. I power the tv back up and I get a no signal message from the tv.. I am baffled.

^^^

no avr/pre-pro will send an hdmi source to zone 2/3...

I get that, but when you look at the Pioneer page on the SC61, it does say zone 2-3 support for all the inputs, it does not stipulate that it will not down-convert from HDMI. It had given me hope as almost all my inputs are HDMI. The only content that will be going through zone 2 or 3 is airplay or wifi based.

I have my issue fixed! Thanks kt10r and ccotenj. It was a bd player setting that was wrong.

^^^

cool, another happy customer... enjoy it...

not exactly, look at the manual, specifically about the video converter. you will note that you cannot downconvert from HDMI to analog. it has been this way in all receivers since HDMI came out. and if you really look closely at the page on multizones, nowhere does it include HDMI inputs. I have the SC-68 and it only lists analog audio & video connections as usable inputs for zone 2 & 3.

if you want built-in extra zone support on HDMI, you'll need the SC-67 or 68. Those are the models with Zone 4 HDMI output.

and no, the website & product sheet do not say all inputs, incl HDMI, are supported. what it does do is give a list of all the inputs, nearly all of which have analog inputs and some of which just happen to have HDMI inputs preassigned to them by default. that does NOT mean you get to use the HDMI connection assigned to that input. you've jumped to a erroneous conclusion.

you might do yourself a favor & download & read thru the manual before deciding to buy any receiver. this helps to avoid believing it will do something because that's what you think it should we can help clear up confusion but the manual is the place to start

see attached right from the manual -



what you can do for audio only is use extra channels & speakers in another zone or you can get an external matrix HDMI switcher (4x2 for example) that can send a source to multiple outputs.

if you really need a 2nd zone support for HDMI, again the SC-68 & 67 will give you that & the ability to have 2 different sources playing at same time to the main zone & zone 4. but ccotenj is right, HDMI cannot be downconverted in the receiver nor does the 61 do what you think it can do. without adding a straight HDMI switcher or matrix distribution switchers, no receiver can do this.
Edited by ss9001 - 12/10/12 at 3:44pm

^^^

yup... wasn't gonna bother pointing out why he "read what he wanted to hear" rather than "read what it was actually telling him"...

btw, sure would be nice if all those pio owners who like to complain endlessly about our "gripes" and their "missing software" would provide technical support to their fellow users...

+1

@ss9001 thanks for the clarification on the manual I searched through the manual for a number of fine points during set-up, it is quite thorough, some of these finer points are hard to find, and sometimes they are hard to interpret. And thanks for your thoughts on getting HDMI to other zones.

For clarification, "the pioneer page" I was referring to was this one on the Pioneer website (Installation section):
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Elite+Receivers/SC-61

To your point, I do agree that when I read the pioneer web page, I read what I wanted to hear.

This said, this detail should not be left up to us to interpret (I think we should all agree on this). The Pioneer website on the Sc-61 does give the impression that Zone 2 will support a long list of inputs. IFHDMI as a source is not supported in Zone 2 (or digital for that matter), all they need to do is include this detail in the "Zone 2 Sources" cell (ie if HDMI is not supported, it should say it clearly). This is not a product issue at all, more a communication/clarity issue with their product sheet.

And now, if anyone is considering this amp, and curious about this feature, they can either come to this forum for the direct answer.

From my point of view:

• The pluses: It is a nice amp, easy to live with, it doesnt get hot, it has HDMI pass through so you can use your accessories with out having to turn on the amp
• The minuses: Would be nice if the wifi router was built in (a $29 part that could easily be included) and you cannot do HDMI or digital audio to Zone 2 or 3

Thanks all for your help!

PS - if you experience the bypass issue I had, (1) check your Input settings (2) power it down/unplug it and wait a few seconds, plug it in and try it again. My bypass issue resolved after this.

Hello all,

I am looking into the SC-61 myself. I have a separate setup with a Parasound HCA-2205A and Lexicon DC-2 along with a Klipsch Legend series 5.1 speaker setup with the KLF-20's as my mains. I moved a few years ago to our current house and have a young son so I didn't break out my gear or play with it much in the last 4 years or so. I love my Lexicon but its lack of HDMI is really a problem since nothing uses S-Video anymore... I was thinking of getting an SC-61 to act as a preamp with my Parasound or possibly just use the SC-61 for HT in my basement and use my existing gear for a nice 2 channel setup for music..not sure yet.

Does anyone use the SC-61 as a pre-pro? I could go for a dedicated preamp but I am now married with a family so the money doesn't flow into hi-fi like it used to so I am looking to simply maximize my dollar adn get great value. I would normally just go with an HK setup since I bought into Logic7 years ago with the Lexicon but I hear their quality isn't what it used to be so there is that.

Just looking for advice on Pioneer gear as the SC-61 seems to be the most logical one for me if I go with my thought track above.

Thanks.

just to add my comment hear. i just spent hours seeing why zone 2 would not play my apple tv input. i upgraded to this unit to clean up all the component cables ect. the sales rep specifically stated would allow to pass on the apple tv to other zones. i am sure others thought the same considering the amount of similar questions and threads on this.. so the bottom line is.. for us novices....
1. the sc67 or sc68 down converts the digi hdmi signal inputed by the apple tv to an analog singnal that passes on to the amp. and am i correi am using my old yahmaha reciever as the amp to play addition six speakers in three rooms.
2. so if i use the dvd player to play a cd it will have the same issue as the dvd play is input to teh sc61 by an hdmi cable. ?
3.is there an issue with down converting the signal. ?
4. is it worth it to go for the sc67 then.

thanks

I bought an SC-61 tonight. Tomorrow I will set it up in the basement. I hope it is everything I want!

sorry but you still are a bit confused

no receiver downconverts from HDMI to another type of connection. it just isn't done, period. there are external specialty boxes that can do that from sellers like monoprice, hdtvsupply, etc but not in a receiver. It's part of the copy encryption-handshake protocols and hardcoded into the chips used by receiver mfgs. bottom line - it "ain't" allowed.

once again, if you read manuals, they will clearly tell you this, forget what the sales rep said if you bought this at Best Buy they don't know crap.

and no, the SC-67/68 does not do it either. in addition to the normal 2 HDMI outputs, those models have a dedicated separate output for a 2nd zone, Pioneer & Denon are calling it Zone 4. it allows the same source to be paralleled to 2 zones or 2 different sources to be used in each zone. it's a simplified matrix switcher. and yes. you connect the zone 4 HDMI out to an HDMI input on your 2nd receiver, set the other receiver to that input and you can get a source from the SC model to the 2nd receiver. and yes, I have tried it and it works as Pioneer advertises BUT, the limitation will now be on your 2nd receiver - you can't use it as a hub to downconvert the HDMI to analog for a 3rd zone.

and yes, if you really want to do a 2nd zone using HDMI with Apple TV using just a receiver & no external matrix switcher boxes, you'll need to trade-up to a 67 or 68.

please, before you decide to do anything, download the manual for the SC-68/67 and read the multizone parts so you have a clear understanding on what it will do, you should also check the pages on the video converter....the diagram clearly shows that HDMI isn't downconverted.

nothing will do what you want... for a number of reasons... for video, it would be against the rules... for audio, it would add a significant cost to the unit for a feature that very few would actually use...

answers:

1) nope. won't do it.

2) nope. won't do it.

3) nope. won't make any difference.

to do what you want (since other than steve, it doesn't seem like many owners care to provide technical support, or they can't), there is a simple solution...

get yourself a cheap dac... this one from monoprice is under 20 bucks and is what you need...

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=6884&seq=1&format=2

hook your atv's toslink output to that... hook the analog out from that to the avr...

done...

^^
thanks for your input, chris. although I've spent a lot of time over the yrs looking at various switchers and matrix devices on hdtvsupply.com, you know more about all the available outboard solutions for doing these kinds of things.

Wow, You guys aga great. Thanks for the info. So hear was my solution. To review. My old yahmaha is to act as a amp for the zone 3 coming off the pioneer. Hdmi cannot be used as a source for the zones. So my apple tv is outed by hdmi to pioneer receiver for movies and music in main room. Now for the other rooms in the house for really music only I used the apple tv with also analog. Rcs jacks. My apple tv has outs for hdmi and analog. Sent both of those to the pineer. Ran both apple hdmi and analog to the DVD inputs and renamed them apple tv. Then sent zone 3 to my old yahmaha as amp . Yahmaha then powers the music thought out the other rooms.