The "Official" Pioneer Elite VSX-82TSX Owner's Thread

Great! Now I won't keep posting to the 84TSX thread. What is the listening level readout on your display at "normal" levels?

Dont close it lol!! I am seriously considering this receiver and would love to hear input about it.

I vote to keep it open. I know the 82 has alot of the same things as the 84 but I agree that it should have its own thread.
I havent got mine in yet, scheduled to pick it up on the 29th. Im sure Ill have alot of questions.

No need to close the thread. It'll just die a painless death if there's no interest.

Can someone briefly say what the differences between the '84 and '82 are?

Off the top of my head, the 84 has 10 more watts per channel with 140x7, it has iLink, and also comes with one more HDMI input. The 84 also has the ability to be hooked up to your computer via USB. Oh, and the 84 also comes with two remotes
Personally I went with the 82, simply bc I didnt need that little extra power and dont care for ILink, tho Ive never used it so whose to say..... hope this helps

I just got an 82, hooked into a set of infinity tss-1100s. the thing sounds terrific--i much prefer the MCACC to audyessy, which is why i ended up with the 82 over the denon 2807.

mach1man, the surrounds in a 5.1 should be hooked into sl/sr, and then you can adjust the virtual sb setting to your liking, much like a phantom center channel setup.

the only issues i'm having with the 82 are to do with (not surprisingly) HDMI.
1. my motorola 3412 (chicago comcast) puts up a screen saying it doesn't support repeaters. not a huge loss, since comcast here in chicago looks like ass anyway, but annoying.
2. my samsung dvd-hd960 has hdcp handshake issues when set to upscale to 1080p. i'm still trying to resolve this, it could very well just be the player.

other than these two minor issues, i personally think the 82 is one of the best deals in HT around right now--especially if you can cajole an authorized pioneer dealer into matching an internet price and you walk out the door for $800 like i did.

I to went for the 82 over the 84 because of the same above reasons, features I did not need. I was also able to get Magnolia HiFi to lower the price but not to $800. So far I have not had any HDMI issues, with my HD-A1 or HR20. I do like the advanced version of MCACC over my previous VSX53 which only had basic MCACC.

I got my 82 last Saturday. Got it setup and running. It sounds great.

I currently have my Samsung HD860 hooked up and running at 1080i with no issues. DVDs sound so much better than my Yamaha HTR5760. THX Select 2 sounds really nice.

I got my 360 hooked up as well and it sounds great.

The universal remote actually works, so I'm extremely happy there.

No - incorrect. The SBL & SBR terminals are for the 'back' center channels. You do need to use the SL/SR terminals. For 5.1 when viewing the back of the receiver, you will not be using the right most two sets of terminals.

After doing all my research going back and forth, I am 99% sure I am going to pick up the 82 at the end of this month.

What version of HDMI does the 82 have, 1.2a?

Hey Guys,

I am really close to purchasing this reciever also and was wondering if anyone could elaborate on getting Magnolia to match an online price. What online retailer did you use to show them that you could get it for around 800 online? Did you show them a printout of the price on the website? How much hassle did they give you? Did they want you to buy a seperate warranty? I would really love to be able to get this reciever from an authorized dealer. Any input appreciated.
Thanks

I would love to know too.

I bought mine from ABT electronics here in Chicago, which isn't a chain but is bigger and better than any big box store I've been to. ABT is pretty well-known in the area for working their prices pretty heavily, they'll cut you a deal to get the sale over anyone else.

I actually went in to buy a Denon 2807, left with one on order for $900 and then called back to cancel because I decided I wanted the 82 instead. The guy offered to sell me the Pioneer for $900 and I told him that I'd found one online for $750 at butterfly photo and that they claimed it came with the warranty. I also told him that I would rather give the business to a Chicago store if he could at least come close. I let him dangle for a week or so and he called me back at $800 and I jumped on it.

Contrast that with my Magnolia trip, where the salesguy first tried to convince me that they couldn't move off their price because of their agreements with Pioneer, then tried to convince me that ABT was shady (if you're from Chicago, that's pretty funny) and finally got frustrated with me and started snapping about how Magnolia was for high-end customers only and maybe I would be more comfortable in the "rest of the store."

Not the greatest story, I know, but if you're looking for a deal it's better to go to a local place--they're generally more willing to work with you because they need the business. Magnolia is still Best Buy, you know?

Back on topic for this thread, has anyone figured out if there's a way to selectively switch the scaler on/off per input? I'd like to have it on for my DVR, off for my dvd player, on for my ps2, etc. It's smart enough to pass the 1080p signal from my dvd player even with the scaler on and set to 720p but i'd like to just turn it off to avoid any potential image degradation.

Thanks Reckless1280, I used to live in Arlington Heights (moved way south 2yrs ago), and your right, ABT is an awesome place. I wonder what they would do for me over the phone. I will have to decide how I want to go about getting this: sketchy online deal vs. a couple hundred more from local place.

Sorry for going off topic, but I should be an owner by the end of the month and then I will have plenty of questions I am sure.

Yes it's 1.2a

Thank you, this looks like the AVR for me, hope to have it before next month.

I just bought one over the weekend. Pretty nice receiver. HDMI is a bit iffy compared to the Onkyo.. I am going to get some shorter and better HDMI cables my Sony NC85H worked fine with the Onkyo and has real trouble syncing to the 82 on HDMI.

I guess I need to dig out more information from the 84 thread but component gives a very dark high contrast picture. The AV Parameters seem to be different depending on some variable I have figured out yet. It seems like at one point I saw menu choices for brightness and contrast in the AV parameters selection. So far the scaler has been a disappointment. It was a real factor in choosing the 82. Someone in the 84 thread mentioned a capability to adjust the aspecct ratio in the AV Parameters...... I can't find that. Is that an 84 only feature?

Aspect Ratio is adjustable on the 82 aswell. It is not adjustable for all sources however. I only have a component input as of now but when I am receiving an HD signal the aspect ratio options are gone but not when it's an SD signal.

Now for something totally different.

I am having a problem where often when the screen flashes to a dark scene or something similar, the screen flickers. It never used to do this before I hooked everything up through the Pioneer. This was particularly noticable when I was watching Nothing But Trailers on HDNet. Is this a common problem?

Allow me to further illustrate what is going on. Often when the video cuts to a different scene without a transition, the screen flickers for a tenth of a second. By flicker I mean imagine a widescreen source with letter boxes on top and bottom. The main video portion will jump down and fill the area where the bottom letterbox was for a tenth of a second then go back to normal. It's really fast but totally distracting and unacceptable.

(I posted this in the 84 thread but figured I would try here also since this thread needs some help.)

How is everything hooked up? HDMI or component? I have HDMI from the 82 to my TV and I've never seen this happen.

I have another question, How much space above the 82 do you need.

I am assuming that it gives off a fair amount of heat. My cabinent is open in the front so I get air that way. I was thinking of putting a fan in the back blowing the air out the back (would have to cut a hole in the back for it like an exhaust fan).

I have about 2 inches of clearance right now with the Onkyo, then there is a shelf and on that shelf is the DVR.

Its a two component tv cabinent and the rest of the parts are in other cabinents on either side of the tv.

Will I be ok with those same 2 inches or do I need more?

Double posted to give this thread some love:

Anyone know how to preserve a 4:3 aspect ratio when scaling 480i SDTV up to 1080i?

Right now my setup is: Moto 3412 via component to the 82, then HDMI out to my LCD. The scaling on SD looks terrific except it stretches the picture, even with the aspect set to "through." I can set it to 4:3, but then it squashes my HD channels to 4:3! Any ideas?

Apart from this issue, I highly recommend using component connections from 480i sources with iffy scalers (like cable boxes) because the Faroudja chip does an excellent job with 480i--enough so that a couple people have asked me if SD channels were HD. If you go HDMI from a 480i source you don't get the benefit of the scaler.

I am not at home right now but I recall the manual suggesting this baby needs 8" clearance. I have 6" clearance and while the unit does run quite warm, no problems todate. A fan in the back positioned to draw air across the top of the unit as you suggest should help quite a bit.

I have my cable box hooked up through component to the 82 and the 82 is hooked up to the TV through HDMI. The flickering seems to only happen to me on letter-boxed video.

Can you get the OSD over the HDMI connection?