Yamaha RX-V661 Owners Thread. - Page 129

Most ground loops I've encountered came from an improperly grounded cable TV or satellite dish coax shield. Try disconnecting your incoming TV cable from the wall to see if that's it.

I've had my RX V661 for about 3 years and I finally connected a Bluray via HDMI to input 1. Until yesterday I have not had anything connected to HDMI input 1. My Directv connection via HDMI into input 2 works fine and I've never had a problem, the Directv feed displays on my Sansumg plasma perfectly. When I switch the input selector on my RX V661 to DVD which is connected to HDMI input 1, the plasma display says "Weak or no signal" and the red HDMI is not lit up on the RX V661 display. For troubleshooting sake I switched the Directv and DVD HDMI inputs so the DVD was in at input 2, where the Directv HDMI was input and vice versa. When I did that, the DVD video signal came through on the plasma. When I switched the input selector on the Yamaha to check if the Directv signal would work through HDMI input 1 (DVD input) I got the same message as before, "Weak or no signal". I unplugged all the equipment overnight and tried again this morning based on some things I read in other forums, no dice. I am fairly confident that all my settings are correct so I thinik there is something wrong with input 1. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I am having some really weird stuff with my new JVC LCD TV and Cable Box:
The first cable box was an any room DCX3400M dvr setup. When I wired the house I used a Wirepath powered 8 way splitter. Comcast said it didn't pass the signal, so they bypassed it without a powered splitter. It worked fine for a day or two intermittently, with the cable guide working, then no signal at TV. When I bypassed the AVR it worked fine! Checked the settings in the DVR and enabled everything. Worked for a night then no signal again. Swapped out the DVR, and when I plugged it in it gave picture/audio but with no guide this time. Installed a Comcast powered splitter and it gives picture/audio but still no change/no guide. Had a refresh sent, still no guide. WTF! swapped the HDMI cables, inputs - no luck, and the DVD works fine with HDMI on either input. Stumped. Comcast coming again in a couple days. Maybe over amplified? Or just crap signal? Wondering if there is any HDMI incompatability with this XV661 now? Doubt it since it passes the aud/vid but no cable guide- makes me believe it's a cable problem.

Still using my RX-V661 via HDMI with Time Warner 8300 DVR and it works.

Thank you for that.

Does anyone else use this with the Motorola DCX3400M??

Wish I could lasso a Comcast tech, or even better get a hold of their hand held test tool.

Hi fishingmaniac, curious if the main cable feed is running through a surge protector and then to DVR? If so try bypassing the surge protector.

No surge suppressor.

Comcast came by and replaced the STBs with some older ones, and removed a filter at the feed that they had installed supposedly for the anyroom DVR's (that didn't work much). So far so good. Still not as stable as I would like, but maybe tolerable. If no good, I'm leaning towards incoming signal issues - the next stop would probably be a switch to FIOS.

Happened again - No Video. After playing around with everything again I swapped out the six foot cable from the STB to the RXV661 with a smaller 3 footer. The one from the RXV661 to the TV is in the wall but I believe it is probably 9 or 12 feet, which would make he total 15 or 18 feet. I've read that 15 (15.7?) feet is normally the max before problems can occur. Now I'm probably down to 12 or 15 feet. It seems to have done the trick. Seems likely an HDMI problem all along. Frustrating to say the least. Wish there was a tool to measure the HDMI signal. Will some receivers boost the signal from and input to an output , or are the lengths of HDMI cable from input and output always cumulative?

Hello,

I am having an issue where sometimes the receiver won't power on (via remote or front panel button). If I unplug the receiver for a few minutes, I can plug it back in and it will power up.

What could be the cause of this? Purchased Aug 15, 2007 -- just outside the best buy 4-year warranty period (of course!).

Thoughts?

Thanks

recently purchased a hsu vtf2 -mk3 sub .to get the most bass what setting should dynamic range be set to? min std,max. thanks.

Max.. Sometimes it won't matter though, you can always just turn up the volume, or the sub level, or both.

thanks for the help. i want to make sure i'm getting the most out of this sub.

Yeah, I'd just turn up the level knob on the back of the subwoofer, to about 80% to start off, set dynamic range to max, and adjust the subwoofer level on the receiver after that.

I notice I can handle a lot more sub volume with it crossed over at 60Hz. If I cross it over at 80Hz, the bass becomes boomy much quicker, causing me to want to turn it back down. Test that out too.. every room and ear is different.

will experiment with changing the the crossover had'nt thought of that. thanks again

No prob, good luck.

Nice Sub BTW.. I only see a MK4 on the Hsu website. Is a MK3 an older one? Did you get it used?

bought new in may finally had time to play with it.

I just spied this unit today at Goodwill's "25% off Senior Wednesday"....lookin' real clean and purty like....
Now, I AM happy with my HK AVR520 receiver and its sound....but....I couldn't resist....

I couldn't try out EVERY control and mode/program in the store, but I did connect some speakers just to see if I got a response with the tuner...and IT SPOKE TO ME....

Since I got the HK used from The Salvation Army 3 years ago who knows how much longer it will last...
soooooooo....I took the Yamaha home....(to the disappointment of a guy lurking in the background waiting to see if I'd pass...)

..unfortunately it didn't come with a remote control...when I got home I searched the net and found the OEM remocon still available...but...I thought I'd ask you here if anyone has a spare you'd like to sell (before I get one from a dealer....)

I've downloaded the instruction manual and look forward to reading the 129 pages here to learn all about this puppy...I do have a question right off....

Should I get the microphone for setting up the speakers? I guess I can do it "by ear"....but I thought I'd ask how important you all feel the mike is in the setup....

Thanks for looking and for your replies...and for that remote if you have one...
Edited by kitatiger - 9/12/12 at 5:37pm

Anyone interested in buying a used 661? I replaced it with a Sony that passes a 3D signal. Works fine of course; manual, remote, all other odds and ends included. US only please. If there's any interest I'll price it out.

I just got around to taking some shots of my new pup....

I am having a brain fart.... I removed my back speakers temporarily, so I am going from 7.1 to 5.1. For some reason I can not figure out how to tell the receiver that I removed those back speakers. The display still shows back speakers being used when I watch a movie encoded in 7.1. I used the auto setup with the optimizer microphone and it still show the back speakers on the display. I am going nuts because I fear I am losing audio info when watching 7.1 movies. I have not touched the receiver in years, as I just have it set for "straight", so apparently I am a noob again....

Manual setup

Sound menu

speaker setup

up x4

SUR B..... SMLx2 ---> change to whatever.. none, etc..

Thanks BWX!

I did what you said, and it worked, and I figured out why I was confused. It seems that the display on the reciever will always show 7.1 if the movie is 7.1, EVEN if you don't have the reciever setup for 7.1. Is that correct?

No problem!...

And yeah it shows the input.. not necessarily the output.. For instance a stereo input will show two speakers.. even though it might be a Dolby digital encoded stereo signal and the receiver is decoding it and outputting to 5.1 speakers or 7.1 with DPLIIx with rear L and R surrounds being added by the receiver.

That's why I initially bought this receiver years ago- for that very function, and I use that function with my 7.1 speaker setup every single day..

Also on the other hand it could show a 5.1 setup on the display, but you might only be running two speakers and sub woofer.. It s a little different than some other receivers.

Also it doesn't remember that setting.. you have to go in and set it to output to those rear surround speakers every time you turn it on. There is not a button on the remote to do it in one click- but you can make a macro on an advanced remote. One the universal WR7 remote I have been using for years- when I program it for this receiver, it comes with that one button press option to enable the rear surround speakers via DD PLIImode. It's a button the higher end receivers from Yamaha had, but this one didn't. Interesting that a univeral remote comes with that button.
Edited by BWX - 11/2/12 at 8:10pm

So I've been rocking a 661 since about 08' now and I have a question. I'm storing blu rays in a server and playing them through a HTPC via HDMI. Because the 661 only supports LPCM, I have been hand decoding the TrueHD and DTS-HD tracks to LPCM. This is a real pain in the ass as you can imagine. Are there any solutions on the market to convert HD codecs to LPCM on the fly without quality loss? Aside from getting a new receiver of course. I would get a new one, but I'm moving in 6 months and planning a 9.1/11.1 setup hopefully.

Why don't you decode the files on the fly on the HTPC? I can play True-HD or DTS-HD Blu ray discs from my PS3 on the v661 via hdmi with mlpcm, and get the perfect uncompressed audio.. why not just use a decoder on the machine? -like the PS3 does?

That's easier said than done on an HTPC from what I've seen. Most on-the-fly decoders mess something up. For example, some will downmix to 5.1, others only allow a max of 16 bits, some up to 48khz, some just extract the core DTS track, some work with one codec and not the other, it's ridiculous. The PS3 would work, but at least with my setup it it less than reliable. I just like having a dedicated HTPC so I never have to worry about what format my media is in. About the only solution I have found is the Asus Xonar HDAV card, and even that seems to limit to 16 bits. I suppose I will just have to wait until I fork over the cash for a new receiver and then re-rip the library. I can't really complain. For the price this has been one awesome receiver.

I just ordered the denon 1613 because my v661's hdmi doesn't want to work. Last time I tried I got sound but no video. Someone suggested that the hdmi chip/card needs to be replaced. I switched wires before a bunch of times but still just sound. Any other thing that I could look at?

I have this 661 since '07 but lately have been thinking about perhaps getting a new receiver. Everything is working fine. Just wanted to ask you guys if its worth it to upgrade or is the 661 still ok for todays HT setups? Am I missing anything with this 661 that perhaps newer receivers are capable of doing (besides 3d)? I only have a 5.1 setup and not looking to do much than maybe adding two more speakers for 7.1 if need be.

I recently replace mine for the same reasons; I wanted 3D and having to manually implement PLIIX 7.1 was such a chore that I never bothered doing it. Got a Sony STR-DH720. Fairly cheap, passes 3D, processes 7.1 automatically, and drives my sub much better than the 661 ever did.