The "Official" Denon AVR-3808CI Thread - Page 2

You have to call them.

I got you. I know, i was saying that the majority of the public won't be able to get their hands on one till Early August. (supply...or lack of)

I can't wait. I sold my old Denon avr three months too early. I'll finally have a three series receiver to match my 3930 Somehow the tv speakers just don't cut it anymore.

I wasn't trying to say that the scaling chip is completely irrelevant. I wish the Denon had the Reon for SD broadcast and the piece of mind that any 1080i signals were deinterlaced to 1080p by one of the best chips out there. I just don't think it is as big of a deal that everyone is making it. To some (your case is a very good example) the scaling is more important.

To be honest if it had the Reon I would probably get the 3808 but now I am looking to see if the older 4306 will fit my needs. In my case (and many others) scaling just isn't that important. I don't watch a lot of SD tv on my theatre (comcast analog signal looks like crap no matter what chip you have) and my 60" SXRD does a decent job of deinterlacing the 1080i HD signal.

I could be completely wrong but, I believe within a year most people with a $1500 receiver in their theatre will have a HD player that will scale SD-DVD just as well as the Reon and those few that don't will either have a Reon based Denon DVD player or the Onkyo

Again, I'm not going to criticize the use of Faroudja harshly until I read some reviews on the 3808. However, scaling is very important for me as I watch a lot of Speed Tv (F1, Motogp, Touring car etc) and those are all in SD. And this all goes to my 92" screen. So for me, the quality of the scaler is more important than power. And despite being a Denon fan, I may have to skip this one. Especially if the Yamaha RX-V2800 is going to have the Reon chip as rumored.

Yeah, hopefully this version of the Faroudja does better than those in the past, especially the maroblocking on some displays. It will be nice once they are release and there are some reviews.

You make a good point though, it really comes down to how much SD tv someone watches. I can't wait until everything is sent in HD.

I am very excited about the 3808ci, but I am planning on making a decision on an HD-DVD player this week to take advantage of the current batch of rebates - long before I will be able to get the 3808. The one issue I'm dealing with is the difference between the Denon's Faroudja video processor and the Onkyo/Integra line's Reon video processor.

I've heard great things about the Toshiba HD-XA2 for scaling SD-DVDs. This is an important feature for me as I have a sizable DVD collection. However if the video processor in the receiver (aka the Integra 8.8 or the Onkyo 875/905) does the best scaling (bang-for-buck) then I can save some money on the HD-DVD player and just get the A2. Here is a reply I received to this question over in the Onkyo forum:


That last line makes the Denon even better of an option for me. The key question is whether the 3808ci can be configured to pass the signal through to the display. I know this has been discussed somewhat, but it wasn't clear to me what the actual result was.

Comments?

Thanks,
David

I will. If you do a search on Faroudja 2310 you will find a lot of references to macroblocking. The 2310 is what was used in the Denon DVD-5900 which many people had macroblocking issues with. The Reon does not suffer from this issue. I love Denon products, but I am very disappointed that they chose to use this chip (again).

I look at the inclusion of deinterlacing / scaling chips in a receiver as sort of a poor man's video processor. If implemented well (with a Reon, Realta, Gennum, or ABT chip, not Faroudja), it would allow you to feed all your sources at native resolution to an excellent deinterlacing / scaling solution for output to your display device.

Many TVs (most?) do not include good deinterlacing / scaling, even for 1080i -> 1080p. See this Secrets article for more info.

It might be too early to ask this but I'm wondering how you think this piece would serve as a pre-pro as opposed to a dedicated pre-pro? ?

I think it would serve great, in fact, I seriously doubt you could find a pre/pro with the features and quality of the Denon for anywhere near the price. That's how I use my current 3806, as a pre/pro. Some will say that the inclusion of the power amps will affect the low level signal in the preamp portion but frankly it's not something I'm personally concerned about, or even put a lot credence in.

I currently own the Denon 3806 and I made the mistake on picking up the Onkyo 805 at circuit city. After calibrating the Onkyo manually, then running the Audyssey XT I was shocked at the improvement in SQ over the Denon 3806. I compared them both with manual EQ and Audyssey EQ and the Onkyo was head and shoulders above the Denon for sound quality in both modes. The Onkyo sounded more clean,detailed and open it made the Denon 3806 sound as if it had placed a veil over my speakers. Currently have 7 Mirage omnisats with Mirage S12 subwoofer. I also ordered 3 Ascend Sierra 1 for the front soundstage so will be able to compare with those speakers when they arrive. The reason I decided to try the Onkyo was based on these specs that caught my attention.

- THX Ultra2 specification provides uncompromised 8-channel playback of any multi-channel Program over the widest possible area
- Top line of Burr-Brown DAC's: Performing at 192 kHz/24-bit level of resolution, these digital-to-analog Audio converters boast a higher dynamic range
-HDMI V1.3 repeater w/HDMI video up-conversion Dolby-Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding
-iPod Ready (optional dock required)
-XM Radio Ready / SIRIUS Radio Ready (optional subscriptions and antenna required)
- Response Bandwidth: 20 - 20000 Hz / THD - 0.05%
- Amplifier Output: 130 Watt, 8 Ohm, 20 - 20000 Hz, THD 0.05% per channel up to
7 Channels for outstanding surround sound
- Unit Dimensions (WxHxD):17 1/8 x 7 5/8 x 18 1/16 inches (435 x 194 x 458.5 mm) / Weight: 50.9 lbs. (23.1 kg)
- Onkyo USA 2 Year Warranty

In this case the specs do not lie and I suspected they might not considering this unit weights an incredible 50.9lbs compared to my Denon 3806 38.6lbs. Onkyo decided to get into the mid-hi end of receivers and they certainly did it the right way. The thing that sealed the deal for me was the Onkyo 2 year warranty, put it on your AMEX and you have a 3 year warranty. I actually plan to take back the 805 to Circuit City and wait to purchase the 875 or the 905 for the Reon VX processing. I highly encourage anyone making a decsion on buying a receiver to do a in home demo of the two or three you might be interested in. It might seem like a hassle but it will save you from second guessing your purchase.

So you are saying that your mistake was in not waiting for the 875 with the Reon prossessing and the extra HDMI. Otherwise you are happy with the 805?

How could Denon not include HD Radio support? Faroudja at $1600 seems a bit odd considering the $600 Denon DVD-2930CI has the REON and the $1200 DVD-3930CI has the RealtaHQV.

I'm ok though, I'll be feeding it a HR10-250 which is 1080i and no native pass through and a Denon DVD-3930CI which is already being scaled by the RealtaHQV. I'll also give it a composite VHS which probably wouldn't matter much with either scaling chip.

I have 30 days to take back the 805 to circuit city, so no that was not my mistake. I purchased the 805 knowing I would be taking it back. My mistake was letting my sickness take hold of me and comparing the 805 vs 3806. The 805 like I said in my post was head and shoulders above the 3806 in sound quality, so now I will be selling my 3806 to a friend and purchasing the Onkyo 875 or 905 for Reon VX processing, otherwise the 805 was great.

Thanks, Keenan.

This is what boggles my mind. Whoever is running Denon is an idiot! They were one of the first companies to bring the Reon and Realta chip to the mass consumers with their high end DVD players. Yet for their receivers they chose not to.

BTW, does the onkyo 805 NOT have the Reon?

Hey amjustice, you might as well change the title to
"The Official Bashing Of The Denon AVR-3808CI Thread"

Nah, I'm probably still getting it... I just dont think Onkyo is in the same leauge as Denon performance / quality wise at all. I'd say they are one to two leauges below .

Of course I'd rather have Realta and HD Radio, but I doubt I would use it much to be honest. I can't remember the last time I listened to music on my AVR. Its all HT. As for the scaling, like I said, the only thing I'll be scaling is a VHS signal once in a blue moon. I doubt either chip will be able to clean it up _that_ much. These two features aren't worth an extra $1000 to me. Maybe $200 to $400.

I learned my lesson after my Denon DVD-3930CI purchase... I should have totally gone for the 2930CI and saved myself $600.

All I want is a scaling for the VHS that actually works . I've got a black box thing for right now, and it "crashes" the HDMI on my TV all the time as I'm FFing and rewinding.

What does any of your posts have to do with this thread??

I think his first post, comparing the 3806 to the 805 is very relevent, at least it was to me. I am trying to decide between this Denon, the Onkyo 875, 905 or Integra DTC-9.8.


No, the 805 and below have Faroudja chips. Onkyo is putting the Reon in the 875, 905 and the Integra DTC-9.8 and Integra DTR-8.8

Randy

Since this is the new "official" thread, I have now officially pre-ordered an AVR-3808CI at Magnolia. I plan to eventually replace my TH50PX50U with a Pro-FHD1, so I'm hoping that the Faroudja will be a non-issue, I'll just turn off the video processing in the 3808 and let the Pio sort it out.

Magnolia says mid-July for delivery.

It has everything to do with this thread. People like me are considering the 3808 against the Onkyo 805 and 875 and he is a current Denon 3806 owner who just compared it against the 805.

He is sharing his real world experience and I for one was grateful for his posts, in this thread. I may not have read them otherwise.

Yes, comparing it to the 3806 is useful for me as well. I've got a 3300 and a 3805 and a couple of other older Denon receivers kicking around and I find myself seriously considering preordering the 875 and switching camps. One thing that I like about the Denon though is that it has 3 optical vs. only 2 on the 875. It's not a huge deal but with my Xbox 360, SB3 and DVD player I need the 3 optical. I could just use the PS3 for all the DVD playing but I tend to keep the 4800 loaded up with the kids movies.

Did they give you a preliminary price? I stopped by my local one and the guys looked like deer in headlights. They called the rep and they said estimated mid july but even the rep said don't hold your breath. They never offered to preorder one for me.

This receiver is an I-link (or whatever the technical name is) input away from me considering it. Some of the prior 4xxx series had it, I was hoping that feature would make it's way down to the 3xxx series.

I guess I could get on fleabay and find a used Denon player with Denon link and take care of the problem, but I'd prefer to not have to bother.

Hello-

This unit may be my next AVR and my first Denon. Does Denon provide rack ears for their units? I imagine with all that weight, a custom shelf may be in order.

Any help?

Thanks,
T.Wells