The "Official" Denon AVR-3808CI Thread - Page 11

Do you have a wireless router? The game adaptor connects to a wireless router, although the initial setup must be done wired. I have a linksys B game adaptor that I used to use before put a switch in the AV rack, and wired it around to the router. Initially you connect wired to get to the setup screen, I don't remember the details. Once you have it setup, you can un-wire it and get a wireless connection, it plugs into the ethernet port on the receiver.

http://linksys.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...=0701607960B03

Thanks for the reply. I set it up connected to my PC and then connected it to the Denon. Once I connect it to the Denon, how do I set up the Network options on the Denon? Do I leave DHCP on? Is "Proxy" the name of my Network or the IP address of my Network? Thanks for your help.

Just leave it on DHCP, assuming your router has it (most likely) It sees the game adaptor as just a connection to the router. Once the game adaptor is setup, it is just like making a wired connection as far as the denon can see.

The display on the denon is messed up, mine says
IP on
mac address 123.123.123.123
dhcp 0005dc1xxxxxx

It should say

IP 123.123.123.123
mac address 0005dc1xxxxxx
dhcp on

proxy should be left on the default most likely

Got that far. If I switch to Net/USB it is locked on "Assigning Network". If I try to update the Firmware it says "Connection Failed". I am using 64 bit WEP Encryption in my Wireless. It would be nice if there was a "Test" function on the Receiver. Any ideas? Thanks again!

sounds like the game adaptor is not connected. Is the "wireless G" LED lit?

All 3 LEDs are lit including the Wireless G. I'm thinking I will need to enter my Addresses manually. Not sure if my Network is setup to DHCP. I actually have no idea what's going on. Normally I would just enter the SSID after my Network was found. I assume that info was "loaded" into the Adaptor?

On your PC, start / run cmd. Then type ipconfig. Is your address 192.168.something? If so you are probably using dhcp. You should be able to connect to your router with internet explorer, type the IP of the router into the address field, login "admin admin?" and see if dhcp is turned on.

When you setup the game adaptor, you should have entered all the WEP info into the game adaptor. If all three LEDs are lit, you are probably connected. Do you have a cable from the adaptor to the ethernet port on the denon?

Also, if you setup by connecting to the PC, you probably used a crossover cable, or is there a crossover switch on the game adaptor (was one on mine). Try flipping that switch if you have it. Try a different cable also.

I posted some of my initial impressions in a new "official" owners thread that appears to have scrolled off the first page. I'm sure it wasn't strictly necessary to start a new thread, but thought it was pretty much convention around here when a product started shipping.

I'm finally done with my day's commitments and am looking forward to spending a little more time with the new beast. So far I'm impressed with all but a few niggling setup issues (including the one I've most recently discovered: can you really not bring up the menu when the amp is muted?)

I'm particularly floored with how natural Audyssey sounds compared to the heavy-handed room EQing automatic setup applied on my 3805. I eventually decided that the controlled tonal curve wasn't worth the typical EQ phase issues and completely defeated the "room EQ" on my prior receiver.

DuallyDave:

Question about the 24p sourcing you talked about in your review of the HQV test....

What does this mean? Does it mean that when the unit is fed a 24p signal that has been converted with a 3:2 pulldown that it doesn't perform the reverse telecine at all or that its process for doing it is ineffective?

Does it have any implications with it being able to pass through a 24p signal fed from a BD or HD-DVD source?

When you say it passed the 1080i deinterlacing tests, did it perform really well or just satisfactory? Comparable to a Reon?

Anyone able to give some opinions on sound quality from a 3805? I am upgrading from that and I am curious about the sound quality differences.

Check out the thread DarkAdept has started up. He upgraded from an 3805. The link is located a couple of messages up from yours.

The HQV disk was being played on an HD-A2, so that is an HD DVD source. I'm assuming that the film resolution loss test was a 24p signal. They move the test pattern from side to side, and the blocks get messed up on the leading and trailing edges as it moves. This constitutes a fail according to them. I don't know if this means it is just ineffective or not performing the reverse telecine.

I am not an expert, but I would say that it performed fairly well with the deinterlacing, I think the minimal jaggies show this. Also the fact that it passed when running in 480i shows good deinterlacing. The three bars that rotate show jaggies on the lower bar but just a hint of jaggies on the middle bar, when in the up position. Remember it is judging the HD-A2 when running in 1080i mode, the Faroudja is just passing through. It would be better if I had the XA2 for this test, but I was not willing to pay for that with the format war.

If somebody in the Seattle area has a XA2 and 3808 or 4308, but not the HQV disk, I could loan mine to them for this test. However, I don't think this will prove anything about the Faroudja. I think the tests where I downressed the output of the HD-A2 were probably more telling of the Faroudja's capabilities. I have no way of comparing to a Reon.

I've added to this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post11222351

Anyone tried playing those music files through their home lan?

Yep, MP3s from 2 different PCs, they sound ok, but not as good as MP3s from internet radio. My MP3s may not be high quality, I don't use them much as I prefer my music uncompressed. I did not check if the restorer was on during this, but I think it is on mode 3 for all NET/USB stuff by default.

Really doesn't say anything about the differences and he comments on sound are generic. Plus, there is already one 3808 thread... kind of hard to see getting involved and posting and someone else's vanity thread.

One possibilty might be to rename this thread to the 3808 anticipation thread as opposed to the owners thread. I'm watching 4 threads, the 3808/4308, the 4308 owners, this one and the owner one. It would be easier to find stuff if these 2 were not seperate, but no big deal. Some issues with the 4308 are related to 3808 issues.

I'm not sure what comments on sound you are looking for, all I can say is that I am very happy with the sound, even some of the internet radio stations sound very good. As I was upgrading from a AVR 1905, I did not expect a lot of improvement in the basic sound quality. I was more interested in the new features, and this is the first time I have run video through an AVR. I always connected directly through the TV until I got the HD-A2, then I got the HDMI switch. This was mainly because of having only one hdmi in on my TV, and the HTPC was using it.

I am ok with the Faroudja, I love the network features, the OSD is great, and the sound is (still) great. Denon + Klipsch reference series is awesome in my book. I have cranked up the volume so that it could probably be heard 3 blocks away, still clear as a bell (or horn?) with no noticable distortion. I can't see a great improvement from the Audyssey, over a manual setup with my RS sound meter, but that may be due to my room more than the Audyssey.

It certainly wasn't intended to be a vanity thread and won't be if more people get involved now that units are available and we're getting past the "when will it ship" phase that dominated the early parts of this thread. Mods are welcome to merge the threads or lock either as appropriate, but I had seen the pattern before of moving to an owners thread once units were starting to become available.

I'm sure the small collection of early adopters will be glad to answer specific questions. I'm afraid general impressions of sound character are just going to be generic feeling no matter who posts them. It's simply not possible to come up with a definitive answer for something that depends so much on your perception and specific configuration. If I could tell you the sound was 2% more transparent, 5% warmer, but suffers from 3% less separation I would, but there's not really any meaningful measurement I can perform in an uncontrolled environment so you're going to have to settle for subjective impressions.

I do think amplification and DAC quality are comparable to my 3805. There wasn't an immediate revelation one way or the other before running auto-setup. As I've stated in the other thread, the biggest audio difference for me is the impact of Audyssey's more sophisticated room measurement and compensation vs. the 3805's heavy-handed room EQ. I felt that this was a fairly dramatic improvement and really appreciated the per-speaker cutoff frequency and felt that it did a great job of detecting each speaker's limitations.

sorry guys this is a prob a noob question but if the hd-dvd and blu-ray players are doing the processing of the lossless sound formats then how do you go about allowing the receiver to do the processing i can't wait to check the 3808 out. thanks guys

Hi, everyone... I just got my AVR-3808ci yesterday and wanted to post a few thoughts...

For the most part this receiver is everything that is hyped up to be. Awesome sound quality, very flexible signal routing... its everything you would expect from a Denon product. I really love it.

But, with that said, it has a couple of little bugs in its software. None are enough to cause someone to shy away from buying this unit, and thankfully the firmware update feature is incredibly easy to use, so hopefully before too long we'll have an update to fix these little problems. But just in case anyone was wondering, here's what I've found so far...

* Occasionally the On-Screen Display will quit working. Putting the receiver in standby and turning it back on seems to fix it.
* The OSD for playing audio off of the network has disappeared a few times, leaving just a gray screen. Again, going to standby and turning it back on fixes it.
* The web interface is... well... hideous. It looks like it was thrown together in a matter of a few hours, and is all text based. And clicking the "setup" link causes the web server in the unit to crash.
* While I was attempting to program Quick Select 3, it refused to take the new settings. After about 8 attempts it finally worked.

Other things that could be improved upon:
* For my setup all of the Video sources are taken up with various components, and the CD input is left unused. The receiver will let you specify a video source for the audio-only sources (CD, Tuner, XM, Phono), but it will only let you select from the video sources currently assigned to another input. I needed one more video input, and I'm not using the S-Video or Composite inputs on the HDP source, so I plugged in my video source there with the audio being sent to the CD input. Unfortunately the receiver assumes that I want the HDMI input assigned to HDP instead of letting me select the S- or composite source. In short, even more flexible input routing would be nice.
* It is really easy to miss or press the wrong button on the touchscreen (EL) portion of the remote control. The remote could really use some sort of tactile feedback to make it easier to find the button you are attempting to use. Even when you're pretty sure you're pressing in the right place you might not be.
* Along those same lines, a button on the side to illuminate the EL display on the remote would be nice.
* Downconversion from HDMI to component would be very helpful. My projector only has component video inputs but my DVD player and PS3 are HDMI, so I have to take up two component inputs from those sources to route component video to my projector. Downconversion to S or Composite might also be nice, but I don't really miss that feature too much.
* Like the 3803 I had before it, the Rec Out outputs the same thing as Zone 2. I really wish these were separate, because I actually do record stuff and use Zone 2.
* The Network audio feature's user interface is SLOW! My music collection is fairly large and it takes forever to navigate, even utilizing the Search feature.
* The remote could use a few more buttons. It doesn't have quite enough for me to be able to program it to control my satellite receiver to the point where it is actually usable. In addition, the Quick Select and System Call features could really use their own remote buttons.
* The overall output level could be higher. I turned it all the way up and it wasn't anywhere near "blowing me away" loud (though it was perfectly clean). I know the amplifier has a lot more power than its maximum volume setting is allowing it to use. My 3803 seemed much louder. Come to think of it, each receiver I have owned over the years seems to be less powerful than its predecessor.

A few things I love about it:
* It supports HDMI 1.3. And it fully supports HDCP.
* One connection to my TV via HDMI, thats all.
* Upconversion from composite all the way to HDMI. I actually like the Faroudja chip. But the sources I watch frequently are already 1080i so the upconversion isn't going to be used much.
* Auto select the highest quality source without wading through the menus. In other words, if HDMI is available, use it, otherwise select component, then S, then composite. This feature allows me to have my PS3 and 360 connected to the same input, and just turn on the one device I want to use. Since HDMI can carry audio, it fully intelligently switches between the two sources without my intervention.
* The Home button on the remote is great! It puts the remote back to Main Zone mode.

Hi there,
kind of confusing with all these different 3808 Threads:

Maybe someone in this Thread is able to help with my problem here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post11225608


Help would be appreciated!

Regards
Steffen

Somewhat off topic, but after getting the 3808, I will be looking for speakers and have read several times that Denon and Klipsch combo is solid. Which fronts and centers do you have?

Thanks.

I have RB5 fronts, they were previously combined with my original KG3.2 (A+B), but now just the RB5. RC35 center, RS52 (dipole) surrounds, RB15 rear, KSW12 sub. I would not mind putting the KG3.2s as the B surrounds, but there is not really room there. I could bi-amp the fronts, but I would loose the rears that way. I originally got the RB5s to be the surrounds, with just the KG3.2 fronts, but I moved the RB5s up front so that it would be reference series all around. I've always loved the Klipsch horns.

I saw it described somewhere that expotential horns are the ideal sound transducer, the diaphragm is low volume high pressure, the mouth is high volume low pressure, or something like that. Normal speakers are trying to beat the air into submission in comparison.

^^
to add to what dave said. i have the klipsch synergy III F-3, C-3,S-3 and sub12 currently powered by a lowly Denon avr683, only about 75wpc. i believe the Denon/klipsch mating is very good. the klipsch are very efficient and don't require alot of power for them to sound good. i love it loud (the neighbors can attest to that) and have never driven the 75w Denon to clipping. the klipsch can play loud and clear at the same time.
that being said, i would have loved to have been able to get the reference series i hear they are even more awesome that my synergy's.
the synergy's are without a doubt the best speaker BB carries.

My big worry is about Denon U.S.A.. I have a Denon DVD3930CI with the original firmware. They already released three updated firmware versions in the U.K. for the player in the past year. Denon U.S.A. has yet to release any firmware updates on their site. From what I understand, they only update firmware when a unit goes into servicing (and that is another horror story in itself, ever since Denon consolidated their service center, the experience was bad enough that I would probably stay clear from Denon). Luckily, the firmware updates for the 3930CI is universal so i have been able to upgrade the player. I hope they improved the situation by now.

Another question is their quality control. My 3930CI died after five days of use. My friends 5910CI died after several months. If you look at the 29xx/39xx in the standard DVD player forums, you will see a few posters having problems with their units. If you call the west coast Denon service center, they will ask you if it is in or out of warranty. Out of warranty items are repaired first (money! money! money!) whereas warranty repairs are repaired later (the service center is a sub-contracted company. My guess is that they apparently do not get as much from Denon for repairs and/or bills are paid slowly...)

I'm going to buck the trend here (kind of) and recommend an Energy / Denon mating. The Energy Reference Connoisseur line are really top-notch speakers that lend themselves well to Denon recievers. The Energy RC-70's are the flagship, with an RC-LCR for a center and RC-10's for surrounds (My setup).

Anyone know if the OSD is over HDMI? Or do I need to run components too to my projector? I'd really love if the OSD works on HDMI, that'd be a lot less cable to run.

It is over HDMI.