The Sony STR-DA5300ES thread - Page 55

I just received my replacement STR DA5300ES.

To add to the other reviews, the black crush issue is gone.

As an aside, the picture quality of the HDMI input/HDMI output at 1080i is not as good as the new upconverted video image.

The Component video In/ upconverted 1080P/HDMI output is clearly better with better colors and contrast than the straight thru put.

I am curious if others have found this.

I am outputing to a Sony 70XBR2 with a Time Warner SA8300 decoder.

Please post your firmware numbers glad your issues got fixed.

Okay got it all setup, now I am just playing with it.

So I am using it with my PS3 among other things, but I am curious, when my audio is just DD 5.1 what does everyone use for their Surround? I am still a bit overwhelmed by this thing. My last receiver was a 2001 Kenwood VR-307 that only supported DD 5.1 and Pro Logic.

Do you guys use the AFD Auto? In the manual it says it's used for 2 channel audio that you want to send out to a surround system or something?

When I use AFD Auto with my Cable box, it tells me its correctly seeing a DD signal, but with the PS3 via HDMI I don't get that info notice, so I am not sure which surround mode I should be using when say my signal is DD 5.1 or DTS etc.

I leave on AFD Auto, which, AFAIK, should give me the proper DD, DTS, TrueHD, DD+, etc., that comes through from the source. Never had any problems leaving it on AFD Auto.

I've been using the "AFD Auto" setting as well. But for TrueHD (and the other one), we have to send as 5.1/7.1 linear PCM out of a PS3, though, right? And let the receiver do the TrueHD decoding?

How do I locate the firmware in the GUI?

I have been unable to find the procedure for finding the software version in the GUI for the 5300.

Thank you

AFD is appropriate for every source, whether it's PCM or a bitstreamed codec, so long as you don't want to apply any additional matrixing or otherwise to the sound. 7.1 PCM from the PS3 will be shown as 4/3.1 PCM on the display panel. If you have DD+ 5.1 or DD 2.1 or 2.0, you will need to change to something other than AFD, if you want 7.1 or 6.1 or 5.1 channel output, such as DD Prologic, II or IIx or a DTS surround mode. Sony also included some of it's own sound fields that are described in the manual.

HOLY CRAP! That's amazing!!! If I could manage that with my remote, I would be in heaven!!! I guess I just have to find my Motorola cable box' correct code, and the menu button should just automatically bring up the guide?

Where is a decent place to buy one of these? I setup my friends system using a 5300ES and I was so impressed on how easy it was with the new GUI... I hope other manufactures are looking into using some thing this good! So far $1100 bucks..

CDW, oddly enough.

RS232 control - I have a Pronto TSU9600 and the wireless RFX9600 receiver box which has RS232 ports on it. Has anybody found a source of info on the RS232 protocol used by the 5300/4300? I'd like to implement 2-way control using the serial port. Thanks!

Is there a reason why the receiver doesn't send a signal to my powered sub-woofer when I am listening to 2 channel stereo, or any other 2 channel audio source for that matter? Is it because I have my front speakers set to Large?

Yes, it's because the front speakers set to Large. When set to Large, there's no signal to send.

If you set them to Small, you can still do the 2-channel direct and get the speakers to play by themselves with no subwoofer when listening to 2-channel.

I just got my 5300 last week and read through this entire post...thanks for all of the information. I was a bit worried mine had issues at first, but after reading through everything, I can safely say mine's running perfectly. Below is my serial and my firmware version. MGS9500, despite what has been said at times, I do not think it's possible to get the firmware from the GUI. The way to do it otherwise is:

Originally Posted by Drewski7280
Just got off the phone with Sony and I have the procedure for displaying the firmware revision numbers on the front display of the STR-DA5300ES. This is done by activating the SPECIAL MENU.

If you follow the procedure listed here, you can display the firmware revision numbers but you can also cause serious harm to your receiver and I would suggest you NOT poke around inside the special menu items, otherwise you will require the unit to be serviced by Sony. I will not take any responsibility for people doing this.

When you are finished, press the main power button off and this terminates the special menu.

To begin with, have the RM-AAL008 Remote unit handy for the second part of this procedure.

PART 1:
1. Turn on the Receiver. Have any source selected.
2. Press and HOLD the TONE MODE Button.
3. Then Press and Release the following Buttons quickly in the following order while the TONE MODE Button is Pressed (Press and release each button within 1 sec of each other):
- AFD
- 2 CH Direct
- Music
- Movie
4. Release the TONE MODE Button
5. You will see the Display on the Front of the 5300ES change to MENU SPECIALIZED!

PART 2:
This is the part where you can do serious harm to your unit if you are not careful.

If the Display Changes back to the original source you selected in part 1, don't worry, you are still in the SPECIAL MENU.

Pick up your Remote Control (RM-AAL008) and do the following:
1. Press the Menu Key Once.
2. Press the Right Arrow Key Once. The display will change to
3. Press the Down Arrow Key Seven (7) Times. You are now at the start of the firmware revision numbers.
4. Keep Pressing the Down Arrow Key to scroll through the firmware revision numbers and record them with paper and pen.
5. When Finished, Press the POWER Button to turn the main power off.
6. Press the POWER Button to turn the main power back on. You will be back into the normal operating mode.


My Serial is 8808XXX and has no green dot.

My Firwmare is:
A53ES UCA V1.08 58B5
Video UCOM Ver. 1.07
Faroudja Ver. 1.06
GUI CGROM Ver. 1.03
DSP VCom Ver. 1.06
DSP SFlash Ver. 1.02
DSP PFlash Ver. 1.21

hey there!
I was wondering how good 5300ES's DAC actually is. i haven't seen a detailed review where this part of the receiver was compared to other alternatives. I mean, how good it is, compared for example to pro sound cards like Lynx or EMU12. How it compares to other receivers in the same price categories. And does it fully support 192 khz sound.

And the same with amplifier. would love if someone pointed me to a good review where this is covered.

Another thing that bothers me is if it capable of receiving 192/24 true DVD-a stereo from PC and decoding it (LPCM or MLP)

also, i just found my serials from service menu and they are:

Video UCOM Ver. 1.05
Faroudja Ver. 1.05
GUI CGROM Ver. 1.03
DSP VCom Ver. 1.05
DSP SFlash Ver. 1.01
DSP PFlash Ver. 1.18

so do i need to worry, and am i going to experience problems with audio over HDMI?

Hey All

I've had a sony str-da5300es for about 2 months now and it has been great so far. But I recently upgraded my 40xbr2 to a 52bxr4 and something interesting happened.

I popped a Digital Video Essentials BluRay into my PS3 to calibrate the new xbr5 (ps3 through 5300 to tv) and found that when calibrating the brightness control the tv was not displaying the 2% and 4% black bars for tuning black level(regardless of the brightness setting).

So I unhooked the 5300 and wet straight from PS3 to TV, sure enough there they were, and i could now correctly calibrate the brightness. So naturally i check the 5300 settings but there are basically no video options. Next go back to PS3 to 5300 to TV. Then I access the PS3's BD/DVD settings and swap the output from RGB to Y Pb / Cb Pr / Cr and sure enough the bars were visible now.

So does anyone know why the 5300 would limit the information being passed through from the PS3 to the tv when in RGB , but functions correctly when sent via Y Pb / Cb Pr / Cr ?

Forgot to mention- all of my components are going HDMI to the 5300 and i have a single hdmi output to the tv.

Thanks!
alan

I've asked Sony support this same question several times. The answer usually is: "The 5300 does not limit the video signal being passed from an HDMI source to the TV". They often reference the manual, which claims that HDMI signals are passed untouched.

Obviously this isn't true. Your test (and similar tests done by half a dozen others on this thread alone) prove that.

That's the bad new. The good news is, Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr out of the PS3 looks quite nice on the TV's I've tested (Sony SXRDs and XBR LCDs). When set to RGB, BD playback looks kind of.... off. The reds are a bit overblown which makes all the skin tones appear burnt.

I have had some luck more recently with Sony support. I've talked to a couple of 2nd level techs who realize this problems exists, but they have no power to fix it (as you mentioned, there are no options to manage video processing for HDMI). They did mention that Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr is the recommended setting for BD/DVD because this is the color space the video is most often recorded in. Having done some video processing myself, I know that to be true for DVD and have to assume it's the same for BD. They also mentioned that the PS3 may need to be set to RGB:Limited (the default I think) if going thru 5300. Otherwise games may be too dark. I found this to be true as well.

So the answer is, Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr and RGB:Limited on the PS3 if going thru the 5300 on HDMI. Should look very nice. Not prefect, but close. And there's not much we can do about it anyway.

Also, don't even attempt to run Component Video pass-thru at 720p or 1080i/p. The black crush is amazingly bad. There's more about this issue earlier in the thread (just search on "black crush").

Thanks Vey

I didn't know that Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr was the native color space for Blu Ray, so thats even better.

Also in the other thread i posted this on (the xbr4 owners thread) someone mentioned it also has to do with 'blacker than black' signal information, which i am just now learning about.

thanks for your input!

Hey! So, I finally got my Sony SA-CD player. So, I set it up as the input on HDMI4, thinking that I could set EQ, levels, sound field, etc. in the STR-DA5300ES' amp menu, and all that would all pertain only to HDMI4. Well, obviously, those are global settings. How do you set EQ, levels, sound field, etc., for a particular source?

You can calibrate automatically or manually three separate listening positions as they call them, and assign one to each input. That would be the only way to do what you want. You can make one set for your SACD player and assign that to HDMI4 and two others to assign to other inputs.

This has been fixed with newer firmware releases and Sony is offering Advanced Exchange to affected units.

The Full RGB passthrough issue of course is not fixed.

Yes, go into the "Auto Calibration" part of the (receiver display) menu and change the "Position" to 2 or 3. You can rename them if you like.

I have done this for my PS3, as it outputs bass levels 4dB lower than my DVD player and Toshiba A35 when checking with Avia (DD).

Hey, thanks! Really appreciate the tip! Probably have more dumb questions like this later . . .


Thanks! Missed your post earlier. At least it's good to know, that this is actually "the only way" to do what I described, too. Not quite sure how to assign this "position" to a particular input (e.g., HDMI4), however.

I figured out what the problem was with the PS3, if anyone cares to read:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...ostcount=16007

I have two questions:

1) Can this receiver input/output HDMI 1.3a?
2) I do not plan on blasting the sound. I would have the sound at low to mid sound levels. Would this affect the sound quality from playing it louder?

To answer your 2nd question:

Movies (and some TV shows in Dolby Digital) are recorded to have medium sounds (dialog, etc.), loud sounds (music, gunshots, explosions, etc.), and quiet sounds (ambient effects, etc.). So by playing at a low volume, dialog may be too low, and you lose out on ambient sounds.

However, there is a way to get around this, at least with Dolby Digital -- "Dynamic Range Control" or "Dynamic Range Compression" (aka "DRC"), sometimes called "Midnight Mode." This compresses the audio levels so the loud sounds are quieter, the quiet sounds are louder, and it's all closer in volume to the medium level. That way you can hear the dialog at a decent level, the ambient sounds are still audible, and the loud stuff doesn't wake the neighbors. Devices like DVD players often have this. But it would be best to turn it off in all of your devices, and let the receiver handle it.

I had to reset my 5300 to clear an HDMI problem, and that took care of it. Next step was to go back in and set up my surround sound, however, now when I go into GUI mode, the television screen is blank, no matter how many times I go in and out of GUI. This never happened before, and I have no idea why it is happening now.


Any idea what I do can do to resolve this? Thanks for any help.


John

Hey all,

Just got my 5300ES and so far so good, I have the DVI issue with the audio, which kind of stinks, but worked around it by assigning one of the inputs SATV to HDMI so, all good there.

I have a question about multi-zone audio though. I am running 3 sets of separate speakers. I have two sets running pre-out from the zone 2/3 outs to my 5 channel amp, and they work great. But, when I hook up the last set of speakers to the surround back inputs I get no audio. I tested the speakers and wires, no problems. I did the correct adjustments via the GUI and set the speaker output to multi-zone but it does not work? Is this because by connecting the pre-out it disables the ability to also power the surround backs as multi-zone? Hope this makes sense, thank you.

Anyone?

Check to see what resolution the receiver is set to output. Resetting it might have changed it to 480i or something. Might be in the receiver display GUI under Video settings.