The "Official" Denon AVR-2808CI Owners Thread - Page 33

+1

I also thought so, but then one guy said this is to prevent you touch the hot case directly. Actually I'm not sure about this. But mine denon looks like on this picture (see attachment).

Hmm... Mine looks different.

I recently watched some Blu-ray movies with either Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks but my AVR-988 showed "Dolby Digital" in the display. I have a Panasonic DMP-BD30 player, which supports these formats bitstreamed through HDMI 1.3 and I was using HDMI 1.3 cables so it should have worked. Since I don't completely understand HDMI, I thought that connecting the AVR-988 to my Sony KDS-R601XBR1 HDTV, which has an older version of HDMI, might somehow force the whole HDMI chain out of 1.3. I disconnected the HDMI from my TV and used component cables for video but that didn't fix it. I reconnected the HDMI to my HDTV. I went through the AVR-988 menu and manual to see if I was missing some arcane setup parameter but found nothing.

Finally, I went into the DMP-BD30 "Setup" menu and when I selected the "Audio" tab, what I saw caused me to exclaim "Doh!" like Homer Simpson. When I first bought my Blu-ray player back in January, my old receiver would only process Dolby Digital 5.1, so I set all of the other formats, such as Dolby TrueHD, to "PCM" instead of "Bitstream". That way, I could still hear those soundtracks at reduced fidelity through my old receiver. I forgot that I had done this and when I changed them all to "Bitstream", voila!, I had Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and all the other sound formats.

I am very satisfied with my Denon AVR-988. One of my biggest surprises was the sound improvement after the Audyssey calibration. The only negative was the reduction in subwoofer output, which has been noted elsewhere in this thread. The new settings are probably more accurate but I really liked the way my Bag End Infrasub 18 used to shake my floor during J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Fortunately, my subwoofer has its own volume dial. I did the calibration with the volume set to 50% and the subwoofer output was dropped several decibels by Audyssey. If I wish, I can just turn up the subwoofer volume control to get the floor shaking.

You can also increase the sub (or any speaker for that matter) volume using the main remote as well.

Why not just call Denon and get the real reason?

Yes, probably you are right. I just thought that it's on all denons... Anyway, if somebody has silver case denon please replay if the case has plastic sheet on it's top.

I've been using a Denon 884 for years and just upgraded to the 988 but it will not detect my back speaker. I connected it to the SBL terminal as per the manual but the speaker does not show up. Does anyone have any thing I can try? Thanks in advance for any help.

This is what I had to do before it sent tone to my rear back's:

Manual setup > Option setup > Amp assign > Change from "Zone-2" to "7.1"

Can anyone confirm this answer? I can't find this in the manual.

NOTE: I see that the manual says you can apply PLIIx to an incoming 5.1 PCM track over HDMI. I'm interested in applying PLIIx to a 5.1 lossless audio track decoded in the receiver.

Rockhound,

Thanks for the help. That did it.

I have the Den 2808ci with HDMI cable monitor cable output to the HDMI input on my Sony SXRD. My DVD player has an HDMI output connected to one of the HDMI inputs on the 2808ci and it plays just fine.

My dish cable tv receiver only has S-video and digital-video ouputs. I've tried connecting the S-video and L/R audio cables to the TV/CBL inputs and assigned that "component in".

...But still no video or audio output to the TV. Perhaps I need to connect the digital video output on the dish tv receiver instead of the S-video if I'm outputting via HDMI cable to my TV? Would try, but need to get a digi cable first.

Thanks for any responses.

Kooch

You definitely want to run the HDMI digital output from your cable box to the Denon.

The only reason I can assume you have no output right now is that S-video is not a "component" (Y-Pr-Pb) input. Try turning that off and see if the S-video signal comes in. Also, I think there is a step in the setup where you have to tell the receiver that you want to use HDMI monitor output.... but I can't remember for sure...

Well, that just it- my cable box does not have an HDMI output. Only RCA, S-video and Digital.

Thanks,

KK

Hi, got my 988 Saturday and am pretty happy with it. Paid $750 at Circuit City. Had the Pioneer 1015TX so this is a nice step up. Took over 5 hours to get everthing hooked up and the receiver set up. Watched Rambo Sun using 7.1 PCM DTS-HD Master Audio from my PS3 and it was pretty immersive with the sound and my 50" Sony A2020. I doubt that my neighbors were as thrilled. Had one question. I did read through this forum and saw a few pages on this but couldn't really get anything definitive out of it. I have tried to playback music but I only get 2 channels and cannot use any of the different music modes except 7 ch stereo. The receiver displays the 7.1 channel on the front. thanks for the help. I am using one HDMI cable from the PS3 into the Denon. PS3 is set in the PMC mode. Am listening to music copied to my PS3 hard drive and out through the Denon. I am trying to figure out what the best setting is to listen to music from my PS3 (MP3's): Bitstream or PCM and what boxes should be checked in the PS3 menu to be able to use the receiver with the different music modes. Maybe I should be asking this in the PS3 forum but I am using the Denon 988.

If you have the PS3 set to "PCM", then the modes will not work on the Denon because the PS3 is decoding the music and sending it throught the Denon's multi-channel input (which bypasses the processors). If you want to change the music output, It would have to be done in the PS3. The other option would be to set the PS3 to "bitstream" and use the Denon's processors, but then you would lose Dolby "Tru-HD" on your movies.
Mike

Thanks Rockhound, I see, yes I know I have to have it in the PCM mode for Tru HD I will try the PS3 in the bitstream mode and see if I can manipulate the music through the 988. Thanks

What exactly does the new firmware do?

I've searched and read through this thread and I thought I got it but in the end it didn't work. Does anyone know if the avr-988 can output video through the component ports when the input is hdmi? Apart from my projector when watching movies with my PS3 I would like to use my TV at times but my TV does not have hdmi. So I can only input component at the TV. Again thanks for any help in advance.

moldman, on page 8 of the manual, I see, “HDMI signals cannot be converted into analog signals” and the video signal path illustration shows no conversion. Not what you were hoping for.

cocobeli,

Thanks for the reply. Am I the only one who finds this manual a little contradictory or confusing?

I have Denon AVR-988 - can you disable AL24 processing or is this on by default all the time ?

Thanks,
Nikonowski

I have had the Denon 988 for one week. Sounds good and I am finally familiar with it after a week and many hours. I paid $760. Does anyone see any great advantage in returning it for the Onkyo 805? I get three HDMI's in, extra 20 watts and it will cost me $60 less for the Onkyo 805. I believe it has the same Audyssey EQ setup. Othewise my main reason would be to get the extra HDMI input, save a little money and be a bit more future proofed. Thoughts?

If you have an HDTV, perhaps it's time to consider upgrading your dish cable STB to either an HD STB or an HD DVR, both of which most likely have HDMI jacks.

Let me also add, that although I have commented numerous times that IMHO the 1080p upscaling feature of the 2808CI is not something I would specifically buy this AVR for (as I'm not impressed with it), I would much more strongly suggest (if you haven't done it already) that everyone upgrade to an HD STB or HD DVR as the picture quality from a 720p/1080i program makes the TV experience significally more pleasurable. My fiancee rarely watched TV on our old CRT, however, loves to record and watch numerous medical shows that are all broadcast in HD. The level of detail is incredible!

See post #656.

One of the great features about the AVS forum is that if a product has been out for awhile (as both the 805 and 988 have been) most likely someone has already asked a question you might want answered that is related to the particular product. It's best to do a search on the specific model threads for keywords to get responses. In your case, the exact question was asked in it's own thread with a few responses you might find helpful.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940517

My understanding is that it is on all the time and not something that can be turned off, however, it will only work with multichannel PCM signals and not bitstreamed signals.

Thanks for the thread. I have done so many searches through different threads I was getting burnt out. Guess I should of tried 988 vs 805. I can't really see taking the Denon back unless someone came up with something I have over looked. Thanks

As promised, I am providing some additional helpful instructions to assist in the installation of the 2808/988 firmware update dated 02/08. Refer to this post for obtaining both 2808/988 updates.

1. I have an older Toshiba laptop which does not have a serial port so I ordered a generic USB-to-Serial DB9 off the internet from here for $10. The posts on the serial DB9 end do not twist off, so I had to pull them off with a pair of pliers as the posts on the Denon serial jack cannot be removed. This particular cable is only 18" in length which was fine for me, however, it might be easier with a longer (e.g. 3' cable) depending on your own setup. Upon receipt of the cable I hooked it up to the Denon. My WIN XP OS recognized it as new hardware, however, initially I was not able to find a driver for it on my Toshiba installation/driver CDs, although I did find a reference on the internet that for WIN XP a driver was not needed (even though my OS indicated the hardware might not work properly). I let it go and figured I would try it anyway without a driver.
2. Once the update was received, I downloaded the attachment to my laptop.
3. I clicked on the firmware update folder. There are 3 files in the folder of which I used two, the PDF file (instructions) and the zipped setup file.
4. Open the PDF file to review the instructions. At the bottom of the file, it shows how to look at the configuration file to see what the current software version is. The picture in the file shows what it will look like after the update, however, you might want to write down what the original version setting is.
5. Open the zipped setup file to install the software onto my laptop.
6. Click on the icon placed on the desktop to start the firmware software. A popup is displayed which allows you to check the various COM ports to determine which one works. None of them worked except COM3 so I selected that and clicked on the Update button. It ran for a few minutes before coming up with a communication error. In the instructions it gives you an alternate procedure if the first one fails. I tried this and it failed as well.
7. Since the error was a communication error, I went back to the internet and looked for a USB-to-Serial driver and downloaded this one (PL2303), which worked successfully for me although it indicated it was installed using COM8 which is what I selected when I ran the procedure again (rather than COM3).
8. I repeated the update procedure starting from the beginning and it worked successfully this time, taking about 25 minutes for the update to complete.
9. I received a "Update complete" popup and upon running the configuration file, found it to read the same as listed in the PDF instructions.

Firmware update changes:
1. The "Cars" BD disc has a Dolby TrueHD 6.1 soundtrack, however the display read and playback only HD 5.1 - this is corrected.
2. The 'New Line' titles with dts-HD Master 7.1 tracks are played back in PCM 7.1 however the display only shows dts Surround 5.1 - this is corrected. It will show dts-HD MA 7.1.
3. Intermittent IR operation of certain commands through the Room to Room back panel jacks - this is corrected.

NOTE: So unless you have a 6.1 or 7.1 setup or are having IR operation problems, this firmware update is not necessary.

jdsmoothie, did you notice if the update improved any other areas apart from those listed in the documentation? Just curious if there were some undocumented improvements. Thanks.