The Yamaha RX-V663 thread. HDMI 1.3 upconversion, TrueHD, DTS MA decoding. - Page 9

Any news on the availability of this model in Europe?
UK Yamaha website does not have the v663, nor the v863 listed as yet.

Guess we'll have to wait it out until summer...

You're not alone. Just last month I bought the 661 and an hd dvd player. I'm real happy with both but the 663 would've been the better choice for me and the hd dvd, well...

I didnt read through most of this. I only read maybe for 3 or 4 pages but why would you choose the 663 over the 6160? Just curious?

you really dont have to care about 663 if you dont care about
the HDMI 1.3 audio like True HD. 661 can handle these via multichannel
LPCM. If you say that you could hear a difference in sound quality
between multichannel LPCM vs True HD, then you may want to go for a AVR which can handle those formats. I doubt if anyone could tell a difference.

People talk about future proof. Just a few months ago no one would have
thought that HD DVD would come to an end.

I am not too concerned about future prrofing. I ordered 663 mainly because
I didnt like the 661 remote. If the 663 remote also sucks I probably would never ever buy another Yamaha because I dont want to spend some $150-200 for a universal remote when I dont have several gear that I need to operate. I didnt like 661 SQ. I have the old 795a which I found to be better
than 661. I am just taking a chance that my 661 might have been defective
and that the 663 would be just as good as 795a or 659 if not better.

These days manufacturers of mass market AVR's just want to come up with a cheap product with lots of bells and whistles but compromise on performance i.e sound quality. So you are better off using these cheapo AVR's as a pre.pro and get an external amp like Rotel RB-1050 (for 2ch)
or RMB-1066 for 6 ch. This would work a lot better if you have good 8ohm speakers.
But if you have HTIB kind of speakers, the mass marlet AVR's would be just fine.

Considering the fact that a basic 2ch pre.pro like Rotel RC-1070 costs $499,
spending $399 for the 663 would be a no brainer, provided the pre.pro
section of the 663 is just as good as the Rotel RC-1070. I am not sure if this is the case.

Has anyone been able to figure out what (if any) video up conversion feature differences between the RX-V863 and the RX-V663 are? What chip is Yamaha using for this feature?

Basically, I am trying to figure out the differences that account for nearly 2x the price difference between these two models and this is what I have been able to come up with so far:

1. 10W/channel more power
2. HD Radio
3. One additional HDMI input

You wouldn't! They are identical receivers. Yamaha's site comparison lists the HTR-6160 as having a higher wattage rating. However, the HTR-6160 manual indicates that it has an identical power rating to the RX-V663. The only difference between these two receivers might be the price but even that should be close since there are no technical differences between these receivers.

You need to look into a Harmony remote! Spend the ******* money on a universal remote. Trust me, you will thank me in the end!

Cheap model. Still works well though. It just doesn’t look as cool. $45
Logitech Harmony 659 Advanced Universal Remote Control

Middle of the road remote. This is the one I have. $120
Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote

Super Cool looking remote. Costs a lot more though. $240
Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote

The manuals are fairly clear. The 663 will convert analog video to HDMI digital at the input resolution. The 863 will additionally upscale 480i/p sources to 720p/1080i/p.

well the 2 units I use the most are the receiver and cable box. I am ok with the comcast cable remote. Then I am spending the extra $150-200 just so that I can use the universal remote instead of the AVR's remote.

Instead I would put that money on a AVR like Marantz SR4002, unles the Marantz remote also sucks. I briefly tried the marantz remote and its response is a lot faster than 661 remote. But I have to check other features of the marantz remote.

Like I said before there was really no reason to change the remote
from the older model like RX-V795a. The idiots who redesigned the remote
basically messed it up.

This time I am not going to sell the unit for a loss on ebay.

If 663 has the same lousy remote like 659 or 661, it goes back.


Like I also said before, the manufacturers of most audio/video gear take
for granted that we will get a universal remote. So they just dont care
much about the remote. I dont think I have to put up with this crap.

Even if you only have a TV hooked up to an over the air antenna, I would still get a harmony remote. The cheapest one there is only $45. Honestly, the original remotes should only be used if the batteries on your Harmony go out!

If you have even two components then a Universal remote is a HUGE benefit. Unless your remote has a macro function then you have to hit multiple buttons to turn on each device. The harmony takes care of that with one nicely color coded button. And if you screw it up it also has a help button that can actually fix your mistake.

Last time I checked $45 does not get you much from Marantz!

This is dumb to me. Why make the same thing but give it a different model number and possibly charge the same amount?

If you would compare the HTR-6160 to the Onkyo 705, how would it fair? The Onkyo 705 is more expensive and has 1 more HDMI. Do both of these receivers do bitstream and pcm on all audio codecs? The reason I ask is becuase I was going for the 705 but if this one is the same with a better price; then duh.

Someone posted this CNET blog on the new Yamahas:

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-987...=2547-1_3-0-20

Here's a snippet:


I'd just add that the 605 doesn't quite offer the "same functionality", at least as far as LPCM is concerned. And it's not much less, from the prices in this thread.

Well I didn't create the receiver I just told you the specs. The truth is that the HTR series was created as a sold through the internet model line. Stores like Best Buy carried this line originally. They were almost identical to their RX-V series counterparts but the RX-V receivers were banned from being sold on the net. This also prevented customers from forcing Mom and Pop Boutique dealers to price match Best Buy.

Nowadays Best Buy sells both series and you can find both series on the net for next to nothing. I am surprised that they actually did an HTR line this time but you never know what reasons they have.

4. Phono in

I will give harmony a try. I did shop around last year and didnt like those hard keys. I will buy from walmart :-)

BTW when I said I would spend the extra $150-200 for the Marantz, I mean extra $150-200 on top of the $400 I otherwise spent on the 663.
Marantz SR4002 is $549. No deals anywhere including online. But I am sure Marantz has the reputation for build and sound quality.

I guess the CNET blog assumes that the 663 does upscaling via HDMI and so was asking why spend on 863 just for features like HD radio. As we all know 663 does not do upscaling via HDMI. It just converts analog (480i/480p) to hdmi. Yamaha specs doesnt say what deinterlacer they are using. I am not sure if they are using any top notch deinterlacer.

I careless about any video capabilities of an AVR as I always connect my projector (Infocus IN72) directly to the DVD player or HD box. I will make sure that my replacement to IN72 will also have a good deinterlacer/scaler like the IN72.

I guess Onkyo 605 offers HDMI 1.3 audio formats like True HD and it also offers multichannel LPCM via HDMI. The catrch is that the consumers had to do a firmware upgrade to make the 1.3 audio options work and for this they had to mail the unit to Onkyo or a service center. May be the units that are shipping now have the firmware loaded already.

it really doesnt matter if an AVR doesnt handle any of the 1.3 formats like True HD as the DVD players that output these formats arent there yet or probably only a couple of them do it. So as long as a receiver provides multichannel LPCM it really is not a problem. People make this future proof thing such a big deal. How many people can tell the difference in SQ between the direct stream (True HD etc.) and the LPCM.

So even a receiver like Marantz SR4002/5002 that doesnt have HDMI 1.3 repeating is good enough for many years. When all the dust settles I will be in a position to enjoy all the goodies of 1.3a or 1.3b or 1.4 or what ever version that settles down.

For now I dont want to be a guinea pig of someone else's experiments :-)

BTW 605 offers same features as 663

HDMI 1.3a repeater
HDMI video up-conversion with DCDi (663 probably doesnt use faroudja)
True HD, DTS-HD

Not quite. The 663 has 7.1 preouts; the 605 doesn't.

Or they just don't consider it "major". I know I don't.


It converts 720p/1080i analog to HDMI, also. No upscaling, though.

I agree the onboard decoding isn't a big deal. Most people are viewing BD on PS3 and would never use it. And all HD-DVD decode TrueHD.

The 605 also cannot create 7.1 from a 5.1 TrueHD track under any circumstance. The 663 can at least apply DPLIIx to LPCM.
Doesn't the 605 also do some strange scaling when it converts to HDMI? Like all sources to 720p? I'd rather leave the resolution alone.

I believe the problem is that it takes 1080i content from component and scales it down to 720p through HDMI.

no 12V trigger on 605 :-) it also runs like a furnace

663 has a 12V trigger. This is important to me as I plan on getting an ext amp
I would have to pay $749 for the Marantz SR5002 to get the 12V trigger which
is not on SR4002.

I also dont care much about any of the video capabilities of any AVR as I hook
up my DVD player directly to the projector. Converting analog to digital is always
going to add more noise. It is better to have a direct digital connection from source to display.

.

I agree with the principal, although the convenience of the single connection outweighs any concern I have about degradation of the analog sources I've got.

I think I'm in on this... I have 5 XLS402's so I could care less about the amp section...my out dated Onkyo has some pre-amp issues in the right channel, so the timing for this seems spot on.

With the money I saved from not buying the Onkyo 885 pre-amp (what I really want!) I can get the Mits HC4900 projector as a bonus

Burr Brown DACs nice, but this doesn't have mic calibration from what I can see, right? I just bought a refurb Onkyo 705 but it's damaged, this looks like a nice replacement.

Well, there's a mic input right there on the front and this is listed in the specs:


Is that what you mean?

I currently have an Onkyo 604, with a 663 pre-ordered.

I have a 5.1 speaker set-up so I have the 604 powering zone 2 speakers. I run the zone 2 speaker output to a passive speaker selector box then to two separate outdoor locations powering Niles OS5.3si outdoor speakers with 8 ohm ratings for each. I have used this configuration to power one or both Niles without problem.

Reading the 663 manual today, I noticed there is a caution against using such a configuration (pg 104) or damage to the amp might occur.

My question: is this a warning I need to heed, or since it works without problem on the 604, do you think I could do the same with the 663?

Thanks.

Thanks!

I wonder which chip is being used for video upscaling on the 863...

pre-ordered with JR, I had to ask for the discount. He checked w/ his manager and got the price but didnt do free shipping. meh, no big deal.

Ok, I've read everything on this thread but just wanted confirm before the preorder.

1. it will send all video input via hdmi to TV so more need for analog video cables to TV from the receiver.
2. the hdmi will pass both audio and video

Can anyone confirm that please?