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We are enjoying it very much. That sure beats having to set up all the speakers by "hand". This receiver does exactly as advertised. It was not difficult to set up with the automatic set up feature.
I am not disappointed. This thing does everything you expect it to. Enjoy, my friends. You will not be either. As a newby to the home theatre world, I took alot of time to figure out which one I wanted. This was it.
I highly recommend this device to verybody. This unit is substantially cheap comparing to the other receivers with the same functions in the current market. I bought this one to replace for my prior-purchased Sony's theater receiver which had an intermitten problem. So far, this Yamaha receiver works very well and meets all of my expectations such as sound quality, easy setup.
Compared to the 20 year old unit which cost twice as much twenty years ago, not even adjusting for inflation, the feature set is astonishing. Entropy catches up with everything sooner or later. The Yamaha, with the included antenna, brought in dozens of listenable stations. I purchased the first Denon from DAK who said it was "in stock". Take the easy road, by a Yamaha. For instance, I expected it to convert 425 lines from the Laser Disc to 720 or 1880 p or i.
Unfortunately, the upscaler simply did not work. No huge hold times, and the support people are actually excited about the product and very helpful. I then tried again with an Amazon vendor (much better idea). I have needed to call Yamaha support a couple of times and their support is THE BEST I HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN YEARS. I guess I just wasted time on the other receiver, or perhaps that's the point to the song: you don't really appreciate where you end up unless you travel a broken road getting there.
I was not concerned that the HDMI audio was not decoded, I could run analog cables or digital optical. I called today for help setting up "scenes" and found out that user error was the problem as it so often is. I don't think I could be more pleased with this Yamaha receiver. It isn't perfect, a menu map would be great for any AV receiver, but the manual is still quite usable. The AVC-50 still sounds great, and works fine but it was time for my son to inherit the AVC-50 and for me to buy an HDMI capable unit.
For more detail, if you are interested in upscaling, see my review of the Altona. There was no difference in the video resolution whether the scaler was on or off. I sent the Denon back, the Amazon vendor was great and refunded the price and sent a return shipping label.I decided to go with a stand alone upscaler, the Atlona Video and S-Video + Audio to HDMI Converter Scaler up to 1080p, also purchased from Amazon. I don't know if the unit was defective, or whether "upscaling" to Denon means something else. On my first call, the tech volunteered how to get true 5 channel out of my Blu Ray player (I didn't even ask, and didn't realize I wasn't getting 5.1 until he showed me how to check it). I purchased this receiver after I finally broke down and bought an HD TV (Samsung 46 inch), because my old 26 inch TV set died. One reviewer stated this unit introduced noise in the HDMI. I will review this unit separately.
Not so with mine. I expect an upscaler to interpolate between lines of resolution in lower resolution sources, and improve the input lines of resolution to a higher quality video output signal. I also bought this receiver because my previous Yamaha, an ACV-50 purchased twenty years ago when I first got into AV, stopped adjusting volume via the remote. I won't even bother connecting a CD player, all my music is on iTunes, and this receiver has an enhancer mode for MP3 music (yes iTunes fans, AAC is still MP3).
I first purchased a Denon 1909 ($600) because I wanted upscaling for my collection of Laser Discs, which would otherwise be obsolete (425 lines look BAD to my eye on a 46 inch screen). Two weeks later, it hadn't shipped, and DAK issued a refund, after I called to complain. You can choose the scene name, the input, the sound field, and the night version, on each scene. The picture is perfect with no detectable difference between straight connection to my TV and running the HDMI through the Yamaha. The problem was with the remote sensor on the receiver, and a trip to the shop to do any repair would have been almost as much as the price of a new receiver.
I live in a suburban area, but behind a ridge that blocks TV and radio signals pretty effectively. I was pleasantly surprised to find this unit DOES decode and switch HDMI audio.Compared to the Denon, the Yamaha manual is much better. I purchased the optional Yamaha blue tooth dock and now stream all my music to the receiver out of iTunes on my Mac, VERY cool. The sound is great (of course, it's a Yamaha), and the feature set is astounding at this price. And the tuner, which is icing on the cake for me as my previous AVC-50 was an amp and switcher only, works FAR better than the Denon.
In the interim, I had been researching Yamahas on Amazon and had chosen this one. It has been a broken road that led me to where I knew I should have been in the first place, that is to say, with another Yamaha AV receiver. This unit does improve the output quality of my Laser Discs, but it won't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. The Denon, using the included antenna, scanned and found about a half dozen stations, most were unlistenable.
Both my son and I are very happy with this new purchase. I now have the unit set up exactly as I want it, and from the remote I can choose scenes for Blu Ray viewing, Laser Disc viewing (you can name the scenes any name you choose), TV viewing, and iTunes listening, and all stored parameters are in place. I figured I could return the upscaler if it didn't work (it does work), and that perhaps in the future I could upgrade it if upscalers improve over time. That unit arrived the NEXT DAY after I purchased it, GREAT service.
The Denon manual, as I was warned by Amazon reviews, was HORRIBLE, as was the remote that had buttons on both sides (buttons on the back side are under a cover).
(I prefer the amber).- I like how configurable the 463 is - the available digital audio inputs can be switched around to support any component, and all of the inputs can be renamed (for example I renamed "MD/CD-R" to "iPod" for my iPod dock). Not a big deal, just perhaps a few extra wires to run to the TV.- I wish I had one extra digital input (optical or coax) for my Roku movie player, but again this would require stepping up to a much more expensive receiver. Note that most of the 2009 models also have 4 digital inputs - but lose a component input vs. only two for the 463.
Others have given the highlights for this receiver already - I'll just touch on a few items that I've noted over the month I've owned this receiver.- The 463 can extract audio from the HDMI inputs, unlike the lower model 363. The negative of this is that setting up this receiver is fairly complicated - it took me a bit to figure out exactly how to switch the digital audio inputs around.- Don't forget to go into the special settings to set your receiver impedance to 6 ohms if necessary.Overall I'm happy with my purchase. the 2008 models and have changed their status screen from amber to blue. However, this receiver is not quite future-proof as it will not decode the newest Dolby TrueHD soundtracks on Blu-ray discs.
This is a no-op for me as I run my video outputs directly to my Sony TV, but you may want to wait for the new models if you plan to use those inputs. There are a few missing features I might have liked, but at this price point the 463 is still a bargain. I've decided this is not a deal breaker for my setup (Dolby Digital still sounds awfully good), but if Dolby TrueHD is a requirement for you then consider stepping up to the 663 model (or check out the new 2009 models just starting to come out).- Also note that there is no upconversion in this model, do any video input on the video/component inputs will have to be fed to the TV through the video or component outputs. - All new 2009 Yamaha receivers from the 465 on up have 4 HDMI inputs, vs.
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