Sony STRDG720 7.1 Audio Video Receiver - Black

i was very disappointed when i opened the box. 399 mrsp is way over priced for this unit, however i only paid 200.00, if it wasn't for the hdmi inputs and out (not just repeater) i wouldn't have gotten this.

cons
feels cheap, display is not up to par with other, not enough inputs only 2 optical and i coaxial

pros
hdmi switch works well, ez setup with mic. great unit at 200.00 price.

There are many good and bad things about this receiver. I've had it about a month now with no major problems. I would like to start by saying that the people who said there is no A+B are pretty stupid. You can't make it come out both by click either A or B, you need to set a soundfield for it to come out both. I have it hooked up as 5.1, 2 speakers in A and 3 in B, which is recommended. Make sure you set all the speaker sizes to small, even if the front are large. This will make the sound richer by having the deep sounds come out of the sub.

Ok so lets start with the good. It has 3, yes 3 HDMI inputs that do carry sound, unlike the competition in this price range like Onkyo, which i have for my other setup. It also has many other inputs, too many to count which i don't use, except 1 video input for sound from my laptop. It also has many soundfields to choose from that will let you experience different sounds for your specific application (e.g. music, movie, video game).

Now for the bad. My biggest problem is with the remote. You need to point the remote directly at the receiver for it detect it. This might not sound like a big deal, but it gets really annoying when you have something on the coffee table that blocks its line of sight, or you just don't feel like taking your hand out from under the blanket. Another problem is i couldn't program it to my cable remote from comcast. I bought myself a logitech harmony remote for Christmas, so hopefully that will fix the problem. Even though they are not on the same remote, every time i turn off my tv, it auto turns off the receiver for some reason, which could be perceived as good or bad. Sometimes i would like to listen to music from the tv, without it actually being on and wasting energy, so i always need to turn the receiver back on after i turn off the tv. Also, every time i turn on the receiver, it goes to the TV input for some reason, even though my cable box is plugged into SAT. For some reason, the TV input puts out the picture but no sound. Also the menu is pretty bad, and the display isn't the best, but i'm not to stuck up on that. One last thing to mention is this does not stay at a steady 105 watts per channel. It fluctuates a lot, so you will be just as good going with an 80 watts per channel receiver as this. I don't mind, but you might.

Now that i'm looking at all the bad written down, it makes me want to lower it to 3 stars, but i will leave it at 4 because it serves its purpose well. I will also say, i did hear a large improvement over my old receiver, with much higher highs, and lower lows, as well as almost no background static. Over all i would recommend that if you're on a budget to buy this. If you have money to spare, i would buy a better receiver from Denon.

I've had this receiver as part of my home theater for 6 months and it's worked flawlessly; excellent picture and sound. I'm not a HT expert by any means but I did a lot of research before buying my components. My TV is a Samsung 52" LN52A550, and I have a Motorola DCT6412 cable box and PS3 connected, everything with HDMI. I was interested in getting a receiver where the HDMI inputs/outputs would handle both sound and picture, since I'd read that on some receivers the HDMI doesn't handle sound. I have Polk Audio Monitor 60s, a Polk Audio CS1 center speaker, and a Polk Audio PSW10 subwoofer, which I mostly only power on when I watch movies. I bought some back speakers but have never hooked them up, mainly because I'm very happy with the sound as is, plus I'd have to run wires all around my living room. Anyway, with this receiver you can run your system as 2 channel, front plus center, 5 channel, or 7. It comes with a microphone gizmo where you can have the system calibrate/balance your speakers for you, but I haven't found that necessary. There are also many, many listening settings and adjustments you can make and options you can choose, but I've so far mostly gone with the defaults. I went to a site called [...] where you can enter your components and it will tell you the most effective way to hook them up. It saved me a LOT of time, since there are so many options and possible combinations. The one thing I don't like about this receiver is that apparently you have to do either HDMI or component connections and you can't switch - i.e., you can't use the optical output for other components not connected through HDMI if you're using HDMI connections. Although I gather that there are switching devices you can buy and that some higher end receivers will do switching. But for my needs and the money I had to spend, I'm very happy. If you're considering buying this, I recommend downloading the user manual from Sony and glancing through it if you have specific questions.

You wont get full HDMI (video AND audio) routing, and 7.1, anywhere else near this price range. Plenty of features here...

Dont listen to people nay saying the audio quality. They are either pros or they have buyers remorse that they payed more. I have had both Onkyo and Yahmaha receivers in the past, and I can say that unless you are a TRUE audiophile, you will be very happy with this receiver. It sounds great paired up with some quality speakers.

If you have: a 42" 1080P tv, a decent speaker set up, an xbox/blu ray player or ps3...just save your money and dont look back. You will be happy.

Perhaps a case of "you get what you pay for". It wasn't till we had the receiver all hooked up that we realized you can't play speakers A and B simultaneously, defeating our purpose of music in 2 adjoining rooms. Sound quality was poor, as was the FM signal for all but 1 of our local radio stations, even with a power FM antenna. Maybe this is more suited to a home theater set-up, rather than strictly music? We have since returned the item.