Sony STR-DG910 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver

I wanted to get a receiver but not break the bank. This model was the premium of the mid-brand Sony receivers. It has several SPIDIF connections, 3 hdmi inputs, component, everything you really need for hd entertainment.

It is connected to:

Polk RM6880 speakers and sub (great speakers by the way)
LG BH200 (Blu-ray/Hd-dvd)
PS3

They are all connected via hdmi. Sound quality is fantastic; the STR-DG910 has more wattage than the Onkyo 605. While I did like the Onkyo 605 there have been several complaints on different postings about speaker pops, overheating, and general unreliability.

This receiver has pre-set sound options specifically for concerts, sci-fi/action, and more. I watched Sigur Rós concert/Documentary dvd in DTS the other night and I head sounds I never noticed before. Action films sound equally fantastic.

A weird quirk: When I used the automatic set up with the microphone it said that not all my speakers were set up. I called tech support and they said that mic is set up for 7.1 set-up and I have a 5.1 set up. That was a little annoying.

Another negative side is that it's a real pain to set-up. I'm still getting used to the remote. Still, for this price, I can't complain. I bought it for 20% less than what it is online at a local electronic store.

Sony did something right for a change. Take advantage of it.

This is a nice product. I made the decision to buy this receiver based on its HDMI switching capabilities. It also has integrated Dolby Digital and DTS features. I used the external microphone to setup the surround system and right away the systems was sounding great! You can even edit the input names to suit your preferences. I changed the SAT/TV display setting to cable for my easy reference.

This is my first time writing a review, but I thought it was important since these reviews were instrumental in my purchase decision.

First of all let me say that this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Here were my requirements:

1. BUDGET-minded
2. HDMI pass-through with at least 2 inputs
3. 7.1 channel surround sound capable
4. Future proof, for when I'm ready to upgrade

Here are the results:

Ringing in at only $399.99 (the lowest I could find for this product) it seemed about right for my budget. It has 3 HDMI inputs and plenty of other inputs (should I need them). Currently I have my PS3 (Blu-ray) and my Brighthouse HD cable box connected through HDMI, leaving room for one more device via HDMI later. The reciever is connected to my Sony 40" XBR2 LCD TV (purchased last year). The speakers I'm using are a set of Harmon/Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 home theater speakers (read my review on that later). I have chosen not to go 7.1 since the room I'm set up in is comparatively small (1bed luxury apartment).

I still haven't had a chance to put this system fully to the test, but so far I'm VERY satisfied. The only thing I can say needs improvement is ease of use. The menus aren't intuitive and requires reading the manual. I thought about getting a universal remote, but since the PS3 works on Bluetooth instead of RF, I'm still going to need more than one remote. Fortunately the receiver remote works for my TV and cable box (not all functions though).

As far as delivery, I'm trying out Amazon Prime. I ordered the reciever on a Friday and it was here by Monday (since most carriers don't deliver on Sundays).

And to take it one step further, I originally bought this at the price of $424.99, but a couple days later it went down $25 to $399.99. I called up Amazon and they refunded me the difference. They guarantee the price for 30 days so you won't feel cheated if there's a sale the day after you buy something. Way to go! Thanks Amazon!

I originally had a DG800, which only had HDMI passthru. When I purchased a Blu-Ray player, I decided to upgrade to take advantage of fewer cables. I purchased a DG810, which had upgraded HDMI capability, but alas no audio and the video was a disaster. Called Sony tech support, assuming I had done something wrong. First they said it wouldn't handle my TV, as it had DVI connecter. However, when I pointed out that it worked on 800 and supported per their manuals, they agreed it wasn't the problem with the video Still no audio. Next they insisted it was my cable, that I couldn't use the $80 Monster, but I had to go all the way to the $120 cable. OK, what the heck. Still no audio. Now they pass me to 2nd level support and I go through pretty much the whole sequence again. Solution is send it in and they will fix it, might take a few weeks. That's a non-starter as I just purchased it. So, back to the store I go to do an exchange. Circuit City tells me they are out of 810's and they are being discontinued by Sony. OK, option is to pay another $80 and get the 910. Back home and hook it up. Picture is great. Still no audio. Now I'm really ticked off. Get on the web and find out from non-Sony posting that this is a common problem. One poor guy had to exchange his 4 times, before he got one that worked. Then HDMI audio quit after 6 weeks! This AV reciver provides good sound and works fine if don't use the HDMI inputs for sound and stay away from Sony support, they are either incompetent of dishonest.

UPDATED 12/7

OK.

First, I bought this receiver from CCity, not Amazon, because I was impatient and didn't want to wait for it to be shipped. Besides, I knew they'd use FedEx and leave it sitting out in a plain box ready for theft.

Anyway...I needed a receiver to replace my old receiver. The first reason was because I have a ton of electronic components that needed to be hooked up, of various connection qualities and needed to consolidate. For the record I have:

- HD-DVR (supports HDMI but was using Component and optical)
- 360 (supports Component, but was using VGA and optical)
- PS3 (using HDMI)
- Wii (using Component)

You can imagine how many cords were all over the place.

I did a lot of research and stumbled across this nice little expensive unit. The one thing that caught my eye about it was the fact that it not only transcoded HDMI, it also upconverted source signals to the highest resolution possible regardless of what that source cable was. That meant that I could have 5 devices plugged into the receiver and just one HDMI cable out to my TV and be fine in the knowledge that it's the maximum resolution it can be. AWESOME.

So now my setup looks like this:

- HD-DVR (using HDMI)
- PS3 (using HDMI)
- 360 (using Component/optical and upconverted through HDMI)
- Wii (using Component and upconverted through HDMI)
- Receiver outputs through HDMI and I use it to switch input signals, the TV only uses on and off.

Should I decide to invest in an Elite 360, I'll then have HDMI there, which is even less cabling. Then the only cable nightmare is the Wii, which I suppose I can't do anything about.

It's really nice because I really only use two remotes instead of 5 (no, I'm not kidding, I had 5 remotes going on).

However, it does have some flaws.

- The HDMI inputs are named the same as some of the Component/Composite inputs. Meaning I can't have the PS3 on HDMI Video 2 and the 360 on Component Video 2. I'm sure I could alternate the two, but I would much rather the HDMI inputs have their own dedicated selections.

- The receiver's remote is unwieldy and confusing. Way too many buttons, I mean you have to click three different buttons just to set subwoofer level.

- The HDMI upconversion doesn't always play nice with DirecTV's HR20 HD-DVR. If the HR20 is turned on before the receiver, the receiver won't output all colors to the TV, so it'll show up pink/green. The receiver has to be powered on first, then the HR20. the HR20 might just be picky, but I think it shouldn't matter in either case.

- I had some issues getting the 360 to play nice with the receiver. I actually had to turn the little switch on the component cables to the non-HD setting to get it to work. Which is weird, because it IS in HD.

- I would have liked some sort of attenuation setting, so I could drop the volume to bare minimum with a single button press (in the case of phone calls, visitors, etc).


All in all, yes I do recommend this receiver as a great value, but then again, a receiver is only as good as your setup/speakers/etc.

UPDATE: I finally experienced my first HDMI-related issue. The receiver keeps defaulting itself to PCM, not recognizing DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1 or any digital audio sound. I have to power it off and back on to get it to process the sound input properly. Even if I leave the receiver on, it still does the same thing. Also, when I power it off and back on, instead of remembering what input it was on last, it goes back to "TV", which nothing is connected to. It's quite annoying, to be sure.

UPDATE 2: I figured out the PCM issue. For whatever reason, it requires Bitstream in order to acknowledge any digital signal. The 360 works fine. It's the PS3 and the DirecTV receiver that have the issue. Also, the automatic TV setting seems to have been a symptom of my TV (Samsung DLP...I wrote a review about it) and automatically doing something with the HDMI. As to the first problem, the deal with Bitstream is that Blu-ray apparently is optimal with Linear PCM...so I'd have to change it if I were watching a DVD vs. a Blu-ray. I don't know how to deal with that.

UPDATE 3: Figured out the problem with the HDMI when I was shifting stuff around on my power supply unit. Apparently, the receiver has an option to either (A) output sound to the TV and speakers, or (B) send to the speakers only. The receiver was set to option A. My new Samsung 61' LED DLP apparently doesn't like receiving digital audio, so the receiver was converting it to PCM. Changing that option to B (which is what it should have been all along) resolved it, and digital surround works perfectly now.