Customer Reviews

Sony STR-DG510 Home Theater Receiver

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

First of all, I can't stand it when people rate decent products with 1 star. This product can be misleading, but is still a great value. Rating this product at 1 star because there are better, more expensive receivers out there is just foolish. This product is great... for the price.

Good luck finding a receiver at this price that has this many inputs and this feature set. No audio on the HDMI out? Who cares! The audio is supposed to go through the receiver anyway! And for the guy who says this isn't good for the XBOX 360... hook it into the SAT input. That's component video and optical audio. What's the problem? I'm pretty sure no xbox 360 game supports 1080p yet anyway, so this is perfectly alright.

One nice feature about this receiver is that it comes with a special microphone that hooks into the front. If you place the microphone near where you would normally be sitting, the receiver will adjust the speaker output to optimize the surround sound.

All the negative reviews I've seen here are unjustified. This is a great product for the price. You will not find another receiver in this price range that compares. I'm very happy with it... now all I need are some decent speakers and a powered sub.

The physical quality of the receiver is OK. The menus are ultra primitive but fairly functional. If you have a certain arrangement of hardware, this may be a great deal for you.

But for your surround sound, it is misleading about the 2 optical, 1 coax connections, and how they work with the component video in options. Basically, you get this:

SAT: component video + optical audio
DVD: component video + coax audio
VID2: HDMI video + optical audio

This is not flexible. If your hardware doesn't fit into this arrangement, this is not the unit for you.

XBox 360 owners have good reason to not like this arrangement. XBox 360 only uses component video + optical audio, so it won't work as either "DVD" or "VID2."

If that works for you, then the sound quality is acceptable, and the video passthrough is nice--I was previously having to switch inputs with my TV remote, which was very tedious. This makes an acceptable driver for a low-cost arrangement with smaller speakers.

This is definitely a low-end receiver, though, and maxes out at 1080i. If you are working with 1080p players and TVs, you'll need to spend more than this.

Length:: 3:09 Mins

Well I have a Playstation 3 and this receiver sys has hdmi capabilities, yet it can only output a display through hdmi and I had to hook up a fiber optical cable to the surround sound box. That's not all bad for the Price it's still an effective set up, optically is Just a step down from hdmi and yes you wont get the full liner on the ps3, But before I bought this set up I was just running it on my 42 inch 1080p TV with the Stock speakers.... That was not good sound at All, So this is a Great improvement cause I didn't have the funds to spend on a $400-$500 sys that outputs hdmi sound...So this works and Sounds Great compared to the TV speakers that I had it on. Last, the BlueRay player on the Ps3 Shows Beautifully on my 1080p TV and now the sound actually Makes the movie Pop out more along with better Game play. This is a Great Starter System For the Price!! So BUY IT :)

<Side Note: In Video i said 5.0 surround sound only cause i didn't have my sub hooked in - - It Does project 5.1 Surround sound (5= 5speakers .1=Sub Thus you get 5.1 Surround Sound> On this Sys 5.1 is shown As 3/2.1 = 3speakers in front / 2 in back .1 for sub which is still 5.1

I would have to say that I am extremely happy with this purchase. I bought two, one for bedroom and one for living room and ended up not using one of them because I bought an HTIB. However, for the money you just can't beat this receiver. It is very powerful for a 5.1 and unless you are a complete audiophile who spends hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on speakers then this receiver is right for you.

I noticed some people were complaining that there is no sound via the HDMI and they are correct. However, with that being said even the $600 Onkyo receivers do not pass audio via HDMI, only video. It isn't a problem anyhow, considering the fact that you can run a $10 optical or Coax cable and get very good quality sound from it. This sounds great with video games, PS3 and Xbox 360 with the right speakers, but provides plenty of power.

All in all you can't go wrong, don't waste your money on more expensive receivers.

We purchased this receiver to replace a Sony STR-DE335 5.1 analog receiver and to pair with a Hitachi 57" projection 1080i HDTV - model 57F59A, a Panasonic DMR-EZ475V DVD Recorder, and an XBOX 360 using a KLH HT-9900 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System. My initial impression is that for the money, I've done about as well as I could possibly do to integrate all these components through an economical receiver. When comparing sound output from both receivers, I'd say that the new Sony sounds slightly better than the old one because of digital sound processing but it takes a slightly higher volume setting out of the new one to power speakers purchased in late '97 (which still sound great) even though all the speakers are now directly connected to the receiver. (In the past I had to wire for a passive sub woofer in which the front speakers are wired through the sub.) While the audio improvement is not as great as I had anticipated, it's hard to find fault with the new receiver. One thing I did was to upgrade my sub woofer. My KLH passive sub woofer really underperformed when powered by this new receiver so I went with a Sony SA-W2500 10" sub woofer. This turned out to be a perfect complement to my existing speaker system. I run this all in an "open room" meaning there's only one wall to place everything against but with no sense of enclosure because the room's other walls are far away. I trust Sony's auto calibration feature to optimize the sound for my room environment. Despite the less than ideal setting it really sounds quite good. In the end and for the money, you'd be hard pressed to find a better, economical 1080i receiver.

I purchased this receiver to replace my ten-year old Sony, which has been a superb receiver for my home theater. In a nutshell, it was a disappointing experience; the unit would not drive my Polk sub-woofer and the sound seemed tin-like, with an annoying echo. I couldn't find a sound field I liked with this one. I returned the unit to the store and will keep looking. I should have known - you get what you pay for. Would not recommend.

So Amazon had marked this receiver down to $99 with free shipping, this is a great product for THAT price. Like other reviewers I was bummed about the HDMI was only for video, and there are only two HDMI hook ups one with the Digital Component Audio, and the other with Optical Audio. so if you had two devices that had optical audio connectors you have a problem. Setup was painless and I used the auto calibrate feature with my sound system sounds great.

I did some research before I ordered this inexpensive Sony A/V Receiver and overall I am quite impressed. For the $178.00 (free shipping too!) that I paid for this thing, it is a very good value. I realize there are much better alternatives, but not anywhere near this price. If you are like me, and have two HDTV viewing areas in your home, it gets pretty old to buy components that cost an arm and a leg. Be forwarned: the HDMI connection works the video only - you will have to hook up either co-ax or optical cables to make the audio work. I hooked this baby up to a B.I.C. 12" powered subwoofer coupled with two old Design Acustics three-way bookshelf speakers. Feeding CD quality audio from my Cox cable box into this system is AWESOME! I still have to buy the center and surround speakers but the actual sound is superb - especially when you factor in the price. Very powerfull and detailed sound - very satisfied with this unit. I am leaning towards buying more B.I.C. speakers to round out this system.

This Sony amp is a great addition for a bedroom setup or in a smaller viewing room. Connections are simplicity itself, and the auto speaker configuration is a great help in spaces where standard speaker placement is not an option.

The Sony STR-DG510 has been a great addition to a growing home A/V setup. Front panel functionality leaves a lot to be desired but the capabilities and quality of this "budget" priced receiver are remarkable. The sound from every source is delivered virtually distortion free. The menus and programmability are not for the novice but the remote covers all of the options and directions are relatively easy to follow. This is an awesome 5.1 100W/channel receiver.