Customer Reviews

Sony STR-DH500 5.1-Channel A/V Receiver (Black)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Overall, this receiver is a good value for the money, but don't assume anything. Many of the features you'd expect from an A/V receiver are cobbled together in this unit. For example - the HDMI inputs only support pass-through, meaning that they'll pass the signal on to your TV or projector, but if you want audio through your 5.1 speakers, you'll have to connect the audio to the receiver separately. The receiver WILL NOT pull the audio signal from the HDMI feed, even though the cable carries it. Similarly, if you connect analog sources (component or RCA) to the receiver, the receiver WILL NOT output them through the HDMI out. You'll have to run an analog output from your receiver to your TV or projector to carry signal from those sources. I'm still happy with this unit; it's just not as seamless a solution as I expect from a home theater receiver, and many of the features I took for granted when I looked at all the inputs turned out to be false assumptions.

I am reasonably happy with this receiver. But I do have a few minor complaints. It was not clear to me (not specifically mentioned in the menu) that one cannot use the Video "out" to drive the TV Video input and I found that I have to use the Video Monitor out to connect to my LCD TV. So, it cost me some time to play with it. It is unfortunate that my DVD happens to only have a optical digital audio out while the digital audio in for the DVD in this Sony unit can only accept standard RCA jack type digital inputs. Otherwise, it works pretty well overall.

I bought this item and received it very quickly from amazon. When i first hooked it up i found that it would not pass through the HDMI input from my Phillips dvd player or pass through RCA video. I talked to Sony customer support for two hours and they said it was defective. So, amazon sent me another which arrived quickly. This one will pass the RCA video through but still will not pass HDMI through for my DVD player. I'm sure Sony is trying to make you have to buy a Sony DVD player.
Good Stuff
- Cheap
- Everything else works fine

Bad Stuff
- HDMI will not work
- Sound quality is not so good
- Connections on back are not well organized

This receiver is not the best, but for the price it's awesome
Do not set your speakers to small or you will lose the true meaning of Low Frequency effects because every sound will go to the subwoofer.
*NOTE
HDMI doesnt output audio. Not much of a big deal unless u have Blu Ray play(PS3 doesn't bitstream HD audio but u can LPCM for the same exact quality.)

Simple to use. HDMI doesn't have audio so you need to use separate cable for digital audio from cable and dvd. Only SAT works for digital audio for cable so it is better to connect your cable to SAT with optical cable. DVD audio can be connected with regular coaxial (RCA-type) cable. You don't need to connect any other audio/video cable if you use just cable and blue ray/dvd. Remote works only for Sony TV and DVD.

At first loved it. It doesn't have the easiest to navigates settings but easy enough if your familiar with tech. I plugged in my PS3 with the optical audio cable simply cause i had it. I used that for about a week. Great sound. But then i went to plug in my Xbox 360. The 360 does not have a optical output. The reason for this is because the HDMI cable is suppose to replace ALL cables. The problem is that the receiver does not "split" the video from the audio and send the video to the tv and the audio through your 5.1 speakers. It has HDMI "pass through". Which means if you dont have a separate audio signal going into the receiver it will only output the ENTIRE HDMI signal (audio AND video to your tv. and tv only. no sound from the speakers.. none.. nada....)It will simply "pass" your signal through to the tv. Thus..pass through. Since HDMI is now the digital standard most items do not need a separate digital optical audio output cable. The next version up (STR DH-700 ) is about $50 more and will split the signal. Kinda stupid. The reason to upgrade should be to get 7.1 and higher power. Non pass through should be available on all of the models. Needless to say i sent it back and upgraded. My main gripe is the the amazon.com specs dont specify this important difference....=(

I wasn't aware that the sound with the HDMI was not used and that a separate audio connection needed to be made. This was annoying enough that if I had researched, would not have purchased this.

Other than that the sound is great, there are useful options ans settings to use.

there's something everyone who's considering this as an A/V receiver should be aware of, it does NOT have a analog to digital video converter! Thus if you have analog video inputs, it will not convert them to HDMI output, which is why I had bought this product in the first place. Other then that it is a solid receiver.

An entry level audio/video receiver that does the job for many, but be warned....It does not pass HDMI signals from a Comcast cable box. When I called Sony, they told me that Comcast uses technology not compatible with this unit.

Bought this in 2009 for a rental room unit to power 5 speakers and a subwoofer. This is a very basic receiver and doesn't have all the bells and whistles like the higher end models, but it works and is still in use today.