Customer Reviews

Sony STR-DH710 7.1-channel A/V Receiver with 6 HD Inputs [3D Compatible]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read the two negative reviews with apprehension when I bought this product. However, I took the advice of an amazon supervisor and gave it a shot. HDMI pass through works great on audio and video, even though the instructions in the manual are confusing by showing other configurations. I recommend hooking up all hdmi cables from the quick set-up sheet and ignore other configurations in the manual. Also, I did not perform the speaker callibration.

Set up was more difficult because I use an A/B configuration. My indoor speakers run on A, then I switch off the front indoor and switch on my outdoor speakers using front B. Support from Sony was not the best and I had to call back several times. Tech support associates assumed everything was ready, repeating the company line about automatic detection but that's not entirely accurate. Here's the scoop, Sony sets these receivers up for basic home theater use and specialized options, like A/B, will likely require amp menu changes. Also, older equipment like tv's etc may require changes and/or loss of function like the theater button (which is not a big deal for me because I like to manually choose my sound using sound field on the remote). I just don't understand why A/B isn't turned on automatically at the factory, or why they didn't make A/B turn on automatically if speakers were attached to the B channel, now that would be auto detection!

Here's the deal if you are running A/B configuration you need to use the amp menu button on your remote, select speaker pattern, using up and down in the center controls of remote and choose 3/2.1 plus the middle bullseye for enter. Now SB assign is no longer grayed out and you can turn on B, also under the amp menu speaker option. I read a review on a different Sony receiver that said basically Sony turns off a lot of options, so the user has to manually turn these on and I completely agree with that assessment, plus I would add that Sony does not do a good job of outlining this in the instructions. That's why you shouldn't get frustrated, just call support early and multiple times if you don't feel like you are getting the right answer. Sometimes I had to reference the page of the directions, state clearly the function I wanted to perform and not accept their pat answer which is use the sound field button, or automatic detection. Neither of those things work if you have to turn on/adjust speaker options and/or adjust other devices like tv and dvd player.

Overall, the instructions were very confusing and tech support associates were at times impatient and/or condescending. It has great sound, although sound effects sometimes drown out the center channel speaker. You must use at least the front and center speakers to hear words in movies, plus it automatically turns off your tv volume. It sort of takes control over your tv which is convenient but doesn't allow for any manual overrides. So if you want to use your tv for the center channel, or to boost the sound of the spoken words in a movie, no dice. Before I was using a yamaha and it was manual enough to use the tv for the center channel speaker. Also, the yamaha has just a little better sound quality but I am splitting hairs.

What makes this a better product is that it works/plays better with other devices, no quirks or freezing up, plus remote codes are a snap. There are a lot more bells and whistles but you will probably need to ask support for help with any configuration beyond home theater. Overall, a pretty good product for the price. The positives more than outweigh the negatives.

Hint1: MULTI ST works great for music (basically plays left & right stereo out of all speakers.)

Hint2: Purchase a special cord with a left and right rca output on one end and an mp3 jack on the other, usually sells for $5-10. Hook up the rca cord ends to the front of the receiver and the other goes into where the headphones plug into the mp3 player. Choose video2 on your receiver remote and turn up your mp3 player to full volume, just change the volume from your receiver, not mp3. Now enjoy all your mp3 player's music throughout the house!

I haven't seen this in the comments, so I thought I'd pass this on. I was looking forward to eliminating all the component, coax, and fiber cables and going with HDMI from my Tivo HD and a Sony Blu-Ray player. I can do this as long as I select HDMI 1 -3.

However if I want to use the Assign feature to assign HDMI1 to the BD input or HDMI3 to the SAT input, only the video will be switched not the audio. In order to get the audio, you have to run a coax cable from the Blu-ray player and a fiber cable from Tivo to the BD and Sat inputs. A note on Sony's website confirms this.

The manual is confusing because on page 25 it states: "Be sure to change the initial setting of the HDMI 1-3 input button on the remote so that you can use the button to control your components." Later it says that the HDMI buttons cannot be changed.

Other than not being able to pass HDMI audio through the BD and SAT assignments, the amp works fine.

Note: If you use a Tivo HD with this amp, the code for on/off, mute, and volume is 1176 which is not listed as part of the Sony remote codes on Tivo.

Well, not quite DOA. I was looking for an entry level 7.1 system and normally avoid Sony products like the plague. Well, this receiver had decent power at 105w X7, had DD+, DD5.1, DD-EX, DTS-HD, DTS, DTS-ES 6.1 matrix and discrete, DD PLII, PLZ, PLX, 3 HDMI inputs, and 3D support. Basically it had mostly every feature you could need and all the decoders you could ever want at 199.99. When comparing this to the 810 and Onkyo's entry level 7.1 receiver it was clear this one was the one to go with. I read all the reviews there were only a couple bad ones and the complaints seemed to be based around people not being able to plug in analog cables and output their signals through HDMI (which I have no use for that feature which by the way is on the Sony 810).

I received the receiver, hooked up my speakers but because I forgot to label the speaker wire for the rear channels I had to use the test tone to figure out if they were connected right and if not how I needed to switch them to make sure they were set up right. The test tone worked so I turned off the receiver, re-wired the speakers, turned the receiver back on then the test tone wouldn't work. The manual said that if the test tone didn't work then either the wiring wasn't secure or the neg/pos were crossed. This receiver has tiny speaker inputs so if you have even semi-big gauge wire it won't fit cleanly. I rewired my speaker cables, I re-stripped them thinking they just needed to be fresh, I electric-taped anywhere on the cable that had exposed wire. I did an immaculate job on the wiring, let the receiver sit over night unplugged thinking it needed to reset, and also did the system reset thinking maybe it was in protect mode (which the receiver's display never said it was). It still wouldn't work.

After running through hours of tests, plugging in different HDMI sources, unplugging certain speaker wire, etc. and never getting a test-tone or sound at all I called Sony and they ran me through the steps I had already ran through myself. They told me I needed to take the receiver to the nearest servicing center to get it repaired free-of-charge. I called the servicing center and they said companies stopped doing repairs on audio receivers years ago and do exchanges instead. He himself said they hadn't worked on receivers that weren't top-of-the-line for 5 years. I called Sony back and they looked up another service center and there were none. So they told me to ship it to them at my cost (they would cover the shipping back) and I would get it in two weeks. I said no thanks; I'll just exchange it for a new one.

I called electronics expo who was great and they paid for shipping both ways ala Microsoft and the 3RROD. They emailed me a shipping label that day. Shipping to them was ground and it took a week to get there (west coast to east cost) and they are 2-day shipping it back either today or tomorrow.

I'll update my review when I get the replacement either Friday or Monday.

Update #1 (Feb 19 2011)

So I received my replacement receiver yesterday. Hooking it up was a breeze, set up took a little longer (more fine-tuning than anything). The speaker inputs on back of receiver are a little small (other than the front channels) so if you have large gauge wire you'll have a hard time getting it in cleanly.

My biggest problem with this receiver is the cumbersome set-up menus. Turns out the receiver I sent back originally probably wasn't actually broken, it was just user error (instructions are written confusing in some areas). I consider myself a techy near-audiophile so for me to mess up and not understand how to turn on the test tone is pretty embarrassing.

The only other problem I have with the receiver is the sound settings for surround sound. I have a 7.1 set-up but the receiver according to the manual only has Dolby Pro Logic IIx (PLIIx) for converting a 5.1 movie into a 7.1 so if you want to get sound out of all 4 surround speakers you HAVE to use PLIIx. The other surround modes, Auto Format Direct (A.F.D.), C.ST.EX (Cinema Studio EX) A, B, and C, V.M. DIM (V. Multi Dimension), PLII MV (Pro Logic II Movie), and NEO6 CIN (Neo:6 Cinema) don't mention anywhere that they will provide you with sound to all 8 of your speakers. Only PLIIx states it'll provide you with sound to all 8 speakers. After some investigating it turns out that the C.ST.EX (A, B, and C) will give you sound to your surround back speakers as will A.F.D.- A.F.D. from what I believe gives you the sound straight from the disc without adding any pre-programmed sound fields but what confuses me is how the surround back speakers are getting sound when what is being sent to the receiver is only 5.1. It seems that either the receiver "fakes" 7.1 with any 5.1 signal it gets regardless of the sound mode you've selected (barring 2 channel stereo of course) or it just sends the same signal the 2 side speakers get to the back speakers. Of course this is nearly impossible to test so I'm now trying to decide which is better, PLIIx which claims to up convert 5.1 to "discrete" 7.1 surround or just go with either A.F.D. or C.ST.EX A,B,C that claims nowhere that'll up convert 5.1 to 7.1 even though sound does come out of all 8 speakers. If the Bluray movie you're watching is encoded in true 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio the receiver auto switches to that mode and cancels any pre-programmed sound field you may have turned on so you're getting true 7.1. If only more movies were encoded in 7.1...

The sound is great, the auto calibration seemed to work fine but for my own personal preference I like to hear the surround speakers a little more than the default so I had to fine-tune the surround speakers to the volume I prefer.

Other than the cumbersome menu system and confusing sound mode descriptions I'd definitely recommend this receiver to anyone patient enough to learn the ins & outs of it.

Edit #2:

So after some research with the sound fields, it turns out the PLIIx MV (Pro Logic IIx movie) is the best way to go to watch 5.1 movies in 7.1. I used the cinema studio EX mode and A.F.D (auto format) for a while watching a 5.1 movie on BD, and while I did hear sounds out of the surround back left and right channels, it was really quite even after turning the back surround channels all the way up to 10. Once I switched the sound mode to PLIIx MV the back surround channels were far more distinct, separated, and easier to hear. It all around sounds better using PLIIx MV for 5.1 movies with a 7.1 speaker set-up than it does using the other modes. Even the side surround channels sounded better.

Edit #3:

One thing to note, after using the receiver for a couple weeks, it turns out that sometimes it switches amp mode from just amp to "TV/AMP" in the menu settings. I don't know what causes it, but it's a bit annoying. The other thing, with the HDMI-CEC thing when you try to turn the volume up on your TV when the receiver is set to "AMP" instead of "TV/AMP" in the audio output menu your TV remote will actually turn your receiver volume up instead and a HUD on your TV will display the current volume (inaccurately) that your receiver is at. It only works (poorly) sometimes. At this point I'm just nick-picking because these are smile gripes and they're not features I really need nor was expecting. But I thought I'd point it out anyway.

If you have this receiver, have a 7.1 speaker set-up, and are watching a 5.1 source I would definitely recommend using PLIIx MV to watch your movies. If the movie is in 7.1 it will default to a discrete 7.1 mode. Here is a list of BD movies that support 7.1 discrete audio. [...]
Pros- Great sound, many options, very customizable.

Cons- Confusing menu system, confusing sound field descriptions, confusing manual.

Purchased this receiver recently. It has a lot of features that can be confusing at first, but if you spend a little time with the manual you should be able to figure it out.
The receiver has very nice sound, plenty of inputs and different sound configurations.
I bought it on sale for about $200 and for the price it's a great deal.
Negative reviews I've read don't seem to be giving this receiver a fair shot.

I did not purchase this A/V receiver from Amazon.com as I saved $13 online at Wally World, even with paying sales tax and getting upgraded delivery to my home. Sorry, Amazon.com. All that aside, this is a great receiver for the price. I wanted an HDMI receiver to go along with the Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray player I just bought here so I could decode the HD audio tracks on Avatar and other Blu-ray discs I have. There is no Sirius XM, the display is fluorescent, the speaker connections are mostly the spring type, and there is only 1 RCA digital and 2 optical inputs (TV and other), but why pay $100+ or more for those features? The setup was very easy as I have two other Sony A/V receivers. However, I can see why some buyers will be frustrated with the setup. What took me about 20 minutes will take about an hour or so for the neophyte to Sony A/V receivers. There is one tip I would like to pass along: To be able to decode the HD audio formats from your Blu-ray discs be sure to set the output in the HDMI section of the amp menu to "Amp" and not to "Amp + TV" which is the default. Unless you have a TV that has a surround system built in, this is the only way you can get the HD audio formats. Otherwise, you will only get LPCM decoding.

I had an Onkyo receiver that is about 5 years old and suddenly the newer blu-rays (i.e., Salt and Inception) appeared to be causing it to shut down at different points in the movie. I thought it might by the blu-ray player, so I switched from a Panasonic to a Sony and the shut-down problem stopped; however, the Onkyo would only let me choose from two sound fields (instead of one of the many I'd usually get to choose from) and while these two choices had great sound for the effects and background noise, the dialog was inaudible. Very frustrating. After much reading of the manuals, playing with the remotes, firmware updates, etc., I decided to try replacing the receiver with this Sony receiver. I plugged everything in using HDMI cables and, first try out of the box, I had beautiful sound and a perfect picture. I could not be more pleased and it only took me about 20 minutes, which includes unpacking the box and dismantling the old system. It was incredibly easy to plug everything in. I just ignored the choices for the blu-ray set up, which don't have an HDMI port, and went directly to the HDMI plug-ins. Perfection.

For the money this little reciver can't be beat. it's a 7.1 ch, DTS-HD, Dolby True, Pro Logic, 3 HDMI inputs, Digital Cinema Sound.
I wanted some thing for the house for my older Bose cube speakers system, and this was it, and for the money I could nt be happier!
sound investment from SONY.

This product was a great value for the price. I compared quite a few models before selecting the STR-DH710 and am pleased with my selection after receiving it and setting it up. I was replacing an older model Sony receiver lacking any HDMI input/output options and was looking to reduce the number of wires running through my house. With a DirecTV DVR, and XBOX 360 and the Sony blu-ray player that I ordered along with the receiver, I had only 3 HDMI inputs to be concerned with. The only additional component is the Wii which uses component cables at best.

The receiver has a good look, a common sense interface and was compatible with my Harmony remote so I'm all set. I would definitely recommend.

I always start with 5 stars when giving reviews and then take away based on what I find about the product. In this case, the DH710 is an excellent receiver. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, however, I mainly bought this receiver to replace my older JVC, which didn't have HDMI or supported TrueHD or DTS MA decoding, which the DH710 has. I'm taking away one star because when I attached my brand new Radeon HD 5770 video card, I noticed that I lost about 12" or more from my 150" display screen (using an Epson projector). That may seem insignificant, but when you're used to seeing 150" full screen and now you see a 6 to 8" border around and the text, desktop, etc. is blurry...and this is due to the receiver, well, I need to take away one star for that. Also, my Xbox360 doesn't sync very well with the receiver. The Xbox360 signal/display on the screen kept shutting off and the Xbox kept restarting itself, because it lost the HDMI signal. I don't think there's anything wrong with the cable as I tried another HDMI cable and the same thing happened. I may end up buying a HDMI switch in the future, or just switching back and forth with the HDMI cable I have running directly to the projector. Not a big deal. I currently have it running this way and use the S/P DIF optical cable going from the Xbox to the DH710.

Anyhow back to my problem. I ended up taking the Radeon HD 5770 out of my HTPC and replacing it with my older HD 4850 and the same problem was there (the 6 to 8" black border and terrible display quality). I have since kept the HD 4850 installed, but ran the HDMI cable from the HTPC directly to the projector and ran a coax S/P DIF cable from the HTPC to the DH710 receiver and not only did the display return back to the full, clear, 150" display I was used to seeing, but the DH710 has a feature which simulates 7.1 surround and I can't really distinguish that from TrueHD or DTS MA. Either way, it sound far better than my old 5.1 JVC. I wasted my money buying this video card because I didn't need the HDMI connector to get the sound I wanted, and with the terrible display I got through the DH710...well, I wasted my money on that card (currently put on Ebay since the .com store wouldn't refund my money). I wish I knew what this feature was on the DH710 (Dolby Prologic II, IIx and IIz) before I purchased that card.

Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. I originally ordered the DH810 but when it arrived, the box had a big hole in it and when I opened it, the front display was totally destroyed so I had to get a refund from the store I ordered it from. I then waited a couple weeks and decided to get the DH710 as it's not that much different from the DH810 and cost at least $50 less (I got the DH710 on sale from Provantage for $192.00), even though at the time of purchase, I was monitoring "refurbished" DH810 going on Ebay for about $168, however, I wanted a new receiver this time, not used. The DH710 has many surround sound settings that makes everything coming out of my HTPC, Blu-Ray, or Netflix sound AWESOME! Even though Netflix currently supports 2 channel stereo, with the DH710, it will convert the sound to 5.1 or even 7.1 if you have the speakers. Very good purchase. I just which I could have used the HDMI connector from my video card to the DH710.

Pros -

Many video inputs; 3 HDMI, 4 component, 1 COAX, 1 Optical, 3 others (yellow, red, white).

Several different sound (EQ) settings

Sound quality is excellent

Able to rename all video inputs up to 10 characters on the display. For example, instead of seeing HDMI1 displayed on the panel, you can change it to read SAMSUNG or whatever you want, up to 10 characters. Not sure about renaming the FM/AM settings as I haven't used this feature (why would I need radio if I have Pandora and the Internet?)

Converts older signals to 7.1 using Pro Logic II, IIx and IIz surround settings. May not be TrueHD or DTS MA, but I can't really tell and that's whats import to me.

Cons -

Makes video display from HTPC video cards unacceptable in my opinion.

Doesn't sync well with Xbox360.

Display colors are just one color. Even on my older (15 year old+) JVC receiver, it had red color as well as white display. The display is also really small so I need to get really close to see what speakers are selected when I'm switching through the EQ settings. I'm getting better at seeing it from a distant, but I sure miss seeing the old red display for speakers that my JVC had. With the DH710, all read outs are displayed in white and kind of hard to read at a distant in a dark room, however, you can dim the display (big whoop).

Unable to individual control the speakers via remote. There is a setting you can adjust via the display for individual speakers, but that's not the same as having a button on the remote to adjust the sounds for Center, Front, Rear, Subwoofer speakers. I really miss that feature as well from my old JVC. :(


Speakers I'm running:

Center - Pinnacle Speakers S-Fit LCR 250 3-Inch 3-Element LCR Speaker (Black)

Front Right & Left - Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)

Rear - Two speakers from my old Panasonic Home Theater DVD system (sounds better than the Sony SS-B1000) - however, I had already purchased the SS-B1000's and mounted them. The old Panny speakers was in storage and was a last minute thought as I was going to use the JVC speakers. Oh well, more wasted money.

Back Rear & subwoofer - used 2 cube speakers & subwoofer from my old JVC SXXSW6000 5.1 speaker set. I will be replacing the cube speakers [with the other Panny speakers in storage] some time in the near future as I can barely hear them over the rear channel Panny speakers. Maybe the back rear channels are supposed to be this low? Not sure, first time I ever had a 7.1 surround sound system.

i've had sony receivers before. this one is really amazing. i love the auto setup and the fact that i can have TV on the screen and play an ipod at the same time. this receiver is great and i'm very happy with it. i had read through other reviewer's more detailed reviews to make my decision and i'm glad i did. it meets all my needs!