Customer Reviews

Sony STR-DH810 7.1-channel A/V Receiver with 7 HD Inputs [3D Compatible]

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I just received my new Sony STR-DH810 7.1 on Friday afternoon. I already had the previous version, the STR-DH800 set up in the living room. The DH810 I got for the den. It took less than an hour to pull the plugs out of my old Sony (non-HDMI) receiver and set-up the DH810. I would recommend that anyone getting this get a set of banana plugs for the speaker inputs. You "can" get the wires in the "screw-in" connectors, but banana plugs are just so much easier to deal with. I am using all 3 component inputs, 3 of 4 HDMI, Composite and CD, including DVD Coax, and all Optical audio inputs. Everything is very accessible and clearly labeled.

Once I had everything set up, I ran through the Audio/Video set-up manually. The DH810 comes with a mic that allows you to automatically configure your sound system (the receiver does all the work, but I prefer to do the "tweaking" manually. But that's just me. However, that said, after manually setting up my system, I reset the receiver and allowed the included mic to automatically detect and set up my sound system (just to see how it handled the task) and it did a bangin' job! Very easy automated and intuitive set-up.

The initial set-up is a breeze. Hold down the On/Off button on the receiver for 5 seconds until the receiver says CLEAR (which you can do anytime you want to undo any major blunders or just start fresh). Press the speaker button on the receiver until your speaker set-up appears, select your desired input button on the remote, crank up the volume and you have sound! From there, the remote's menu allows you to configure all the tweaks like EQ, Speaker distance, balance, bass, treble, you TVs resolution, etc. I would prefer some kind of TV-On-Screen Menu, but that is not really a big deal to me.

The sound is phenomenal and the DVD upscaling is very cool. I have Avatar on DVD (not blu ray) and the picture upscaled crisp and clear. The sound coming out of the speakers is clean and crisp. My audio CD's, movies, Cable TV, all sound great with the DH810.

I had been putting off buying this until someone gave it a rating, and I finally found a couple on the web that convinced me to give it an "early-adopter" try. Suffice to say, I am NOT DISAPPOINTED! The Price of $285 with no shipping was just a BIG plus too.

I will probably add to my rating later on, but for now, I HEARTILY recommend the STR-DH810 to anyone that has been hankering to upgrade their sound system with an upscaling 1080p A/V Receiver.

I purchased this receiver a few days ago and waited until I ran it through as many set-ups and combinations as I could in order to be as thorough in my review as possible. The STR-DH810 has been able to easily handle everything I've thrown at it through every type of cable imaginable and has only had one flaw that I've noticed: upscaling a composite video signal to 1080p (from a Nintendo 64 in this instance) seems to come with some flicker to the upscaled image, but flicker was solved by changing the resolution to 480p or 1080i. My only fault with the input set-up in the back is that there are no audio inputs that correlate directly with the component video inputs, so when I want to hook up a Wii or Xbox with component cables I have to hook the audio cables up to different inputs. Therefore, I have to have the L/R audio cables plugged into the BD composite audio input and reprogram where the video signal comes from in order to have the video and audio programmed to the same input selection. Because of this I had to do some unconventional reassigning of inputs, but since each input can be named by the user it is simple enough to keep track of.

Programming the remote to work with all of my components was very simple. Everything is working smoothly together, especially by utilizing Bravia Sync with a PS3.

5.1 and 7.1 DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD have been handled perfectly and the 7.1 set-up has given my living room a sound field that I wouldn't have believed. I prefer to calibrate my speakers by my own ear, but using the Auto Cal option to see how well it works was a very pleasant surprise, and trying to fool the mic by placing it in tough spots was harder to do than one would imagine. As long as the environment is quiet during the Auto Cal, then the calibration will do a fantastic job. I preferred to do a few tweaks of my own after the Auto Cal, but for the most part I felt that it was spot on.

This seems to be a fantastic starting receiver for the price, and the only reason I could see to upgrade to the STR-DH1010 would be for HDMI 1.4 support for 3D. If 3D isn't your concern then this receiver is the way to go.

UPDATE 5/1/11 : There is a firmware update that allows for 3D compatibility with this model!

First, I'd like to say that after I got it working, it looks and sounds great. I don't even have the annoying lip-sync problem with some of my movies, now that I am running only HDMI for video and sound.

BUT, the main negative I have for this receiver is that you cannot assign the BD or DVD or Video1 as HDMI video and sound. It can only do HDMI video. If you want sound, you have to connect the optical or coax. However, if you use the buttons HDMI1, HDMI2, HDMI3 and HDMI4 then it all works fine and the HDMI will carry video and sound. You can rename the LCD display to say Blu-Ray if you use HDMI1 but when using the remote, it just doesn't make sense! Why would you want to press HDMI1 when you see a button called BD on the remote?

Other posters on other forums have raised this issue and sadly, some users actually think there is a problem with HDMI video/audio and have resorted to using HDMI for video and optical/coax for sound. There is actually NO technical problem, you just have to use HDMI1, HDMI2 etc. to get the video/audio via HDMI.

There is another small problem which is no biggie, I tried to run either DVI-HDMI, or component from my cable box to the receiver, and it briefly shows the picture on the TV, but then a message says there is digital protection and the picture blanks out. That's fine, I've experienced that before, so I just run component straight to the TV and only use the receiver for sound (via optical).

The highlights? Too many to mention. The sound is great (no dropouts or lip-sync). The video is great (no dropouts). I actually bought the receiver for its av lip-sync feature but I haven't had a need for it yet because everything works. I've reduced all my cable/wiring clutter (optical cables, splitters, red/white cables etc.) significantly since I moved to mostly HDMI.

I have connected:

1) PS3 via HDMI (video and sound)
2) HD DVD via HDMI (video and sound)
3) xbox 360 via HDMI (video and sound)
4) Motorola Cable Box (TimeWarner) (sound only via optical)

The manual is terribly written with some very poor English sentence structures. Sony should really invest in a couple of good technical writers.

** edit 7/22/10 **
The receiver broke down in less than two months. Similar to another reviewer, the receiver started hissing and crackling. I tried possible solutions and I will now have to return the receiver with shipping costs and the trouble of using my AV components without a receiver. Quality control seems to be lacking.

** edit 8/9/10 **
Received the unit back and reconnected. They sent me the original unit back so that means they replaced the defective component. Speakers no longer hiss and crackle, so hopefully this is the end of the problem.

OK, I admit that I am pretty much a Sony brand loyalist; having items ranging from clock radios to cameras to televisions dating back over 25 years. But I am also a person who people say is a "call 'em like I see 'em" kind of guy. The STR-DH810 is a good, solid A/V receiver. However, some disappointing shortcomings and a lopsided emphasis on the "V" part of A/V keeps me from giving this unit a 5th star on its rating. I still would not hesitate to recommend this unit to friends with the caveat that they should be aware of what they are not getting as much as what they are.

It is obvious that the folks at Sony have put most of their focus on people who have the newest equipment at the expense of the large customer base that have a significant investment in Sony products over the last several years that are still going strong. This is evident in the constant touting of HDMI connections and 3D readiness. What you don't hear is what connectivity was dropped. I always strongly recommend to my friends that the[= download the user manual from a manufacturer's support site before making a final decision. For Sony, that is esupport.[...]. This is literally a case of "a picture is worth a thousand words."

For me, what was lost was needed audio connections; there is only one set of dedicated audio in/outs (labeled SA-CD/CD/CD-R). You can always use the audio connections of a video input, but it still feels a tad wasteful to leave the video connections forever unused. It is also inconvenient for the need to give a briefing to your family telling them that the audio connection you labeled "HD Tuner" is operated by first pressing the "Video 1" button on the remote. However, I do understand that at this price point it is hard to fit the majority of configurations conveniently.

Another disappointment, for those that use this receiver as much or more for audio, is the FM tuner. First, the tuner section is not as good as the one in the 10 year-old Sony it replaced. In a quiet room I can hear the noise floor hiss during silent moments in the programming. As I said, my old tuner did better and I live about 20 miles from most transmitters and us an outdoor antenna so signal strength is not the problem. Secondly, why did Sony invest valuable production budget putting in the S-AIR and DMPORT connections that only a small portion of the customer base will use and not bother putting HD Radio capabilities in its tuner? I ended up purchasing a Sony XDRF1HD HD Radio Tuner which overcame both problems but I still wondered why I had to do that in this level of receiver.

Several other reviewers described some shortcomings in the video options despite the promise of the many connections. Once again, for me, the problem is what they have dropped in recent years. For instance, my DIgital 8 HandyCam is still making great videos, yet there is not a single S-Video input. Fortunately my TV still has one. I really would like to have seen what upscaling would have done with my D8 videos.

I have a similar disappointment with the speaker connections. It's obvious from the 7.1 designation that the 'DH810 has connections for Surround Back speakers. You may have also heard that there are connections for "Front B", "Front High", and "Bi-Amped" speakers. What is not obvious from most literature or the Sony Style website is that these are referring to the SAME set of connections. Of the four configurations I just mentioned, you can only use ONE of them because of this. For example, if you have both a remote pair of speakers and surround back speakers you are out of luck; one pair will go unused. This is where downloading the user manual before purchasing can save you some grief, and possibly $$'s

The other major reason for only 4 stars on the ratings was the manual; about which many reviewers have already written. Sony has definitely cut back in their Tech Writing department in recent years. It's not so much that it suffers from bad translation into English, although there are a few cases of awkward grammar, but rather it doesn't take enough pages to adequately cover some of the complex switching/configuration capabilities of this unit. This manual is far shorter than some of their earlier, less capable receivers.

A good example: Connecting and using a second set of "Front" speakers. (In the past know as just the "B" speakers; in the manual referred to as "Front B" speakers.) No matter how hard you try, you will not find a complete set of instructions in the manual on how to correctly set the unit up to listen to a second front pair once they are connected. Here are the missing instructions:
1. Press AMP MENU on the remote. 2. Use the up/down arrows until you see SPEAKER displayed. 3. Press the right arrow button and then the up/down arrows until you see SP PATTERN on the display. 4. Press the right arrow button to see the setting options. 5. Use the up/down arrows to select a setting that that is either "equal" to 3/2.1 or below (see the list on pg 78 of the manual). 6. Press the left arrow button to save the selected setting and get back to the parameter menu. 7. Use the up/down arrows until you see SB ASSIGN displayed. (If this option is dimmed, you didn't select a correct setting in step 5.) 8. Press the right arrow button to see the setting options. 9. Use the up/down arrows to select SPK B. 9. Press AMP MENU to save the setting and exit the menu. 10. Press the SPEAKERS button until you see the configuration you what displayed (A, B, A+B, OFF)
Unfortunately there is no direct way to go back to a surround configuration without basically following steps 1 - 6 to undo what you just did.

Enjoy

This Sony STR-DH810 receiver has plenty of power for my 20 X 24' living room. I have never maxed it out, and volume level 40 is about all I can stand anyway. I usually watch a movie at volume level 27-30 most of the time. At 110 watts RMS X7, per channel, you can really rock the house. I have coupled it with a mix of speakers. I use Energy Take TWR speakers (200W) for front left and right, Energy Take FPS speakers (200W) for rear left and right sitting high on CD tower racks (the height helps clear the back of the recliner or couch), Bose 201 series 3 bookshelf speakers (120W) on stands for the surround side speakers, A Sony 6" long throw powered sub woofer pointed at the wall for sound board reverberation (it really shakes the house), and a Polk Audio Center Channel speaker (110W) which has 2 - 6" full range speakers and a tweeter with ported bass duct. This Hines 57 mix produces excellent surround sound. I have heard that there may be a problem mix matching the speakers, not being sonically identical, but I think it gives the sound a more rich variety. I don't see a problem as long as the speakers can take the wattage. I think the Bose 201's give a lot of depth to the sides because of the speaker configuration in the speaker it's self, pointing in different directions. I may replace them in the future with the Energy Take FPS speakers.

I tried setting up the receiver by using the included microphone, but I didn't like the results. The front speakers were too loud. I tried to set the microphone closer to the front but it was still too loud compared to the rear speakers. So I decided to adjust the speakers manually, this was much better. You can adjust the sound on the fly and I usually listened to about a 3 minute stretch of the movie over and over to get it right. After I had adjusted this movie to my liking, I discovered that every movie has a different level of center channel in particular. It seems that 7.1 movies have a lower center channel output than 5.1 movies. So I have learned how to adjust the center channel from the remote to change it on the fly with different movies. Usually the level of the center channel is -20 on 5.1 and +30 on 7.1 and other misc movies are a guess. Of course this level would depend on your speaker. I don't think this is a problem with the receiver, it's just the way someone mixed the sound on the movie. It took me about a week of playing with it to get the sound settings the way I liked it. I prefer a louder surround than normal but that's just me.

A special Note * If you are using a PlayStation 3 connected through HDMI to play Blu-Ray, you must go to the sound/audio configuration menu in the PlayStation 3 and let it auto detect what formats the Sony STR-DH810 can play, or you will only get stereo output. Also make sure the PlayStation 3 is set to BITSTREAM output.

I have an HD ATSC 8 bay bow tie antenna for digital TV and the TV plays great surround sound through the optical TV input on the receiver. I also used a RG6 splitter to connect the HD antenna to the FM antenna input on the receiver and I get excellent FM reception (even though it is a UHF antenna).

I like the buttons on the remote. It gives you a button for each input on the receiver individually instead of rotating inputs on a single button. However other controls (like speaker volume adjustment) are two levels deep into a amp menu which takes getting used to.

I like to set the display on the L.E.D. readout to show what kind of surround sound is playing from the movie so I know what to expect in sound. My old Sony 5.1 had a blue light to indicate that digital surround sound was playing. This Sony STR-DH810 shows a diagram of all the speakers and which ones are being used, plus the name of the particular surround sound is displayed.

I was also able to get surround sound from my media PC through the Gigabyte GV-N210D3-512I video card using HDMI output. I had to plug it into my TV's HDMI port first and let it play through the optical TV output to the Sony STR-DH810 before it would work though. I don't know why it wouldn't work plugged in directly to the Sony STR-DH810's HDMI port. Maybe I missed something. Also if you try this remember to set the audio settings to use the HDMI video card's sound card, and set the speaker configuration to 7.1.

Concerts sound amazing!! It's as if you were right there. I played Chris Botti Live Blu-Ray and you can hear the crowd in the background when they cheer, and super sharp audio in the front with reverberating echos of music bouncing off the walls in the background. It makes your viewing room sound like a big concert auditorium. The sound is so realistic, or even better since it is mixed. Also The Pink Panther 2 Blu-Ray has some great sound effects. When Steve Martin was trying to catch all of those wine bottles he knocked over, I heard a pinging sound to my right and I thought fell over in my house, then I realized it was on the movie and came from the Bose 201 side speaker on my right. :-) Also Avatar Blu-Ray Has a realistic surround jungle sounds when they are on the planet and other effects. Also Star Trek Enterprise (the latest movie) has great sound effects and explosions. It's worthy of using as a sound reference movie for setting up surround.

Overall I can't complain about this receiver. I gave it 4 stars because of some difficulty in setup. Once I got it setup right I was very happy with it. If you have little audio/video knowledge you may get frustrated at first, But if you keep at it, read the manual, and ask a few questions, you should succeed. Sony has techs that can help as well. Thanks for reading my review. I hope it was helpful to your decision.

Surround sound Quality is excellent. Was told and read alot about how Yamaha was a much better product but wanted to keep all my equipment Sony just for the Bravia sync features which I love. I don't know how much better a yamaha amp would be but I love the sound and picture quality of this Sony. hooked up 5 1/4 inch Polk Audio speakers for my surround set up and was and continue to be blown away with the improvement of my movie watching experience, it really does sound amazing. Great surround setting options (although the settings themselves could have been labeled better) for movie veiwing and listening to music. My only complaint is that I wish there was on screen controll features which I didn't know I would care about untill I wanted it but for the price I got this for I really have no regrets about it.

Bought this unit for $280. Great value for the price.
The Dolby Pro Logic II works great at converting 2 channel stereo to 5 channel surround.
Trying to configure the connections to what is on the remote is very hard and not well detailed in the instructions.
And the remote's code is new, so my Dish Network remote will NOT control the receiver's volume.
The remote is HUGE, but has every conceivable button on it.

If Sony had written a complete manual covering all the complexities, I would give this receiver a 10, but the manual is written by a Japanese translator who had one day to write it.

I am being generous with the stars because the issues I have had so far have all been fixed by altering settings.

I did a lot of research on AV receivers before purchasing the STR-DH810. I am on a very tight budget, and when Amazon lowered the price to about 55% of retail, I ordered it.

I have had this unit one day, but want to leave a review of some important first impressions:

I think I might have this receiver set up and working the way I want it, but need a little more time. Be aware that the reviewers who knock the set up time and effort are not exaggerating.

I am satisfied with the sound I am getting now, but getting there was a seriously frustrating battle. Much harder than it should have been. The video quality is also fine now that I have the HDMI settings to my liking. I will take my time getting the remote control set up, but that is always my way.

Overall, the STR-DH810 itself is highly satisfactory once you get the settings right, and that will take some time. At the price, I think you are going to have a hard time matching it.

That said, here are a few significant details from my experience so far:

- Connections are easy to make. I recommend banana plugs for speakers, but I had to make a couple of bare wire connections, and it was no harder than many other amps I have hooked up. Just be sure to follow the manual and you should have no trouble here.

-MCACC was useless for me. This is a small disappointment, but I was able to set speaker levels manually without much trouble.

- Setup has been a major pain. Sony sent this unit out with some default settings that seem strange to me. HDMI passthrough is off. This is one of the main features of this unit so why would they ship it turned off? You have to change HDMI control to ON to enable passthrough control, then set passthrough to ON. Next, speaker output is set to TV/AMP. This prevents the amp from putting out anything but simple stereo. The setting has to be changed to AMP to get surround sound. It took some digging to find this. These are just the top of the list of many, many settings I have had to check and/or change. Simply put, do not expect plug-and-play here!

- Sony tech support for the STR-DH810 is not good. Online chat is almost unbearably slow and phone chat is not much better. I strongly advise you to be prepared to solve your issues on your own. And be warned, after the first few pages the manual is unclear and not well organized. Finding the information you need is tough.

As I said, this is after one day. I plan to amend this review if anything else important occurs.

I really like this unit and would refer you to other commentators for discussion of features and specs.

My receiver is connected to an HP computer to which I added an HDMI card, a SONY Bravia TV and a SONY Blu-Ray DVD player. Now, instead of multiple wires running between units, I have a single HDMI cable from the computer to the receiver (HDMI 1 input), a single HDMI cable from the DVD player to the receiver (HDMI 2 input) and from the receiver to the TV a single HDMI cable. Now I have wonderful surround sound and glorious HD video from two sources.

I receive over the air HD broadcast and have no cable service. I use my computer as my TV video recorder using Microsoft Media Center and several Hauppauge USB tuners to convert the antenna signal.

I have an older Logitech Harmony remote which works with all the components, although I had to do a lot of manual "learn" mode input to set it up to my liking.

Since I added an Nvidia HDMI video card to my computer, I did have one additional step to perform to get the audio right. The Nvidia card disabled my HP on board video, but it did not disable the onboard audio. So I had to go into the computer's BIOS via the boot setup process and disable the onboard audio. It was no big deal, but until I did so, I had two audio devices vying for control of the computer's audio output and it gave me serious howling until I turned off the onbaord card. At first I thought it was a possible problem with my new receiver, but since it only happened with the video sourced from the computer (and not the DVD), it was sort of self-troubleshooting.

My only negative thought so far is that the receiver has no back panel electric plug. I could have seen that from the photos, but it never occurred to me to look. My old SONY receiver had two such plugs, which let me plug in my subwoofer and it powered up whenever I powered up the receiver. Now I have to push the button on the subwoofer -- no big deal, but just a thought for others.

I would parrot others in saying that the manual could be written in much clearer fashion. Hooking up and getting things running was pretty easy -- at least for someone who has used a/v receivers before -- but I suspect that I will have no idea of all the capabilities of this unit unless I commit myself to reading and interpreting the manual.

I've had this receiver for two days. It was purchased new for use with my new Sammy TV Samsung UN55C8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV (will review this next) and new Sammy BD-3D player Samsung BD-C6900 1080p 3D Blu-ray Disc Player W/ 5pc Hook Up Kit (I have reviewed this).

It works well with the Samsung equipment, better than my previous 2D Sony Sony STRDG1100 7.1 Channel Surround Sound A/V Receiver did with Sony TV (46 inch 2500 series) and BD player. The BD-C6900 arrived last, and when I plugged it up (power cord last) this reciever auto-sensed it, switched over to it, and everything worked. After setup, the 3D was beautiful, and the sound is as beautiful as the stunning picture the Samsung equipment provides.

EDIT: Upscaling only works for "480" standard definition sources. You can't (for example) upscale 720 to 1080 with this receiver.


There have been some issues. First, I was quite disappointed with the lack of on-screen menus for the settings for this receiver like the 1100 model had. A step backwards, I think. I do realize this is a slightly lower-end model, but I'm not stepping up for high end every year or two because the old stuff is obsolete. I've got 3 Sony receivers around other than this one; standard def, hi-def component, and the 1100 (hi-def HDMI). All since about 2004. So yes, I have gone down a model level here, but still, how much really would it cost Sony to make this simple for the user?

Next issue. The unit when the "auto standby" is on goes into standby when you're using the computer (my Mac Mini feeds thru this via HDMI) or watching Sat TV (Dish). Also, in standby, there's a loud AC hum from the unit that makes me wonder. I have turned off "auto standby" (after digging through the menu structure searching for it) and that issue seems to have cleared up, if you call disabling a feature clearing up an issue. EDIT: I've tried setting after setting, and the only way to avoid this issue is turning off the feature. If there's a better work-around I can't find it and the manual is useless in this regard.

Next issue. No way I can find to keep this unit from going to standby ANY time you turn off any other connected component. Annoying. Searched for blogs, no answers found. EDIT: By turning off auto standby AND the HDMI control settings, I got this to quit going to standby when I turned off any HDMI-connected component. A better owner's manual would give clarity here, too!

Next issue. The 1100 would always power on to the last used component. Not so here. It goes to "TV" automatically, so starting up in the morning to go online (HDMI 4) requires digging for the right remote and pushing a button. Annoying. Searched for blogs, no answers found. EDIT: Even after several days of experimentation, no fix for this has been found.

EDIT: NEXT issue (!) The blue "light" indicating that the sound from your BD is theatre quality doesn't light. I found out it only does if you add an OPTICAL cable. Ridiculous. The HDMI cable is digital. Why not design this thing to work with ONE cable (a major point of HDMI in the first place).... Sigh. I am changing to 3 stars. If I am able to resolve any of these issues, I'll raise it to 4 or even 5. EDIT, BIS: I have again raised it to 4 stars, because of finding at least partial solutions to the other issues. Blue light issue doesn't seem to actually change the quality of sound, so this is more of an annoyance than a performance problem.

Final issue: If I try to find settings to fix any of the above, I seem to cause a problem that makes a horrible echo in the sound. Only resetting to defaults fixes it, and then I have to auto-calibrate the sound again, which means plugging in the calibration microphone, easy, but a pain to do when it's the 4th time that day. If I manage to get this thing set EVEN WITH the issues above unresolved and no echo, I'll live with it. Of course, if I get answers or figure this out, I'll come back here and share the good (or bad) news. EDIT: Good news. The echo was due to it turning on the TV speakers even though that setting was "AMP" only, not "AMP + TV". Strange behavior, but issue is resolved by having no control signals pass from TV to receiver and turning the TV volume down to zero (or muting TV sound).

All of these issues, I'm generous enough to give it 4 stars; If it didn't pass through the 3D of the Samsung equipment and didn't sound every bit as good as the 1100, I'd only give it 2 or 3.