Customer Reviews

Sony STRDG920 7.1-Channel Audio/Video Receiver

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I needed a relatively inexpensive AV receiver with at least 3 HDMI inputs and able to send *all* inputs through the HDMI output to the TV. Onkyo TX-SR606 was the only other receiver I was able to find that met these specs, and since I have an Onkyo, I wanted to stay with that brand. The catch was that the Onkyo would upconvert non-HDMI inputs to 1080i. This Sony upconverts to 1080p. That was pretty much the only thing that swayed me. It is quite minor but I do have a 1080p LCD.

The Sony is very easy to set up. The HDMI handles every pretty seamlessly and my non-HDMI (component) items just needed the video and audio port selection done and that was it.

I like the fact you can rename any of the ports via "GUI Mode" and the speaker set up was a breeze. The microphone worked like a charm (all 1 minute of use.) Performance is pretty good for the price point. I will probably upgrade this in a couple of years when I am able to get back to a true 7.1 setup.

Highly recommend this product. I would not go as far as saying this has better audio than a Denon or Onkyo but it handles itself well..and it allowed me to rip out about 8 cables.

Connections used: three HDMI in, one HDMI out, two component (with one analog and one optical for audio) and one analog audio (soon to be optical)

Pros
- Solid, heavy construction.
- Simple, clean front panel, very readable display.
- On screen GUI interface offers fine-grained control of settings
- Switches between 4 HDMI inputs.
- Input source upconversion up to 1080p
- Automated speaker calibration with supplied microphone
- Decodes most audio formats
- Excellent sound quality, plenty of power.

Cons
- Instruction manual is very poorly organized, much as if a list of all the chips on a your computer's circuit board would somehow tell you how to use the computer. Index is a joke. Manual appears to have been translated by a non-native English speaker.
- Bazillion button remote control not designed for convenience or ease of use.
- Second HDMI output would have been nice (but good luck finding that anywhere...).

Bottom line
- 1080p upconversion, GUI interface and 4th HDMI input makes the STR-DG920 well worth the premium over the STR-DG820.
- But why oh why doesn't Sony (and not just them) take a lesson from Apple for instruction manuals and TiVo for remote control design?
- Outstanding feature set and price/performance ratio make this a winner in the mid-price A/V receiver market as of 8/2008.

Paired with SHARP LC46D62U & Polk Audio Monitor 60's front, Monitor 40's surround, and PSW 125 sub, this receiver does everything most anyone will need over the next several years. I studied receiver specs for months. Compared capabilities, checked cost fluctuations, visited "ultra high end" home theater dealers, spoke to many so called AV experts, some were called sales associates, combined systems together in sound rooms, paired receivers with speakers,TV's with speakers and receivers. I did this at all the usual retailers i.e., Best Buy and a renowned local "high end home theater dealer."

Bar none - there's no better value than this! I bought it through Amazon delivered for under $385.00.

And, there are caveats to my "Bar None" statement - BE VERY prepared to learn the capabilities of this receiver. Learning comes from both trial and error and trying to understand the "vague" instructions. This system took me hours to "mess" with and learn. If you have the time and you enjoy a challenge, this receiver's for you. It has all the normal Sony setups with A, B and C (Cinema Sound Enhanced) CSTEX, AUTO FORMAT DETECT "AFD" and all of Dolby's current and future formats, Neural THX, True HD "lossless". 4 HDMI's inputs for more hookups than most of us need, optical toslinks etc, XM Radio, DM Ports etc., etc. and a whole host of other inputs and outputs that better confirm the best value.

Anyone who has owned Sony lately now knows, Sony really needs you to buy there stuff so you can be "Bravia Synced" to them and our planet. This is probably very cool if all you ever want to own is Sony - I like the Sharp Aquos LCD's picture (black really is black) connected to this receiver with a Sony BDPS-550 Blue Ray Disk Player. Automatically the 2 synced together the Sony Blue Ray Disk Player and the Sony Receiver they seemed to become like, well, best friends. You would think that the Sharp is the odd man out and it is - but not in a bad way. Sharp truly holds it's own to the Sony components and has no problems handling the processes of everything and anything the two Sony pieces push on/in or through it.

The power and performance of the STRDG-920 is impeccable - after you have done all that's required to make this receiver perform at it's best. - Here's what I did - I invited a neighbor over to test the systems capabilities and try to tell the difference between Pirates of the Caribbean in Blue Ray, and Pirates of the Caribbean in regular DVD. I let him watch the 1st ten minutes of each. Low and behold my neighbor actually thought the latter was the Blue Ray. Both Blue Ray Disc Player and the STRDG-920 systems perform an up-conversion to 1080P. The standard definition Pirates of the Caribbean contains an enhanced audio over the Blue Ray version, the STRDG-920 automatically detects the "best" processing of all formats of audio, in this case an enhanced Neural / THX format helped to fool him. Visually - the up-conversion is remarkably comparable and to me extremely difficult to detect over the Blue Ray.

I expected this remake of my system would cost somewhere between $1500.00 TO $2500.00. All of these components through Amazon came to less than $1050.00 - included in the remake were this Sony Receiver STRDG-920 $384.00, Sony BDPS 550 Blue Ray Player $306.00, last years model Polk Audio RM6750 $246.00. Other parts and accessories like $50.00 in speaker wire, $25.00 for 2 HDMI cables and not yet available through Amazon was $20.00's beer enjoyed while setting it up.

I have the Sony KP-65XBR10W Projection TV which is a 1080i capable CRT widescreen. The biggest fault with this TV is that it only has one HD Component input. After recently purchasing a PS3 for Blu Ray viewing I was in need of either a component switcher or a new AV receiver. I opted for a new receiver so that I could simply run one component cable to my HD component input and all other components are hooked up to this receiver. I have my Dish receiver (Composite), PS3 (Component), Progressive Scan DVD (Component), Nintendo Wii (Component), and VCR (Component), all hooked to this receiver and all are upconverted to 1080i to my TV.

This receiver has two Optical and two Coax digital audio inputs that are assignable to any of the Component or Composite video inputs. All video Inputs can have their own custom name applied. Unlike the guy that gave this unit a 1 star rating, I found the gui interface very intuitive without cracking open the manual and had my optical inputs reassigned to the new correct corresponding video inputs.

The remote is one of the easiest to use Sony remotes I've ever encountered. I use all Sony equipment save for the Dish receiver so this remote runs them all right out of the box. Want to watch a DVD, press the DVD button, receiver comes on to DVD input and the DVD player comes as well. I do not notice the remote being any more directional than any of my other IR remotes, perhaps that reviewer had weak batteries.

Speaker settings, I have not used the auto calibrate yet, when I do I will post back how that operates for me. In the GUI menu when you select your speaker setup, you can in fact select large front and small rear speakers, or any combination you want. I believe one of the reviewers says otherwise, but that simply isn't the case. You can set the level for each individual speaker; center, rt and lft front, rt and lft surround, rt and lft rear surround and the Sub woofer.

It sounds fantastic with the Klipsch KLF20 speakers. The video upconversion looks amazing. I finally get to view my TV's max resolution on all my components. with only one cable running to my TV.

EDIT: After arranging my room I setup the Auto speaker calibration. Absolutely amazing! It selected the appropriate speaker size (large front/small center/large rear). It adjusted each speaker to it's own level and was very accurate as to speaker distance, not so much to the inch, but rather that it knew the mic was much closer to the rear speakers than the front and slightly to the left side. It even clued me in that I had my surround hooked up incorrectly. I only use a single pair of surrounds, which were located in the rear, so I had them hooked to the 'Surround rear' instead of 'Surround' as the receiver requested and the manual confirmed.

My Home Theater has never sounded or looked so good. 5 Stars!

Good build. Does exactly what it says. Good analog to digital conversion with the exception of my XBOX 360. There is a faint green line at the top of the screen and thats probably because of the conversion from component to HDMI and scaling of resolutions. I always leave my HDTV with NO OVERSCAN so if it bothered me that bad I could set the aspect ratio to overscan a little. Again not a big deal to me. Not a perfect receiver, but for the price point I have really no complaints. Unless you just want to go with the ES line of receivers this should fit most peoples needs.

For the benefit of other greybeards like myself who may still want to be able to play their old vinyl, I should like to add that of the STR-DG520, STR-DG720, STR-DG820 and STR-DG920, only the last-named has a phono input!

I compared a number of receivers. Price was important. I didn't want to spend over $400 on a receiver. Also of importance in my decision was having a broad choice of options for connecting legacy video sources (S-VHS VCR, Laser Disc etc). I wanted plenty of component and composite inputs and I also wanted video up-conversion to 1080p for these older sources. The Sony STRDG920 had all of this. It also has 4 HDMI inputs(one for my new BD-player and one for my near-future Dish Network HD receiver plus, two extra for future expansion).

My old system was connected via S-video connectors and I was a little disappointed that the 920 didn't have any s-video inputs, but that was not a deal breaker. Up-conversion (to 1080p) of analog composite video is not perfect but certainly better than than watching it at native resolution. This was important given my hundreds of VHS and Laserdiscs in my collection. Having all my video sources going into one box and only one HDMI cable outputing to my Veira plasma was great in that it reduced the clutter behind the TV.

I'm very disappointed with the manual. It has no index and is laid out in a very illogical manner. What it lacks is a step by step setup procedure to walk you through the various features of the receiver (especially audio). When I first set up the receiver I was getting very flat sound coming out of the speakers compared to my old Sony receiver and was very disappointed. It was more than a week later that I discovered that you could individually adjust bass and treble for each speaker. Tone control was buried in one of the menus. What a difference. There is no lack of amplifier output. In fact I blew out the foam surround of my subwoofer (13 years old) while watching Star Wars II. The foam was rotting but you have to be careful with movies because there is such a wide variation in volume for spoken scenes vs action scenes.

The 920 has an seemingly endless choice of digital surround decoding codexes, so it will handle virtually anything that you throw at it. It easily decoded my old Laserdisc player (pre-AC3) into very dynamic surround. The on-screen setup menus are fairly easy to navigate, although there are a number of sub-menus that contain key setup features that are not well explained in the manual (see above). All in all, the 920 gives you alot of bang for the buck, you just have to figure out how to use it!

Wow! Wow! Wow! That is all I can say about this superb multi channel receiver. I have a new 37" flat screen tv, a new blu ray player and my existing speakers for a 5.1 surround experience. The receiver is what makes or breaks a home theater experience so which one you purchase is very important. Price is not a factor for me when purchasing a receiver. I did much research of professional reviews, user reviews and looked at its true capabilities. This one looked like the perfect fit for me.

And that proved to be an understatement. Setting up a piece of equipment has never been easier. The instruction booklet and on screen menu are so simple to use and very explicit in describing why each step is taken and what each option will provide. HDMI cords provide the best and highest quality of sound and video. I simply attached my DVR, blu ray player into the slots in back of the receiver. This receiver has 4 available hdmi inputs so you can attach 4 different pieces of eqiuipment for hdmi connection. Amazing - such a bonus. Then I easily followed the instructions to attach my speaker wires, hooked an HDMI cord from the receiver out to my tv and I was set to go.

SET UP IS SO SIMPLE. There is a first step that performs initial setup of the receiver and is a step that can always take you back to the original settings if you make some mistakes and need to start fresh. The auto calibration works amazingly well. I performed the task with the steps given and it accurately measured the distance of each speaker from sitting position and set levels perfectly. You also have 3 different calibration settings for 3 different listening locations. So when I am in bed I click position 2 and the speakers adjust to my new location. Awesome!

The unit also has a dynamic range compressor with settings to blend the loud and soft noises more closely together. I needed this for I live in an apt. and without using this features the noise level on action blu rays got very loud. There is also a night setting which lowers the base but keeps the audio at a perfect listening level.

Finally, for the first time, I have my regular tv always in surround sound and I am blown away. This receiver also has excellent audio with the blu ray using tru audio and all audio options available on blu ray are here. You will be blown away by the experience it provides. All speakers work amazingly well. Another plus is my tv accepts up to 1080p hdmi and this receiver delivers it. There are 3 different movie audio modes and so many other options I have had no need for yet.

Many electrical components now come with a simple set up guide and a cd you must use to print out or look at the actual users guide. This receiver has a 115 page user guide and everything is laid out step by step. And as I said the menu that appears on the tv is very user friendly.

I have written such a lengthy review for recievers are very important and deciding which one to get is a difficult task. I have never had a receiver that worked this well, was so easy to set up and had so many features. Also important is that it has the capacity for any new advances that may come out in blu ray or hi def services. This unit also has set up for up to 7.1 audio. I only have 5.1 and that was so easy to set up. But it has the capacity if I ever want to get more speakers or blu rays start releasing in 7.1 audio.

I highly recommend this receiver. It is not settling in any way. It has all the features you need and performs superbly. You will love it.

I bought this receiver to replace a 10 year old Sony Amp that finally went dead. For the money you can't beat the features and sound quality. Set-up is a breeze with the on screen GUI option. I immediatly programmed my Harmony One remote to work with this receiver. The remote that comes with this thing is big and bulky. My only other complaint is the volume response is slow. It takes awhile to turn up or down the volume. No real big deal. All the 1080p HDMI inputs are great! My DVR & PS3 plugged right in and sound and look great. It's great having only 1 HDMI cable running to my 50" plasma. I have had no audio/video sync issues either. Sound goes right with peoples lips. It also has an adjustment for this if it is a problem. Over all I'm very happy. Amazon also has the best price around and I got the receiver in 1 day just choosing UPS Ground! Awesome!

I got the Sony STRDG920 to replace an older Yamaha receiver, because I wanted to upgrade everything I could to HDMI.

The main thing I liked about the STRDG920 was that it upsamples analog signals to HDMI at 1080p.

What I liked about it:
* Upsamples analog signals to 1080p as advertised, does a great job.
* Onscreen menu is a nice idea

What I didn't like:
* Setup is unnecessarily difficult, due to terrible UI design
* IR receiver is recessed, therefore has a very narrow tolerance for aiming the remote
* Volume is weird

The setup was very frustrating, though I eventually got things hooked up.
It's confusing because input names are hard-coded to HDMI ports, rather than arbitrarily assignable. I'd explain further, but just thinking about it is tedious. Basically, it's badly designed.

The volume uses a "reference dB" system, which I find dumb. Perhaps hard-core audiophiles love it, but I find it confusing. Basically, -50 is quiet, 0 is loud, and 10 is really loud. Yes, it's probably more scientific that way, but I prefer an arbitrary scale that starts at 0 for silent and goes up from there. At least give the consumer the option to choose which scale to display.

I ended up returning it, because the IR issue was a killer for me. I have a projector, so all the components are at the back of the room with the projector. I point the remote at the screen, and the IR signal reflects off to the components behind me. It's worked fine with every component I've had, until the STRDG920. For some inexplicable reason, the IR sensor is recessed in the unit, so the remote can't be off by more than a few degrees or the signal isn't sensed. Having to turn around on the couch and point behind me to change the volume was unacceptable.

I returned the Sony STRDG920 and got an Onkyo TX-SR606. The Onkyo was about the same price, though it only upsamples to 1080i instead of 1080p, but the IR receiver is placed normally, so actually works. Plus the volume starts at 0 and goes up from there. =)

The Onkyo has some of the same setup issues as the Sony, though it seemed like I had a lot less trouble setting it up. Perhaps because I practiced on the Sony. So far I'm liking the Onkyo.


*RANT ABOUT RECEIVER UI IN GENERAL*

Receiver makers seem to be stuck in a loop when it comes to design. Despite advances in computing, and on-screen displays, they still work the same way they did 30 years ago.

Here is how they should work:
* Instead of having hard-coded ports on the back for "DVD", "VCR", "GAME", etc., give them arbitrary names: "HDMI 1", "HDMI 2", "COMPONENT 1", "OPTICAL 1", "OPTICAL 2", etc.
* Allow the user to create as many device settings as they want, or at least a reasonable range, say 1-16 (RAM is cheap, no reason to limit the user to 8).
* When the user adds a device setting, they give it a name, and assign which connection the video comes from, and which the audio comes from, and each time they can choose ANY video port and ANY audio port.

That's it! Nothing crazy, just simple configuration options. But sadly, no one offers that, because UI designers for receivers are stuck in the past, clinging to outdated interfaces.

*END RANT*

Anyway, to sum up, the Sony STRDG920 has lots of nice features, but a good UI is not one of them, and the IR sensor for receiving signals from the remote has a very narrow range.