This receiver does everything I want it to, and then after carefully reading the manual, I realized it does a few other things that I was pleased about.
The best surprise was discovering this receiver has a HDMI pass-through capability. In a lot of cases when we watch TV, we are fine with the TV speakers. Don't really want to fire up the whole system just to watch the weather. I was intending to run the HDMI from the cable set top box directly to the TV and then running a digital optical from the set top box to the receiver. With the pass -through, I can just run an HDMI from set top box to receiver. The down side with the pass-through is you have to remember to switch to the HDMI input needed for pass-through before turning off the receiver.
Here is some clarification on Straight and Direct modes. From reading the manual, I thought the subwoofer would not be employed. I have a subwoofer hooked up to LFE, Bass Management set to SWFR, and front speakers set to Small. Using two channel Dolby sources, I found that in both Straight and Direct modes, the subwoofer was used. Straight is like having no DSP. Direct is like having no DSP and no tone processing. But the Bass Management seems to still be in play; at least with digital sources. I don't have any analog sources, so I can't comment on analog sources. This clarification is important to me because I have tiny front speakers not really capable of reproducing stereo music faithfully on their own. (see correction below)
-- Begin Update 1/9/2010 --
When you use two channel Dolby matrix encoded sources, what is stated above is true. Straight and Direct utilize the subwoofer. I have since realized with two channel PCM digital sources, Straight uses the subwoofer, Direct will not use the subwoofer. So if you want to listen to say a CD using a digital connection and you have small front speakers, use Straight or one of the Stereo modes. You will get full range sound with your subwoofer.
-- End Update 1/9/2010 --
-- Begin Update 12/10/2009 --
It appears that when you use Dolby TrueHD and the DTS-HD Master Audio, the Cinema DSP modes are not available. If you try to select a Cinema DSP mode, it will go to Straight. This is generally not a big deal, as most with a full 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup will want to use Straight. I myself have a 2.1 speaker setup so was counting on Virtual Cinema DSP. Virtual Cinema DSP is not available in Straight. This is not a big deal to me because the Virtual Cinema DSP ended up being a bust anyways (see below).
-- End Update 12/10/2009 --
One of the reason I picked this receiver is the virtual surround feature (called Virtual Cinema DSP). I have to say I cannot hear the virtual surround effects. I switch between Straight (which has no virtual surround) to one of the Cinema DSP modes and cannot tell the difference. Oh well, I still am very happy with the receiver. I've only owned it a few days, so maybe I need to listen to more sources.
Don't get your hopes to high on the YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer). This is a tool where you hook up a supplied microphone and have it kick off an automatic calibration process. I found that some things YPAO set was correct, but other settings it decided on was a bit flawed. It determined my speaker set up correctly. It determined the size of my front speakers correctly. It decided on the correct subwoofer setting. The distance settings were accurate to less than half a foot! Those are critical to get right. But the Bass Management cross over setting and subwoofer level I was not statisfied. It set the cross over to 160 Hz. This does not make sense when the frequency response of my subwoofer is 20 - 150 Hz and the frequency response of my fronts are 57 - 30,000 Hz. I decided to set the cross over to 100 Hz, the cross over setting recommended by the manufacture of my front speakers. Setting the subwoofer level ended up being a very long process of listing to many different music sources and movie sources. YPAO is not going to get you out of this effort if you want a nicely balance system.
Another feature I was pleasantly surpriced about is the Scene feature. It has ended up proving to be quite handy, especially for the rest of my family. With the Scene, you can program an input, processing, and can turn on another external device. What is great about Scene, is it not only switches to an input and processing, it will turn the unit on if it is off when you push one of the four scene buttons. So I tell my wife, "If you want to hear the cable tv through the stereo, just push the "TV" button." When she does this, the receiver turns on. The HDMI pass-through turns off. Audio amplification comes out the receiver. Audio to the TV via the HDMI out on the receiver is stopped (so no sound comes out the tv speakers). The right input is selected, and the right sound processing is selected. All from pushing one button.
Keep in mind, this receiver will not send analog video sources out the HDMI. So, for example, if you want to hook up your camera to the front composite video input, it will not go out the HDMI output. It will go out the composite video output. You need the next receiver up, RX-V565, to do that.
I am so happy with this receiver and I think the price is very fair. I can't really justify paying for a more expensive receiver because this one does everthing, and then some more, of what I want.
-- Begin Update 12/16/2009 --
Another thing I wanted to point out is the amp rating. It is not considered a full bandwidth amp. Most amps in this price range are not full bandwidth. Amps that are not rated full bandwidth will have problems in the low frequencies. I am not concerned about this because I have my Bass Management configured to put all the bass through the subwoofer. The subwoofer is powering the bass. You should be aware of this if you use full range speakers and you want the bass to come out these speakers. If I had full range speakers, I would still set them to "Small" and let the subwoofer handle the bass.
-- End Update 12/16/2009 --