Yamaha YMC-500SL NeoHD Media Controller/AV Receiver (Silver) Review

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(More customer reviews)Great concept, poor design. Sound quality was surprisingly good because this receiver only weighs 10 lbs and feels cheap when you pick it up. Video passthrough worked well but the unit does not upconvert the video signal it only passes whatever the signal is being sent. In other words my Nintendo Wii only came through at 480i which was horrible. I ended up returning this item.

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Yamaha YMC-500SL NeoHD Controller

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Yamaha HTR-6250BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)There are two model numbers for this AV Receiver as disclosed on CNET. One model number is the RX-V565BL, the other is the HTR-6250BL, which I purchased. At various times, the prices of the two vary on Amazon, so I just went with the cheaper one. I coupled the receiver with the Energy Take Classic 5.1 and was able to get two satellites on Ebay to complete a 7.1 speaker system. To round out the system I have the Mitsubishi DLP 73". I also have the PS3, xbox360 and Wii hooked up.
Unlike another reviewer who had a problem with his Tivo Series 3 with RX-V565 version of the receiver, I had no problem at all. Iif you have a problem with the HDMI, just use the Tivo component out and digital optical out direct into the Yamaha. It works perfectly.
The biggest problem I had in hook up was my inability to connect the Wii directly through the Yamaha. I use the component video cable for the Wii. This Wii cable has two rca connectors for audio.
There are two composite inputs on the Yamaha. One has a coaxial audio and the other has digital optical audio. There is no connection for composite video plus two rca female audio inputs. I ended up connecting the Wii output video straight to the tv, without the benefit of the 1080p upscaling of the Yamaha, and the audio only to the receiver. Because of this I can only give the receiver 4 stars.
The sound from the system is very clear. I am still playing with all of its sound options and will update the review after I have more experience with the sound options.
UPDATE I found this inexpensive work around for the Wii audio hookup on Amazon: RCA DT2AD 2-Way Signal Converter DT2AD. It allows conversion of the analog audio to digital audio.

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Yamaha HTR-6250BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver

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Pioneer VSX-521-K 5.1 Home Theater Receiver, Glossy Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)My choices for an entry level replacement receiver were between this and the Sony STR-DH720. I picked the Pioneer as I was replacing a 10 year old Pioneer that had just recently started acting up and I was quite happy with. This receiver is plenty loud, but I do have two primary complaints. My first (and biggest) is the fact that it doesn't seem to support ARC or Standby Passthrough unless you enable "Control via HDMI" which only works with certain pieces of equipment as is only spelled out in the manual. On the website, they simply have a check-mark next to both features, so I didn't expect either to have caveats. Perhaps I am wrong in thinking that the HDMI signal should pass through the receiver if it is in standby regardless of whether "Control via HDMI" is turned on and regardless of the equipment being Pioneer-compliant, but I feel it was a bit misleading in my mind. Please note that I am no A/V expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt and please research for yourself. In the mean time I am considering leaving the HDMI switching to my display and making use of the dual optical inputs like I did with my old receiver. My other complaint is that the on-screen-display (OSD) is only output through the RCA ports and NOT through HDMI. After purchasing brand new 1.4 HDMI cables and attempting to rid myself of all of the other optical-toslink, etc. cables, I find it a bit retro that you would only allow menu setup to happen through RCA video out. Just my opinions, decide for yourself, but given the info I have now, I believe I would've went with the DH720 and hoped for the best.

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The Pioneer VSX-521 features a Bluetooth wireless audio option with 550 watts of high powered 5.1 home theater audio playback. Other features include 4 HDMI 1.4a 3-D ready inputs, hi resolution Dolby and dts multi-channel audio playback from Blu-Ray discs, Pioneer's proprietary Auto MCACC room calibration system, and On-Screen display.

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