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Opinions on the Sony DG820

post #1 of 15
1/15/09 at 11:26pm
Thread Starter 
Would this be a good choice for my home theater? It will be used for home theater only. It gives me everything I want for a nice price, but I never owned a Sony receiver before. It will be running 4 small bookshelf speakers(front and rear) a center channel speaker, and a 10" powered sub. I want the 7.1 feature for the future. Hooked up to it with HDMI will be: Toshiba HD-A2, Dish HD satellite, and Blu-ray player. I want to run each to receiver with HDMI cable, then one HDMI cable out to my 720p projector. Thanks.
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post #2 of 15
1/16/09 at 1:33pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Nobody owns this receiver?
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post #3 of 15
1/18/09 at 12:29pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

I have the 720 for my reciever. I use a PS3 to play my movies so I dont have to worry about decoding the newer codecs. That being said, I will b e upgrading to something else because I dont think the 720 can handle multi-LCPM thru HDMI. Also, I noticed that I have to turn it up kinda high to get a desired volume.

I bought this without knowing much of anything about HT (stupid i know). Had I done some research, I would have gotten something else for just a bit more $$$. Specifially, I am looking now at the Harman Kardon 254, the Onkyo 606, or the Marantz 4003. With the PS3, I dont need a receiver that can decode True HD and the like as the Sony already does that. So my next receiver will be one that has good video processing and a powerful amp. I dont think the 820 will do that.

hope this helps.
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post #4 of 15
1/18/09 at 1:04pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Quote:
Originally Posted by ratm
I have the 720 for my reciever. I use a PS3 to play my movies so I dont have to worry about decoding the newer codecs. That being said, I will be upgrading to something else because I dont think the 720 can handle multi-LCPM thru HDMI. Also, I noticed that I have to turn it up kinda high to get a desired volume.

I bought this without knowing much of anything about HT (stupid i know). Had I done some research, I would have gotten something else for just a bit more $$$. Specifially, I am looking now at the Harman Kardon 254, the Onkyo 606, or the Marantz 4003. With the PS3, I dont need a receiver that can decode True HD and the like as the Sony already does that. So my next receiver will be one that has good video processing and a powerful amp. I dont think the 820 will do that.

hope this helps.
You are wrong about this; the 720 handles multichannel PCM received over HDMI. Also, if you "dont need a receiver that can decode True HD" why are you looking at "the Harman Kardon 254, the Onkyo 606, or the Marantz 4003" since IIRC all of them can? Makes no sense.
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post #5 of 15
1/18/09 at 1:07pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

hmmm, I didnt know the 720 could do that. Thanks for that. As far as the others are concerned, Ive always been under then impression that they are a better quality amp than my 720. It just seems like with my 720, I am having to turn it up quite a bit to get any decent volume out of it.

I could be wrong, and sorry if I posted bad info...
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post #6 of 15
1/18/09 at 4:38pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Turning it up to get decent volume is not a bad thing; it merely shows that the engineers who mixed the track wanted to use the full dynamic range of lossless audio without distortion.

Question: I was looking @ the 720 the other day. Do all three HDMI ins output LPCM or are the DVD and cable ports merely pass-thrus?
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post #7 of 15
1/18/09 at 5:21pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen_J_H
Turning it up to get decent volume is not a bad thing; it merely shows that the engineers who mixed the track wanted to use the full dynamic range of lossless audio without distortion.

Question: I was looking @ the 720 the other day. Do all three HDMI ins output LPCM or are the DVD and cable ports merely pass-thrus?

I have the PS3 into the DVD HDMI port on it and it does output LPCM, or at least I think it does. Wally-E Bluray is playing now thru my PS3 and the PS3 is set to LPCM and its outputting DTS-MA. On the screen of my 720 it says
PCM 48. FWIW, I have the sound processing set to Neo:6

Now I have my HD DirecTv into the Video 2 HDMI port. When watching any HD program on it, it will show 3.2-1 or something like that.
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post #8 of 15
1/19/09 at 2:14pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Thanks guys. I'm going to pass on the 820. I thought it had the built-in HD decoders, but it doesn't. I want to buy a receiver that will be somewhat future proof, with the decoders built in. The new Pioneer models announced at CES look pretty nice for the money.
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post #9 of 15
1/19/09 at 4:25pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Quote:
Originally Posted by ratm
I have the PS3 into the DVD HDMI port on it and it does output LPCM, or at least I think it does. Wally-E Bluray is playing now thru my PS3 and the PS3 is set to LPCM and its outputting DTS-MA. On the screen of my 720 it says
PCM 48. FWIW, I have the sound processing set to Neo:6

Now I have my HD DirecTv into the Video 2 HDMI port. When watching any HD program on it, it will show 3.2-1 or something like that.
Thanks. That's what I needed to know.
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post #10 of 15
1/19/09 at 4:59pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Does anyone know what the 48 means when it says PCM 48?
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post #11 of 15
1/19/09 at 5:30pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Quote:
Does anyone know what the 48 means when it says PCM 48?
PCM=Pulse Code Modulation. I believe 48 is the sampling rate of a dvd. A cd is 44.
Quote:
Thanks guys. I'm going to pass on the 820.
I didn't want to saw anything, but that was a smart move. Not that Sony receivers are all that bad, but there are better alternatives.
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post #12 of 15
1/19/09 at 5:42pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Quote:
Originally Posted by gene c
PCM=Pulse Code Modulation. I believe 48 is the sampling rate of a dvd. A cd is 44.

Then whats 96? I see that on some of the discs
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post #13 of 15
1/19/09 at 6:05pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

A sampling rate can be 44.1(k), 48(k), 96(k), and 192(k). CD's top out at 44.1k, dvd's at 48k and DVD-Audio can be 48k or 96k or 192k. Then there's the bit rate or word lenght. Cd's or 16 bit, 44.1k, dvd's 24 bit, 48k, and DVD-A 24 bit, 48-96-192k. You're really testing my memory. I used to know this stuff but something tells me I'm screwing it up!
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post #14 of 15
1/21/09 at 7:00am

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Mcc
Thanks guys. I'm going to pass on the 820. I thought it had the built-in HD decoders, but it doesn't. I want to buy a receiver that will be somewhat future proof, with the decoders built in. The new Pioneer models announced at CES look pretty nice for the money.

The Sony STR-DG820 does decode all of the HD sound formats.
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post #15 of 15
1/21/09 at 4:18pm

Re: Opinions on the Sony DG820

Quote:
Originally Posted by gene c
A sampling rate can be 44.1(k), 48(k), 96(k), and 192(k). CD's top out at 44.1k, dvd's at 48k and DVD-Audio can be 48k or 96k or 192k. Then there's the bit rate or word lenght. Cd's or 16 bit, 44.1k, dvd's 24 bit, 48k, and DVD-A 24 bit, 48-96-192k. You're really testing my memory. I used to know this stuff but something tells me I'm screwing it up!
I think you've got it right. Sampling rates are measured in thousands of cycles per second, so 44.1 kHz and so forth. The argument for 24 bit is that it makes the sound more open and closer to source, as each "word" in the bitstream is larger and can contain more detail. Some formats employ a higher sample rate to reduce error in D/A conversion when the sound is played back (like DTS 24/96); however, some pieces of hardware have D/A converters with higher-than-recorded sampling rates to assist in error correction (oversampling), so trying to reach the same result but by different means.

All that being said, I think I may consider pairing the 720 with a Panny DMP BD35, since it decodes all the advanced codecs internally and is profile 2.0.
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