Jut got a Denon 2808CI and was wondering... (1 Viewer)

Hey all,

Well, it happen as it tends to -- I go out and help my friend get a really nice flat panel and I accidentally get a break on that new receiver that I just "had" to get.

Anyway, I picked up, er, lugged out, a Denon 2808CI yesterday and so far I gotta say, I haven't found the setup nearly as easy as I have read about. I am pretty technical, but the workflow of assigning a surround mode to the current channel is pretty wonky--when I press the Parameter button, it blacks out my screen, displays the menu and I have to go from there (I am all HDMI with one component signal). The Yamaha I had let me go through surround modes much more easily, but I guess this is because I am new.

(I am glad I am using a Harmony 880 because the Denon remote seems overly complicated. I mean, I get it, but my wife would freak if I gave that to her.)

I am very happy with how this unit performs, though. It sounds awesome -- I was really pushing things with my Yamaha, this unit just handles my speakers with a nice, even curve and I am really stoked on it.

I have a few questions I was hoping I could talk with you all about--I did a search within the board, but I am still coming up short.

1 - I did the Audyseey setup with 6 positions. Now, this may sound stupid, but bear with me: does the unit "automatically" use these settings or do you have to manually select "Audyssey" from the RoomEQ menu settings? The only reason I ask is because when I select "Audyssey" it sounds really bad. Like, way too quiet and lame. When I turn the Equalizer OFF, it sounds great. I am kinda down on the auto-setup, I think I will get my trust sound level meter and calibrate the system myself tonight or tomorrow anyway.

2 - While I was able to get the DTS-ES indicator light and jump through the AMFD hoop to get the Dolby Digital EX light to show up, when I played Bladerunner, Zodiac, 300 and Transformers from my Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player via HDMI, I could not, for the life of me figure out how to get the corresponding indicators to light up in the display. It sounded better, but all I got was "Multi-channel" input on the receiver display. This should be the easiest thing, right? I can't figure out what I am doing "wrong". I have the A3 configured for "Auto" in my HDMI output settings--that's really the only option available. I am not running a digital audio cable, because I was under the impression that next-gen formats require you go to through HDMI anyway.

I'll keep hunting the thread for answers and delete this post if these questions have been answered already.

thank you!
-mike

I can't help you very much but I did read on another forum about the Denon only saying "multi-channel" when the newer formats were being decoded.

Correct, the A3 decodes all HD codecs internally and outputs Multi-Channel PCM. So that's all you'll ever see from HD-DVD.

oh....that makes a lot of sense. So, it only lights up if the receiver is DOING the decoding (I guess from the multi-channel inputs), not when it's outputting the signal/getting it over HDMI from the player?

thank you--I really, really wish that was in the manual, this has been driving me kind of crazy.

right on, thank you.

-mike

Did you set the hdmi settings to auto or to 1080p? I too am having trouble setting up this receiver.