Denon and Marantz flagship components get 8K upgrade

Sound United has announced two new factory upgraded versions of the flagship Denon AVR-X8500H receiver ($4,299) and Marantz AV8805 preamp ($4,799), as well as a path to upgrade for existing owners. The two new units will now have their product identifiers followed by an ‘A’ and will support 8K/60Hz upscaling and passthrough, 4K/120Hz pass-through , HDR10+, Dynamic HDR, and HDCP 2.3. SU says the products will gradually replace existing Denon AVR-X8500H and Marantz AV8805 units.

For existing owners in the US or Canada (in other territories, you should contact your dealer), the upgrade to ‘A’ status on either product will require a hardware modification at a Denon and Marantz certified service center. From June 15th, this can be arranged by contacting Denon or Marantz directly via respective websites with a cost for labor of US$599 or CA$749.

As well as a dedicated ‘8K’ HDMI input (detailed above), there will be the added feature of Quick Media Switching (QMS) enabling a source to switch frame rate instantly while eliminating screen blackouts. The units still support HDR10, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) and Dolby Vision, as well as 4:4:4 Pure Color subsampling and BT.2020 pass-through. Gamers stand to benefit from the high-frame rate options, as well as in-built Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Quick Frame Transport (QFT) features.

Both the Denon and Marantz models will upscale existing 1080p and 4K content to 8K. Furthermore, eARC supports DTS:X and Dolby Atmos from TV apps or connected devices with a single HDMI cable.

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Jun 2, 2021

#2 of 8

Dave Moritz

Premium

Senior HTF Member

I kept hearing and was told that my SR-8012 was a candidate for HDMI upgrade at the time I purchased it. But later it seemed they changed there mind and from then on the upgrade was not being offered. It was one of the reasons I purchased the 8012. It would have been nice for Sound United to honor there offer to upgrade the HDMI on the 8012. I always knew it was come at a cost but just a little disappointed it was taken away. Despite this I am very happy with my 8012 other than screen blackouts only during Dolby Vision titles. How many hear are experiencing screen blackouts with Dolby Vision titles? Will be contact Marantz later today and will see if anything can be done about the screen blackouts?

Last edited: Jun 2, 2021

Jun 2, 2021

#3 of 8

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy

Moderator

Patron

Senior HTF Member

Dave Moritz said:
I kept hearing and was told that my SR-8012 was a candidate for HDMI upgrade at the time I purchased it. But later it seemed they changed there mind and from then on the upgrade was not being offered. It was one of the reasons I purchased the 8012. It would have been nice for Sound United to honor there offer to upgrade the HDMI on the 8012. I always knew it was come at a cost but just a little disappointed it was taken away. Despite this I am very happy with my 8012 other than screen blackouts only during Dolby Vision titles. How many hear are experiencing screen blackouts with Dolby Vision titles? Will be contact Marantz later today and will see if anything can be done about the screen blackouts?

What is a screen blackout?

Jun 2, 2021

#4 of 8

Dave Moritz

Premium

Senior HTF Member

When watching any content using Dolby Vision the screen goes dead black for maybe a second and picture returns. But it does it multiple times throughout the movie no matter if it is from a 4K disc or 4K digital stream. And only with Dolby Vision titles and it never happens with HDR or non HDR titles.

Jun 2, 2021

#5 of 8

DaveF

Moderator

Senior HTF Member

Dave Moritz said:
And only with Dolby Vision titles and it never happens with HDR or non HDR titles.

I thought Dolby Vision was HDR?

Jun 2, 2021

#6 of 8

Dave Moritz

Premium

Senior HTF Member

I thought Dolby Vision was HDR?

Dolby Vision is Dolby's take on HDR but they are different. HDR10 is open source and doesn't require a license while Dolby Vision requires a license to content creators or equipment manufactures. HDR uses 10 bit color space and Dolby Vision uses a 12 bit color space.

Last edited: Jun 2, 2021

Jun 2, 2021

#7 of 8

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy

Moderator

Patron

Senior HTF Member

Dave Moritz said:
When watching any content using Dolby Vision the screen goes dead black for maybe a second and picture returns. But it does it multiple times throughout the movie no matter if it is from a 4K disc or 4K digital stream. And only with Dolby Vision titles and it never happens with HDR or non HDR titles.

I never noticed that with my Marantz 6013, but will be on the lookout for it.

Jun 2, 2021

#8 of 8

Dave Moritz

Premium

Senior HTF Member

I thought I had the Marantz SR8012 hooked up to ethernet but I was wrong and I though I also had the Dish Network receiver hooked up but no ethernet on that ether. So finally got the 8012 hooked up to the internet and did a 27 min update. I am to tired to watch dolby vision content long enough to see it mess up. If for some reason this fixed it then there must of been a Dolby patch in the update. I had picture drop outs watching Hunt For Red October but after a short time and not noticing anything I gave up. Will try again tomorrow and see if it messes up like always or if the problem is history. Also unable to log into my Marantz account so that did not thrill me ether and it refused to send the email to update the password which was not incorrect.

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