Sony STRDH820 Reviews

This receiver is excellent for the money

This receiver is extremely high. 7.2 channels with Up-conversion and 3D pass multi-zone and The HDMI Pass Thru Standby works just as advertised and the most of all work well with my FIOS cable box unlike my old yamaha

Review by mike1313 (11/06/2011 07:57).

Good all around reciever for the price.

I had an Onkyo that I was not impressed with. Less than 2 years old had to send it to be repaired. So far this Sony reciever I am impressed with sound and ease of setting up. I would recommend this to friends.

Review by dlcc (10/05/2011 17:09).

Check your HDMI cables

This reciever is a lot of bang for the buck. I had some trouble with initial setup but as soon as I figured out the problem was my old HDMI cables and upgraded to HDMI v1.3 cables all worked fine and setup was pretty simple. My setup is: Samsung LED TV Samsung Blue Ray Wii Logitec Universal Remote Polk 5.1 Speaker system with powered subwoofer All components play nice with the reciever and the iPhone/iPod doc works great with my iPhone 3GS. The autosetup via mic worked great and it was easy to tweek the settings a bit through the onscreen GUI. I really like that the component input from the Wii and the composite input from the iPhone doc are both upconverted to HDMI. I now only have one cable running to my TV!

Review by TheGoober (09/26/2011 08:44).

Maybe I got a lemon!

I am an avid Sony fan, but bought this receiver in April, set up was easy and sound was great. However one input for my MP3 Did not work, so I thought I would switch to another. Then using my CD player would shut down the whole system, so I switched that to another input source. Then last week a blue ray movie would shut it down. Called Sony who had me reset it. and now nothing works without extremely bad static. and they want me to send it to Texas?

Review by luvthelake (09/12/2011 20:25).

Awesome

note the low stars on this product are a result of people that did not have compatible external equipment. I have a bravia TV & ps3 & the ipod dock works with any of my 3 ipods - touch, nano, and old nano. thus, the HDMI controls work perfectly. Auto-power on, can use either TV or receiver remote to control volume & mute - though I'm now used to just receiver remote & don't use TV remote anymore. Using the remote to control ipod on dock is a nice touch - as is the (optional) on-screen menu. Extremely pleased, this'll last me at least 5 years and/or until I move. And no i don't have a 3D TV, but if I ever get one it's nice it's compatible. one caveat - I do wish one could set up different combinations - so one could have PS3 on, but listening to own music (mix/match a/v inputs) - there's a feature to allow mapping of unused inputs, but i'm not yet sure if there's a way to do this. It could be a bit cheaper - (and it was... i got it online for cheaper than in-store) the features, number of inputs, options, and sound makes it worth it.

Review by avatari (08/11/2011 11:20).

Excellent Quality for the Money

The bang for the buck on this receiver is extremely high. 7.2 channels with Up-conversion and 3D pass is not really seen with any other brand in this price range. Tested this out with Tron 3D (7.1 HD), AWESOME!!! The setup on Sony receivers is clunky and hard to decipher for less tech savvy people, especially assigning inputs, etc. Just read the manual and you can get through it.

Review by JSII (07/27/2011 13:25).

Solid receiver from Sony

I recently had to rearrange my family room and re-run my surround speaker cables in the crown molding. Needing inspiration to finish the job I replaced my 10 year old 500 Watt 5.1 Sony receiver with this one. I am very pleased with it's performance and well inspired to finish the job. The setup was pretty easy but I'm not a fan of the new screw terminals for the speaker wires. Auto calibration with the included mic was well detailed in the manual and the difference in the sound field compared to the old manual speaker setup method on the old reciever is stunning. I have an HD cable tv DVR, DVD carousel, and PS3 each connected to the receiver with HDMI's and 1 HDMI out to the flat screen. It was a pleasure to toss out the fistfull of old cables and make this a cleaner install. I don't use the 3D features so I can't comment on them. One negative I have with it is that the remote it comes with has got to be the least ergonomic design I've ever used, but after initial setup it will be tossed in the remote drawer and replaced with the Logitech Harmony. I'm looking forward to getting 2 more surround speakers and another subwoofer to complete my 7.2 setup.

Review by DZBlues (06/14/2011 05:47).

Terrific Mid-Price Receiver Easy to Use

I had a Sony receiver for years, but mistakenly replaced it with a Yamaha "home theatre in a box" set when we moved to the condo. After two years I couldn't stand the difference, and the subwoofer out port on the Yamaha failed. So I started over. I brought home both the new Pioneer 910 and this Sony. Being an Apple person I was intrigued by the Pioneer's Apple friendly features, but found I could already do all that with my current Airport Express set up and nifty Sony Blu-Ray player. The front panel, instructions, setup, and remote for the Pioneer were too difficult to use. Plus the front panel display did not show the currently active speakers. The Sony was a breeze to set up, and I love how easy it is to use. Well defined buttons on the front allow easy access to speaker a/b switching, sound fields, input, and volume. The remote is even better, having dedicated buttons to turn on or switch all your inputs, all clearly labeled. This makes the remote a tad big, but then again it also operates my Sony Blu Ray and my Sony TV, a plus. I've got this receiver hooked up to Def Tech 1000s and the Def Tech center 1000, with outstanding results, including very good balance for hearing dialogue in surround sound (sometimes a problem with other receivers and speakers). Unless you are a super audiophile, you won't be able to hear any difference between the major brand receivers in this price range. The real differences are in things like the front panel, the sound field processing, the remote, etc. And the speakers you use, of course, make a huge difference. I'm loving this purchase. And forget about reliability issues, as every brand has them. Just fork out the extra money for the Best Buy service plan, which is like insurance for your car.

Review by tenrad (04/26/2011 10:15).

Don't waste your time or money

As a long time Sony buyer, I had no issues trying a new receiver. Well that was a lesson learned. I am not an audiophile and typically do not replace equipment unless it is broken or I really want an upgrade. I also like ease of install and use-I am a "turn it on and it works" kinda guy. This was fairly straight forward on setup, nice to have an ipod dock (however, it didn't work with our iphone 4 even though it was supposed to) and the sound testing to ensure proper sound coming from each speaker. One of the big issues is with the hdmi plug in from our DVR, it kept "fighting" for signal from the box. After exhaustive testing and all new wiring and DVR, the issue still remained, so it had to be the receiver. I went back to our BB and the very helpful associated didn't come out and say it was bad, but gently nudged me towards other models. So I returned it for a Yamaha unit. Sorry Sony, you don't get my business this time...

Review by swtill (04/17/2011 13:27).

Great receiver for the price.

I usually do alot of research before I buy a piece of electronics, but with this one I saw what it had to offer and saw the price and bought it. I am not disappointed. It is a 7.2 receiver that has all the codecs currently available, it does 3D passthrough and 1080 upconvert which I have not used yet. The setup was easy, I used the mic to calibrate then went through and adjusted everyting to fit my needs. It said that my back speaker were large when they are small. Not a big deal. Watched Tron on bluray which is 7.1 HD and it was amazing! So for the money this thing is great.

Review by MCND (04/06/2011 13:52).

I'm returning this unit

The unit is difficult to set up. I purchased this unit for the bedroom. The manual states to select "speakers", but that is not in the selection process. I finally got there by selecting "audio". I followed the instructions, but had to make my way by trial and error. Also. When you turn the unit on, it doesn't also turn on HDMI connected units, like my Onkyo Surround Sound unit does, which I have in my den. When you turn the Sony STR-DH820 on, there is a delay. There is no blue light ring around the volume control like my Onkyo has to let you know the unit is on, and nothing on the receiver screen (until the delay passes) so you think that the receiver hasn't received the signal from the remote control. Also, when you enter programing on my Onkyo, the programing appears on my wide screen TV. Not so with the Sony. I'm returning this unit.

Review by Phred2 (04/05/2011 09:44).