Pioneer VSX-919AH Home Theater Receiver

[MrBoylan]

Pioneer's VSX-919AH home theater receiver gives you out-of-the-box iPod connectivity and control, plus 7.1 surround and an auto speaker calibration feature, all for what you might pay for your Blu-ray player alone.

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[JFM]

Hi read your review and have a quick question.

I actually have this ordered but its out of stock so i could cancel (excellent price though ($320 delivered). I just bgt a Pioneer 500M monitor and plan on using my PS3 for blu ray etc. i was just reading a post on another forum where given the handshake issue the person posting was going pass on the 919 in favor of the denon 789.

Do you think the issue is such that you would look for an alternative. i was hoping staying with a Pioneer would provide smoother integration with the Pio TV.

could I avoid teh problem by having teh PS3 connect directly to the monitor while having other components go through the reciever?

Thanks in advance and thanks for doing the review.
JFM

[MrBoylan]

Hi read your review and have a quick question.

I actually have this ordered but its out of stock so i could cancel (excellent price though ($320 delivered). I just bgt a Pioneer 500M monitor and plan on using my PS3 for blu ray etc. i was just reading a post on another forum where given the handshake issue the person posting was going pass on the 919 in favor of the denon 789.

Do you think the issue is such that you would look for an alternative. i was hoping staying with a Pioneer would provide smoother integration with the Pio TV.

could I avoid teh problem by having teh PS3 connect directly to the monitor while having other components go through the reciever?

Thanks in advance and thanks for doing the review.
JFM

Hi,

Actually Grant Clauser wrote the review and was the one who experienced the HDMI handshake issue, so hopefully he will chime in at some point. But HDMI issues like this are not that uncommon, and not unique to Pioneer.

A friend of mine who recently bought a Denon AVR-1910 receiver (brand new model), a Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-ray player (current model) and a Panasonic TC-P50V10 plasma (also brand new) called me frustrated that he was not getting a picture or sound. I told him to power everything off, power up the TV first, then the receiver, then the player. Voila! Picture and sound. Grant said something similar in his review of the VSX-919. I think he was able to get the signal back just by switching inputs back and forth or powering on and off the player.

Ideally, when the player is first powered on, the display and receiver should already be fully powered up so they can respond to the HDMI/HDCP/EDID handshake request. If you have a Harmony or other progreammable universal remote it's easy enough to program this sequence into a macro or activity. And this should minimize any handshake problems.

I would just say make sure you buy it from an authorized dealer with a good return policy in case you find that it doesn't meet your needs or if the handshake problem happens too often for your liking.

Amazon is an authorized dealer and I've personally found them great to deal with as far as returns/exchanges go. Here are a couple of links you might find useful. I think Amazon's price on the VSX-919 is currently $349 with free shipping and purchases using BPBS links like this help support the site.

• Amazon.com: Denon AVR-789 630-Watt 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver: Electronics
• Amazon.com: Pioneer VSX-919AH-K 120 Watts A/V Receiver with Full Color GUI/OSD, Advanced MCACC and Analog to HDMI Up-Conversion (Black): Electronics

Hope that helps.

-CB

[SonOfThunder]

Got a question about the 6 or 8 ohms setting on the receiver. Currently I'm using Bose 301 speakers and according to web they are listed as Recommended Power: 10-150 Watts with receivers from 4 to 8 Ohms

Should I set the receiver setting for 6 or 8 ohms? What would be the advantages or disadvantages?

Thanks for the help!