Sony STR-DA2800ES 7.2 Channel 4K AV Receiver with Automation

Great Sounds - Be Careful of features
First, I am not using this receiver with the Control4 module (yet). I am just using it as a stand alone receiver. I have had the unit for two weeks.

The Good:
The sound and power handling of this unit are fantastic. I have it set to power a 5.1 Klipsch in-wall system and is smooths out the pitchyness of the speakers. Set-up of sound to customize room acoustics was incredibly easy.

The set up GUI is very user friendly.

The netflix one-touch button is very nice and quick. My receiver is hardwired and I get about 8mbs download speeds. No stuttering or glitching.

The Bad:
The instruction manual...well it sucks.

No volume indication projected on the TV screen. Kinda annoying because all other equipment I have had did this. May take a bit of getting used to.

Sony tech support. They suck too. Why? Because they were not well-versed in all the features of the receiver. I had called them on the below issues...

Great functions and performance, but

I ordered this reciever as an upgrade to my home theater. Setup was simple and the performance is excellent. The interface is relatively simple to configure and internet video works well. The "but" is due to connectivity issues around of all things a Sony 3D Bluray player. When the player is directly connected to my projector the HDMI works fine and I have access to the players menu system. However, when connected through the reciever, the bluray player is not detected until I start a movie. The player menu can not be used when connected through the reciever. I spent a couple of hours moving HDMI cables to different ports. It once allowed the player menu but then revertered to its default behavior of no player menu. If this were not an issue then it would have recieved 5 stars. The automatic configuration using the microphone input is a real plus.

My New Toy
I recently upgraded to this model from an all in one home theatre system and I am loving it so far. I have barely scratched the surface of all the options I have available to me now.

Plenty of HDMI ports on the back for all of your possible needs. I have mine hooked up to my DirectTV, XBOX 360, PS3, BluRay player on the input side with enough room for another 4 or 5 devices. On the output side I have this running just to my 70 in Sony TV so I still have room to expand to a 2nd set of outputs in case I want to run an HDMI to the next room and play PS3 in room 2 while wathching DirectTV in room1.

Sounds is excellent. In combination with the upgraded receiver, I also have upgraded my speakers and it is paying dividends. My wife and kids are now complaining more about the speakers being too loud, so that is a bonus. When I turn them down to an "acceptable level", I still get the surround sound experience and love it!

Over the next year, I hope to be...

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