Denon AVR-888 7.1-Channel/5.1+2-Channel Independent Zone Home Theater Receiver with HDMI I/O and Serial I/R Control (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought the Denon AVR-888 when I realized that the Sony STR-DG820 wouldn't meet my home theater needs (the Sony does not support HDMI to DVI conversion). Compared with the Sony I have to agree with other reviewers: the operations guide and remote are unnecessarilly complex. Compared to the Sony remote the Denon is just a laugh and something they should be embarassed shipping with a product in this price range.
All that said, the sounds and picture quality from the Denon are amazing. The unit will convert most inputs to HDMI so there is one cable from the receiver to the TV. This is a great feature that simplifies the tangle of cables. The automated sound optimization for the surround speakers works great and it is worth going through the six sound station checks. Again, funky controls can make this a hassle, you really need to look at the direction of arrow buttons to get through the process. I don't know who at Denon thought that the backward arrow was a good use for "next" but it is used often in configuring the system.
The system also defaults to coax input for sound instead of HDMI so I had to go to the HDMI settings and make the proper selection.
One other drawback is that there are only 2 HDMI inputs, which was frustrating given that the Sony had 4 inputs. To connect my PS3, DVD, and TiVo I ended up buying the OPPO 3 to 1 HDMI switch. The OPPO unit works great, auto-switching between the PS3 and DVD based on port (the low number ports take priority over the high number ports). This makes it easy for the family to use.
Lastly, the remote ... it really is poor, it does not provide the ability to easily switch between all inputs; instead, for some of the inputs you have to turn the remote over, open a flip panel and select the input. To solve this issue I bought a Logitech Harmony 1000 that controls the Denon, TV, TiVo and DVD and makes using the system very easy for everyone.

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