Denon AVR 1908 A V Dolby Digital Surround Receiver w HDMI Switching

The AVR-1908 delivers power and performance in a mid priced A/V receiver as never before. Ready to take on HD video sources, the AVR-1908’s 1.3a HDMI audio video circuitry supports deep color video signals and digital surround audio signals, making ease of connection and operation a breeze. Dolby Digital and dts Digital signals are masterfully decoded and reproduced yielding stunning surround sound presence. Attention to audio detail and accuracy is accomplished with Audyssey MultEQ processing assuring audio room balance even with difficult acoustical conditions. Calibration has been simplified using the plug and go concept with the supplied microphone. Using the optional ASD-3W/3N iPod docks allows for network capability, allowing more sources to be played back from devices on your home network. Additionally the AVR-1908 can accommodate two source two zone control for enhanced audio installations and comes with two remotes for multi room use.
7.1 channel analog EXT input for HD discrete audio sources XM Radio ready (Connect and Play antenna sold separately) XM-HD Neural sound decoding Serial IR remote ports Network ready Dedicated iPod port for optional ASD-1R or ASD-3W/3N D-docks Dual remote controls

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Set up is crazy on this receiver
Unless you are very experienced with these types of components you can forget about setting this receiver up yourself. The manual instructions are terrible. The menu system is like something from 1990. That being said the sound is great once set up. Better call in the Geek Squad on this one.

5 Stars A super value
I have been using this receiver for a few weeks now, and it is everything I hoped it would be. The surround sound is just great, and I am making good use of all the options for inputs and outputs that this fantastic box offers. The HDMI 1.3 switching is just what I needed for my HD-DVD player and my HDTV. They all work great together for a superb audio and visual experience. The price of this unit is very reasonable considering the great technology and performance that you get for your money.

3 Stars might be a good receiver. Incomprehensible manual, so it’s hard to tell
Worst manual I’ve ever seen in an electronics product. Tells you all sorts of details of how to alter the crossover frequencies, and such. Doesn’t actually tell you how to use the product. The user interface is, if anything, slightly worse. For example, there is a button called “analog”. No idea what it does, but after you press it, you can never turn it off.

These guys need to get lessons from Apple.

5 Stars Very Nice Home Theater Receiver!
After doing some research, I decided on the Denon 1908 because it had most of the state-of-the-art features of higher priced receivers, and I wanted to stay in the ball park of $1000 for both receiver and speakers. For the speakers I bought Harman Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 Channel Speaker System (which are amazing for their price!).

Setting up the receiver does take some effort. I fell into a few traps, and had a friend who is knowledgeable in home theaters come over and help me. Here are some things to watch out for:

(*) While it does have an HDMI out, it does not up-convert other inputs to HDMI. Simply put, the only signals which can be output through the HDMI out are those which are INPUT through HDMI connections on the receiver. It will not, for instance, take a component signal and output through HDMI. Thus, you must hook up all of the TYPES of connections from receiver to TV that you have INPUT types for. If you have HDMI inputs, you need to hook up the HDMI output to the HDTV. In addition, if you have component inputs, you must hook up the component output from receiver to HDTV. BOTH, of course, can be hooked up at the same time. Note that this also requires changing the TV input separately if going form component to HDMI inputs (a small hassle, and those with intelligent remotes can set this up to be transparent to them).

(*) The set-up screen will NOT output over the HDMI line! So, even if you are going to purely use HDMI connections throughout your system, you still need to hook up the component or S-Video out to HDTV to do set-up.

(*) Auto and Manual Setup must BOTH be done to get best results. The auto-setup is used to have the receiver determine best output levels for all speakers via a 6-point process of setting up a microphone (supplied!) at various location. BE sure to have a tripod during this operation (the microphone has a tripod connector on the bottom). The Manual Setup is used for other stuff. For example, one must set the speaker ’size’ here (small or large, the difference being large speakers do BOTH bass and treble, small speakers dedicated to treble, as in most 5.1 speaker packages). But, most important, it is in the Manual setup you must TURN ON any self-powered bass speaker. This is also where the system can be setup to have all bass output dedicated to the bass speaker (leaving the other speakers to do what THEY do best!). Moral is, do BOTH the auto and manual setups.

(*) There are two remotes supplied. The MAIN remote has a ‘hidden’ feature. That is, if you turn it over, there is a door you can open up to another set of remote buttons, and these are the ones used for setup. At first one can think one was sent the wrong remote when looking at illustrations in the setup manual, but it turns out these are just the buttons ‘hidden’ on the BACK of the remote.

All in all, once you get it setup, this receiver is awesome! If I had a complaint it would be that the main remote could have more input selection buttons on the front (it has six, but one can hook up many more than six external components). Also, the names on these buttons do not reflect some of my components (e.g., I have a PS-3 hooked up via HDMI, but there is no ‘game’ input button on the remote). But one can assign any input to any button, so this is a VERY minor complaint.

The sound is great, and I’m VERY pleased with this receiver!

4 Stars Good receiver, but faulty at arrival
I was excited to hook this up with my 5.1 system and worked patiently with Denon customer service. After all the trials, it turned out the receiver was faulty and Denon guys asked me to return it. I’m going to buy the same receiver (since I have heard raving reviews about this particular one) and try if that will work out. Keeping fingers crossed!

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