If you’ve got a Plasma or LCD TV, chances are you’d like to mount it on a wall for that super clean look. When you take a big step like that, it helps if you’ve got a home theater A/V unit that can handle any and all inputs. With that goal in mind, I recently picked up a Denon AVR-2307CI to control my entertainment system and streamline my mish-mash of cables down to a single HDMI wire running in the wall. What follows are my experiences with the Denon unit (and the iPod base) for the past month or so.
My goal when looking for a new home theater A/V unit was that it include at least 2 HDMI inputs (one for HDTV, another for a future HD DVD purchase), and allow for all output on a single HDMI cable. The AVR-2307CI filled the bill with 2 HDMI inputs, 3 component inputs, along with an array of s-video, RCA, and optical inputs. Check out the back of the unit and know that it will handle multiple game systems, DVD players, TiVos, turntables, and Cable/Satellite boxes.
Setup
Setup was fairly painless. I removed and labeled all the cables from my old A/V unit and slid the Denon unit into the same spot. I carefully connected my speaker wires and subwoofer, connected my DVD player, xbox, TiVo, and the Denon iPod dock. After connecting the HDMI cable out into my TV, it took a bit of fussing to get every source displaying properly. The manual is thick with directions that are fairly comprehensive but they can be a bit confusing. It helps to try just one source input at a time until you get them all working.
One great feature of the Denon unit is it comes with a microphone and has a setup wizard that automatically calibrates based on your room acoustics. You simply plug in the mic, run it out to where your head will rest when watching TV, then run the program. Various tones are sent through each speaker and the measurements are stored in the unit. You can re-run the setup program at any time if you make changes to your room layout or system.
Using it
I decided to test the Denon unit out on one of my favorite test films (even though it’s an awful movie): Star Wars Episode 1. I can tell that George Lucas likes to include surround sound features because almost every scene begins and ends with a ship zooming in from behind or going past. The Denon didn’t disappoint and the pod race scene came alive with my 12″ powered subwoofer.
Switching sources is pretty painless, regardless of whether or not the source is in HD. There is a screen flicker and the aspect ratio of each format can be adjusted to fit. DVDs looked great, HDTV worked wonderfully, and even the video from my iPod looked pretty good. In regards to the sound, I enjoyed the “Night” feature that pumps up the center channel, letting you hear characters speak to each other while keeping music and sound effects down a bit (which is great for apartments or when you have a baby sleeping elsewhere in the house).
The iPod dock works fairly well. The audio integration is great. You just plop your iPod into it, change source to VCR2, and navigate all your iPod menus on your TV. The playlist titles and artists do get cut off as only so many characters fit on a TV screen, but I could easily find my playlist of favorites and hit play. The LED output on the front of the Denon unit also displays the current playing song and artist, which is nice.
The iPod video integration isn’t nearly as smooth. It’s probably because video is a recent addition to the iPod lineup, as the Denon unit can’t navigate iPod Video menus on your TV (it assumes you are always in the Music section). To work around this limitation, you change modes and control your iPod directly using your Denon remote. This means that you have to look at your iPod’s screen in order to select a video to play. Playback on my plasma TV was good, though the low quality of the iPod video format does show artifacts on a larger screen.
Conclusion
If you’ve got an existing home theater (the Denon unit doesn’t come with speakers) and you’d like to step into the 21st Century, you can’t go wrong with the Denon AVR-2307CI. It will power the highest tech TVs and take inputs from HD-DVD and Blu-ray players, multiple video game systems, and almost anything else you can throw at it. Thanks to the optional iPod dock, if you run or drive with your iPod, you can hit pause, walk into your home, drop it in the dock and continue playing right where you left off in full home theater sound.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:27 pm
What other receivers did you look at? What were your final 3? Good article.
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Does it convert component 1080p video to HDMI @ 1080p? If it did it could be used to run a xbox 360 @ 1080p on a TV that only accepts 1080p on its HDMi inputs which is the case with many of them.
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Does it have video upconversion from non HD to 720p?
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Actually, I just shopped around for a multiple HDMI input receiver under $1,000 and found the Denon line to do everything I needed, and this model in particular, with the iPod integration to work perfect for my needs.
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:11 pm
I know it upconverts all the non-HD stuff (I think to 480p), but I’m not sure exactly how it handles 1080p content.
If you’re thinking of getting the unit, I’d say definitely check out the owners manual to see the details of conversion: AVR-2307 manual (6Mb PDF)
November 24th, 2006 at 7:47 am
[…] Over on the Holiday Gadget Guide, I posted my review of Denon’s $799 A/V unit with the iPod adapter. Overall I’m really happy with it, everything sounds great and instead of 8 or 9 cables leading to the back of my TV, there’s just one HDMI cable handling output (all video inputs go to the Denon unit). I was impressed by the easy setup and I’ve currently got six different sources all playing nicely on the unit. […]
November 24th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
It will upconvert all video sources (composite, component) to HDMI but it will come out as in its native resolution. So for example a 480i signal input in to the unit will come out as 480i from the HDMI outout.
All HDMI inputs will also pass thru to the HDMI output as well–including 1080p signals. However the signals will pass thru in their native resolutions. So the device on the otherside hdmi output needs to be able to use all varients of HDMI input into the reciever (480i. 880p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p) if it wamts to display them.
The unit also has composite and component outputs however HDMI into the unit will not come out of the composite or component outputs; and component inputs will not come out of the composite output.
November 24th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Oh, it may not display 1080p component input out the hdmi connector–the XBox 360 is the only device that I know of that even outputs 1080p over component. However I have not verified this.
However it will pass thru 1080p hdmi input just fine (I use this setup with my Mac, thru the receiver.)
November 27th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
I am pretty mad. All the research including comparing on denon website indicates that the 2803 ans 2307 have similar video conversion festure. They DO NOT. the 2307 - that I just bought- will not do de-interlacing of 480i/p . This means that many HDTVs including mine will require a seperate connection for all analog video - component/composite/s-video and one for HD content. I reallt expected the HDMI to handle all analog and digital content just like some many even cheaper A/V receiver. I still am going to go out and but the 2803. Check the cnet review.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
sorry i meant to compare 2807 with 2307CI.
December 5th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
[…] My last three gadget reviews have been for things you can add to your home theater. This week, I’m going to talk about what you put all those components into. […]
December 18th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
[…] Over on the Holiday Gadget Guide, I posted my review of Denon’s $799 A/V unit with the iPod adapter. Overall I’m really happy with it, everything sounds great and instead of 8 or 9 cables leading to the back of my TV, there’s just one HDMI cable handling output (all video inputs go to the Denon unit). I was impressed by the easy setup and I’ve currently got six different sources all playing nicely on the unit. […]
January 10th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Seriously, will this thing take 1080p component and pipe it out through HDMI at 1080p? I can’t tell. The docs are confusing. I just thought if it could that it would make for an excellent solution for the Xbox 360 and a Sony set.
January 17th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I just cannot get the Analog to HDMI conversion work. PLease can anybody give me some ideas. I was trying to dispaly the IPOD menus on my tv screen. I have a Samsung 1080i LCD tv and AVR 2307CI. Please help
January 25th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
because HDMI is passing a 480i signal from your ipod, your Samsung most likely can’t handle an analog video input from HDMI. It was mentioned above. You would need a composite cable running to your tv as well to do the 480i signal. Kind of a downer. Down the road I can’t see it as much of an issue for many, but for ipod owners and the OSD it could be an issue. Since the competition goes to 480p, Denon prevented the 2307 from being the slam dunk favorite in this price range.
March 8th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Matthew: I have been unable to see video from my iPod using Denon’s iPod docking station with AV Receiver 2307CI. Your review notes that iPod video cannot be controlled using the TV menus (because only music menus are presented). Your work-around is to “change modes and control your iPod directly using your Denon remote.”
How? What other mode should the 2307 be changed to, and what button(s) on the remote will control the iPod video?
March 21st, 2007 at 2:02 pm
[…] In regard to the sound, I enjoyed the [Denon’s] “Night” feature that pumps up the center channel, letting you hear characters speak to each other while keeping music and sound effects down a bit (which is great for apartments or when you have a baby sleeping elsewhere in the house). (2) […]
April 4th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
i just purchased this reciever and have my PS3 connected to it via HDMI and a HDMI from the reciever to my Sharp Aquos and i think its awsome. Video outputs bluray at all resolutions inc. 1080p
May 11th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Samsung HDTV’s do not support 480i on HDMI which means the Denon 2307CI is useless as far as the analog conversion to HDMI function. You’ll have to use S-Video, Component or RCA for the 480i devices. And also the on screen display (OSD) for things like the Setup, you can also forget about viewing that on HDMI. How ridiculous is it that Denon is selling such a crippled device?