"It said Dolby Vision!" This is what I said to myself as I woke up early this morning. I was up late tinkering with the stupid thing and I just couldn't get anywhere. Then it hit me. It's f#%ked up. Let me explain. One of the things I liked about the Onkyo TX-NR777, Apple TV 4K and my TV, the Samsung UN75MU6300, was that they usually spoke the same language and not much was lost in translation. When watching anything in HDR on the Apple TV 4K, all of my devices were in agreement that although my TV could technically accept an HDR10 signal, however limited the implementation, it could not handle a Dolby Vision signal and therefore the Apple TV 4K relabeled Dolby Vision content to HDR10. It knew the TV was crap and didn't try to shove Dolby Vision down it's throat. The Onkyo knew well enough to stay out of the way and let the TV talk to the various devices about which signals were acceptable. When signals are sent through the Yamaha, some things are lost in translation. Now, Dolby Vision content is labeled as such. Turning UHD Color off in the Samsung TV settings cuts out HDR and forces SDR in all incoming signals. The Yamaha doesn't quite get it. So, suddenly the labels in the Apple TV 4K went from Dolby Vision to 4KHDR10. Checking the input signal on the Samsung showed no HDR signal since I had turned "UHD Color" off but the Yamaha and the Apple TV 4K couldn't seem to come to an agreement. After a few minutes of switching from different content on Netflix and Disney+, the labels finally went to Ultra HD 4K as they should. If anybody is not having banding issues with HDR, I'd say an HDR signal is not actually making it's way to the TV as there are too many people with this issue using various devices and TVs for it not to be a problem with the Yamaha's ability to send HDR properly. If it is working for you, count yourself lucky. I think the terms Passthrough and Bypass get muddy in the context of sending video signals. While various signals are able to be passed through the AVR it does not mean that video processing is being bypassed. I do not believe the Yamaha is sending signals out untouched when 4K upscaling is set to OFF. Pulling up the GUI is easy enough when watching 4k content from an external device. The GUI appears over the content you are currently watching and you can make adjustments while your content plays behind it. This does not work with devices that are sending 720p/1080p. Well, not with my devices anyway. The screen goes black and after a moment the GUI comes up. The look of the GUI and this behavior remind me of the GUI from the Denon XX1's. This shouldn't be the case with a Yamaha in 2020. 4K upscaling can be set to ON or OFF but is limited in its ability to upscale some resolutions. I tried upscaling the 1080i signal from my TiVo Roamio and the Yamaha was not having it and the screen flickered a black screen while I attempted to turn off the upscaling between flickers. I figured there might be issues when considering how many features were advertised as "Available in a future firmware update." But, I didn't expect it not to be able to handle a 1080p/DTS HDMA signal from my Toshiba HD-A35. Hey, I still watch HD DVDs now and then, sue me! I had to set the player to 1080i while it downmixed the audio to lossy DTS. Should I tell you about the MusicCast app? It sucks. The Onkyo wins in a few categories here. The GUI, iOS control app, and remote control are all superior to the Yamaha. HDMI-CEC is far snappier in the Onkyo while the Yamaha has to think about what it is being asked to do for a bit. The Yamaha's current firmware and feature set do not do it any favors. Oh, and did anybody else get high off of the fumes coming from this thing out of the box. I wasn't sure I'd get all of the cables hooked up before passing out. "Ok, you long winded putz. What IS good about the Yamaha TSR-700?" It was only four hundred f#%kin' bucks! No, seriously. The Yamaha sounds so good I'll forgive it everything. But I'll save the audio experience for another post.
