I think my pioneer vsx-819h receiver is dying

[Eppie]

What does eArc do?

ARC stands for Audio Return Channel. It allows for two way transmission of audio. Normally you connect the HDMI out of your AVR to the HDMI in of the TV and all of your sources (disc player, cable box, game console) connect to the AVR. With ARC, you can connect devices to the TV and the audio can pass through the TV to the AVR so that you still get surround audio. eARC has additional features as linked in the article above.

You posted in your signature that you plan to get a Sony 4K TV. You definitely want the latest version of HDMI and HDCP (copy protection) in your AVR if getting a new TV. Even if you still connect your sources to the AVR, new TVs all have built in streaming services and ARC allows you to get the audio back to the AVR.

 

[TLS Guy]

What does eArc do?

It may not help you now, but it will when you need a new TV. As you have found out no electronic devices have eternal life.

ARC is the audio return channel that sends audio from a TV back to the receiver from a TV that supports it. It uses the same cable as the one that sends the picture to the TV from your receiver. ARC is the first effort, and the audio sent back is lossy and has digital compression.

eARC is much better, reliable and supports full bandwidth audio including lossless audio and Dolby Atmos. Again both receiver and TV must have eARC HDMI sockets.

eARC is very useful as it allows you to stream the audio back from apps your TV supports.

So depending on what TV you have now this may not be a big deal at the moment, but I can absolutely tell you, that you will need it.

If your TV is very old, you should consider upgrading that also. This whole arena has undergone massive transformation in recent years.

 

[DJ in TX]

What do you think of the Denon AVR-S570BT? Amazon has it for $299, says it has eARC.

Amazon.com

 

[everettT]

So for this Sony 590, someone said earlier that upgrading to the 790 better because it has eArc instead of Arc, because Arc is not as reliable. I am unfamiliar with either feature. What does this mean and is it worth $100 (or more) extra?

I'll ask because I'm sure I missed it, is your TV capable of eARC?

 

[TLS Guy]

What do you think of the Denon AVR-S570BT? Amazon has it for $299, says it has eARC.

Amazon.com

That receiver would be fine. That is a very good price. On the sites I looked at it was $399.00 and over your budget.

I would say that Amazon price is excellent. They are selling it on their Amazon store cheaper then their own site and Crutchfield. I would snap that up, if it will meet your requirements in terms of channel numbers. I think that is a better bet then the Sony, even though it is a little less powerful.
Sounds as if this is now a clearance item for Denon. They won't be making any money at that price.

 

[DJ in TX]

I'll ask because I'm sure I missed it, is your TV capable of eARC?

No doesn’t appear to, Hisense 55u6g

 

[TLS Guy]

No doesn’t appear to, Hisense 55u6g

That TV only has ARC and not eARC, but I am sure you will be replacing that at some stage and will benefit from eARC then, as well as increased resolution that receiver will support.

 

[DJ in TX]

Well it’s a bit premature to celebrate, but I did the factory reset tonight. i thought i had done it when i set up the sub, but maybe i am remembering wrong. Anyway I did it again and it may have fixed the issue. I watched a movie with the sub in for almost an hour and the receiver didn’t shut off. I will test more thoroughly over the next week but I am cautiously optimistic. We’ll see.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well it’s a bit premature to celebrate, but I did the factory reset tonight. i thought i had done it when i set up the sub, but maybe i am remembering wrong. Anyway I did it again and it may have fixed the issue. I watched a movie with the sub in for almost an hour and the receiver didn’t shut off. I will test more thoroughly over the next week but I am cautiously optimistic. We’ll see.

Crossing my fingers for ya. They're somewhat buggy computers that need a reboot now and then Sometimes even a soft reset (unplugging the avr from power) can do it (and you won't need to go thru set up again).

 

[DJ in TX]

Well the receiver has been on for the last 24 hours or so and has not shut off. Maybe I am in The clear… for now. As someone said, I do feel I am on borrowed time. Hey quick question… is anyone here aware of any receivers out there from companies who have really modernized the design/interface of the unit? Most led readouts all look the same, dense with all the same little abbreviations and indicators that they have all been using for decades. Seems like someone would have followed the Apple model and come out with a sleeker more futuristic design that has a front panel that gives better data with a smarter interface. I equate this to updating from the old SD look to an HD variant. I would not be opposed to a receiver that had a much more elegant info display on the front.
Does anyone else care about this?

 

[Tankini]

Well the receiver has been on for the last 24 hours or so and has not shut off. Maybe I am I. The clear… for now. As someone said, I do feel I am on borrowed time. Hey quick question… is anyone here aware of any receivers out there from companies who have really modernized the design/interface of the unit? Most led readouts all look the same, dense with all the same little abbreviations and indicators that they have all been using for decades. Seems like someone would have followed the Apple model and come out with a sleeker more futuristic design that has a front panel that gives better data with a smarter interface. I equate this to updating from the old SD look to an HD variant. I would not be opposed to a receiver that had a much more elegant info display on the front.
Does anyone else care about this?

There this Rotel, has a very nice front OSD built in. not a lot of coin. Be a nice upgrade for your setup.

 

[DJ in TX]

There this Rotel, has a very nice front OSD built in. not a lot of coin. Be a nice upgrade for your setup.

View attachment 68043

Yikes, this price scares me. It is pretty though. Definitely out of my league

 

[Tankini]

Yikes, this price scares me. It is pretty though. Definitely out of my league

Yeah, new its the price of a decent used car, used say on EBay around 2k. Most just use the OSD on their TV for setting up which by the way is a must these days even if you picked up that Sony 790 your going have to use the OSD on your TV to set it up, any newer/used AVR properly.

 

[everettT]

Keep an eye out on US AudioMart, might be able to find a good used deal as a bridge. There's an Pioneer SC-05 for $400 that was on the first page that you could probably get little cheaper..

 

[lovinthehd]

Well the receiver has been on for the last 24 hours or so and has not shut off. Maybe I am in The clear… for now. As someone said, I do feel I am on borrowed time. Hey quick question… is anyone here aware of any receivers out there from companies who have really modernized the design/interface of the unit? Most led readouts all look the same, dense with all the same little abbreviations and indicators that they have all been using for decades. Seems like someone would have followed the Apple model and come out with a sleeker more futuristic design that has a front panel that gives better data with a smarter interface. I equate this to updating from the old SD look to an HD variant. I would not be opposed to a receiver that had a much more elegant info display on the front.
Does anyone else care about this?

Good news on it staying on!

As long as the front panel is useable I don't mind what it looks like, they're generally more similar than different. Same for GUI or even IP access, I don't care if it looks "old" as some complain about. I'd rather not spend extra just for a panel I use rarely. I rarely look at the avr itself.

 

[everettT]

This just popped up on USAM and checks all your boxes, fyi

Sony STR-AN1000 7.2-Channel 8K UHD AV Receiver - Photo5146936

www.usaudiomart.com

 

[TLS Guy]

This just popped up on USAM and checks all your boxes, fyi

Sony STR-AN1000 7.2-Channel 8K UHD AV Receiver - Photo5146936

www.usaudiomart.com

That looks like a really dumb unit, and expensive. Not that powerful. Says it decodes DTS and Dolby Atmos, but only sends it to the bedlayer speakers. No pre-outs. That unit is close to fraud.

 

[everettT]

That looks like a really dumb unit, and expensive. Not that powerful. Says it decodes DTS and Dolby Atmos, but only sends it to the bedlayer speakers. No pre-outs. That unit is close to fraud.

It's the model up from the one someone recommended earlier and yes, it's limited to 5.2.2 or 7.2, which is more than he has currently. Not much pick'ens at his price point.

 

[Trebdp83]

Yikes, this price scares me. It is pretty though. Definitely out of my league

Honestly, if you aren't going to change anything regarding speakers, using the current 2.1 setup, there simply is no reason to upgrade the receiver. You can make some tweaks. Using the optical output port of the TV, I'd set it to output PCM rather than Dolby Digital or Passthrough to avoid the Dolby Off Set and the bouncing around from DD to PCM and the resulting volume differences between them. Set the front speaker crossovers in the Pioneer to 100Hz after turning the knob on the sub to 160Hz(MAX) and set the Level/Gain knob on the sub to 50%. If bass is too much, turn the level down in the receiver, not the sub. Any 4K supporting devices can be connected directly to the TV, it has four 4K @60Hz ports, and the audio from those devices will be sent over the optical port. The audio output of each device and the TV HDMI ports should be set to PCM in this case.

The receiver here has no dedicated LPF setting and it wouldn't apply anyway when sending PCM 2.0 signals to the receiver. Starting with the 100Hz crossover, play with it until sound is to your liking. That may be with an 80Hz crossover setting rather than a 100Hz setting.

 

[DJ in TX]

OK, so this is confusing… So the receiver worked flawlessly for a few days straight, and I will admit that I leave it on 24/7. I’m sure that’s probably not good and I should probably turn it off every night but I don’t. Anyway, suddenly one time today while my son was watching some YouTube videos the receiver turned itself off again. I immediately turned it back on and it hasn’t happened again. It’s been about three hours now with no repeat shut offs Does this not just seem kind of strange? That the factory reset would resolve it for several days but then suddenly it happens again once?