Yamaha RX-V663 Receiver Overview

[Bluesmoke]

Yea, it seems this receiver transcodes all signals to HDMI, but doesn't upscale. Your display will still have to upscale it.

 

[fredk]

You don't upconvert, downconvert, sidconvert or convolute anything from analog to HDMI.

You can convert (without the up) from analog to digital, with HDMI being the physical transport (like coax or optical).


Fred

P.S. I hereby declare today national rant about grammer day.

 

[mudrummer99]

You don't upconvert, downconvert, sidconvert or convolute anything from analog to HDMI.

You can convert (without the up) from analog to digital, with HDMI being the physical transport (like coax or optical).


Fred

P.S. I hereby declare today national rant about grammer day.

Thanks Fred, I know it's a horribly inaccurate name but it usually the easiest and most commonly used word for this process. I use a similar line with people that as me how an upconvert DVD player works, I tell them that it not so much upconverts a signal to digital as much as it maintains the digital format actually recorded on DVD's. Unfortunately marketing geniuses aren't all the worried about accuracy. If anything the best word to use in this particular situation is scaling, which this receiver does scale from a 480i to a 480p, but other than that, what is sent is the same signal it receives. Thanks for addition to my inaccurate nomenclature.

Mike

 

[fredk]

And it will probably stick. Not to worry, that was just me going a little loopy. Working on a Saturday on 4 hours of sleep does funny things to me.

Fred

 

[GlocksRock]

This unit does upconvert analog signals to HDMI but the best it will do is change the signal to a 480P as opposed to the 863 which will upscale it to a 1080P signal.

This is true, however your tv will scale everything to it's native resolution, the only advantage to having a receiver do it, is that the receiver may do a better job of scaling the image than your tv. But in my opinion, the 863 doesn't offer enough extras to make it worth the price difference, a few more watts, an extra HDMI input, and upscaling are the only difference I know if.

 

[rturner]

differences in 863 and 663

This list of differences is not complete without mentioning the 863 has a phono input while the 663 does not :>))

 

[bkmerrill]

so the 663 appears to be a good unit, how does it compare/compete with the onkyo 605?

 

[rturner]

Yamaha and Onyko

I have never (before) posted a negative comment on a product on any forum.(mainly because I've seen the flames it would cause) I would like to voice my experience now.first, I'm older than dirt- explaining the time period.
I've owned 2 prev Yammies . First kept several years and gave to son when HDTV came about. The next was also a keeper but lightning disabled HDMI ports so it went to daughter for use with non-HD TV.
A respected technician preached Onyko, so I got a 705- AVS forum is literally loaded with pages of complaints of speaker noise at normal levels. When additionally, my HDMI connections started going in and out, I gave it to my tech for minor services. I then bought the Onyko 805. After 2 months, it quit responding to the remote (and my Harmony). What the hey! My legs aren't broken, I can walk across the room. Then all panel lights except power goes out. Ever try using a premier receiver and not being to tune a FM station or any thing else??
I now have a Yamaha 663 coming from J & R for $399 Half the Onyko). It arrives Thursday. Then I have to pay to ship a 60 pound unit to Denver. Did I mention Onyko's service stinks! The only advice they gave was to reset. After that it was to send to the closest factory authorized repair. That is Denver, Colorado. I live west of Austin, TX.

Anyone want my opinion of Onyko? That would have to be given by private mail.

 

[speakerman39]

I have never (before) posted a negative comment on a product on any forum.(mainly because I've seen the flames it would cause) I would like to voice my experience now.first, I'm older than dirt- explaining the time period.
I've owned 2 prev Yammies . First kept several years and gave to son when HDTV came about. The next was also a keeper but lightning disabled HDMI ports so it went to daughter for use with non-HD TV.
A respected technician preached Onyko, so I got a 705- AVS forum is literally loaded with pages of complaints of speaker noise at normal levels. When additionally, my HDMI connections started going in and out, I gave it to my tech for minor services. I then bought the Onyko 805. After 2 months, it quit responding to the remote (and my Harmony). What the hey! My legs aren't broken, I can walk across the room. Then all panel lights except power goes out. Ever try using a premier receiver and not being to tune a FM station or any thing else??
I now have a Yamaha 663 coming from J & R for $399 Half the Onyko). It arrives Thursday. Then I have to pay to ship a 60 pound unit to Denver. Did I mention Onyko's service stinks! The only advice they gave was to reset. After that it was to send to the closest factory authorized repair. That is Denver, Colorado. I live west of Austin, TX.

Anyone want my opinion of Onyko? That would have to be given by private mail.

Well, I sent my Onkyo 705 back to Vanns because it was getting way too hot. The funny thing is, I did NOT have the volume up that loud and it was only powering a set of Polk RTi6's. Heck, the level on the receiver was turned way low. I am thinking WTF........ So, before I had any further issues it has been exchanged for the Yammie 663. Just wished the Pioneer 1018 was available now because it would easily be a "no brainer" for me.

 

[kragnorok]

Yea, it seems this receiver transcodes all signals to HDMI, but doesn't upscale. Your display will still have to upscale it.

Hey just to let everyone know I have this receiver, have had it for 4 months but haven't hooked it up yet due to developing the basement for my HT.

Anyone who is interested in this receiver should know, it won't pass any analog signals up to HDMI. It only does HDMI in to HDMI out, anything such as composite or S-video can be passed through components to the TV not through HDMI.

Also to utilize the on screen display ( which is good for initial setup, after that not a big deal) you need a component or something else besides HDMI as a video source running to the TV. A bit of a inconvenience, but no big deal to me none the less.

Hopefully that is helpful to some people, I read over 80 pages of the V-663 thread on AVS because atm I am unemployed and bored, so that is a good read to anyone else that is looking at this receiver, but 95% of the people on there love it besides a few little inconveniences.

 

[GlocksRock]

Anyone who is interested in this receiver should know, it won't pass any analog signals up to HDMI. It only does HDMI in to HDMI out, anything such as composite or S-video can be passed through components to the TV not through HDMI.

Yamaha specifically says Analog video to HDMI digital video upconversion and deinterlacing with TBC, so how could it not output composite and s-video onto HDMI? I'm sure it will do it, just like my RX-V1800 does it, but it's a feature you have to turn on.

I should have the receiver tomorrow, but won't be able to actually test the upconversion until I get a HDTV for my bedroom, which probably won't be till the end of the year.

 

[speakerman39]

Yamaha specifically says Analog video to HDMI digital video upconversion and deinterlacing with TBC, so how could it not output composite and s-video onto HDMI? I'm sure it will do it, just like my RX-V1800 does it, but it's a feature you have to turn on.

I should have the receiver tomorrow, but won't be able to actually test the upconversion until I get a HDTV for my bedroom, which probably won't be till the end of the year.

Sure hope you are right as I just now received my Yammie 663. Wouldn't the 480i to 480p improve the picture quality some on most LCDs? Still a bit confused about this.

 

[kragnorok]

Yamaha specifically says Analog video to HDMI digital video upconversion and deinterlacing with TBC, so how could it not output composite and s-video onto HDMI? I'm sure it will do it, just like my RX-V1800 does it, but it's a feature you have to turn on.

Sorry, my fault that was for the 661, totally misread that it was 663, too much going on right now. Disregard what I said and sorry, I was super tired when I was reading this thread

 

[Zetram]

Sure hope you are right as I just now received my Yammie 663. Wouldn't the 480i to 480p improve the picture quality some on most LCDs? Still a bit confused about this.

To be honest if you have a 720p or 1080p tv it'll upscale the picture to it's native resolution, so it really won't matter.

 

[speakerman39]

To be honest if you have a 720p or 1080p tv it'll upscale the picture to it's native resolution, so it really won't matter.

My LG 42" LCD is 1080p w/hdmi 1.3. I sure hope to improve my picture with analog cable. I am very happy with my broadband internet and phone service. I also like the channel selection that Insight Communications offers. Just hope to get at the very least a bit better picture than I am getting now.

 

[Zetram]

I may be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure the device w/ the best scaler will ultimately determine the resolution/pic quality. So even if it was 480i or 480p the tv pic will be the same

 

[John91722]

Changing Specs?

I am not 100% sure of this but it seems that the specifications of the 663 have changed since its introduction. I maybe wrong but the level of HDMI was upgraded to the 1.3 and with that change of note it was upgraded and is capable of more features.

I saw some place it can receive HD-FM radio now and I don't think mine has that capability.


I will say I am happy with mine, it seems to perform well with my Oppo 983 DVD player and my Panasonic Plasm 50PZ85U.

I would like to add Blue ray at some point but I think I'll wait a year or so on that as I believe there will be more B-R improvements and important for the budget significant price drops.

 

[GlocksRock]

I've not seen that the specs on it have changed... what is your source of info on this? Also, it was shipping with HDMI 1.3 the day it was released.

 

[surferaudio]

I may be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure the device w/ the best scaler will ultimately determine the resolution/pic quality. So even if it was 480i or 480p the tv pic will be the same

I think it is source dependant.. if the source is blu-ray ps3, ps3 has its own scaler that outputs to the calibrated setting that the tv can accept and the 663 would be pass-through device for video.

Interesting, I'll have to read the manual again.. to me, I prefer AVRs with no video-manipulation, because its best left to video-centric devices, i.e. source players or the tv/projector.

 

[jazee]

Hey you 663 and 6160 owners, I need advice on whether it is worth it to upgrade from my 1400. See the thread "Is This Upgrade Worth It"

Essentially I'm asking is if I get a 663 or 6160 and I have a Comcast HD Cable/DVR Box, Oppo 970HD DVR, and WII, except for the WII will I only need to run an HDMI cable between the cable and DVD components to the receivers? Then I can run just one HDMI cable to the TV. Boy would I have a bucket full of cables after doing that. But is it worth the time and money considering I've got it all setup well using component and macros on my Universal Remote. The only thing I don't like is only two HDMI inputs on the 663 but I'm not paying $500 more for one input. I don't like the idea of an HDMI switching box, so when I get a PS3, I guess I'll have to put one of the sources on component still (guess I just cross posted, sorry.)