saint781503561665 Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 (edited) Hi, I have been thinking about upgrading to the Denon 3808 reciever but the only thing holding me back is the negative comments / reviews surrounding the upscaling ability. What experiences have owners had? Also, what alternative recievers would you recommend to the 3808? I use it for 50/50 music and movies. Any thoughts? Cheers Edited November 28, 2008 by saint78
Skellington Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 I found the difference between my 3808s ability & my former XE1s negligible, with the latter using apparently superior upscaling processing - same as what the higher end Onkyos that would be compared to the 3808 use. Upscaling is over rated in my opinion, sure they look a little better, but once you're used to HD, it just doesnt cut the mustard. My thoughts are if you intend on using it for 50/50 - go for sound quality over any other 'feature'; and personally i dont think any of the others (Onkyo, Yamaha) can match the sound quality of the Denon nor the build quality - regardless of what any on paper specs try to tell you. Function over features anyday!
50mxe20 Posted November 29, 2008 Posted November 29, 2008 I found the difference between my 3808s ability & my former XE1s negligible, with the latter using apparently superior upscaling processing - same as what the higher end Onkyos that would be compared to the 3808 use. Upscaling is over rated in my opinion, sure they look a little better, but once you're used to HD, it just doesnt cut the mustard.My thoughts are if you intend on using it for 50/50 - go for sound quality over any other 'feature'; and personally i dont think any of the others (Onkyo, Yamaha) can match the sound quality of the Denon nor the build quality - regardless of what any on paper specs try to tell you. Function over features anyday! Pretty much have to agree with all that.One addition is that most modern quality displays do a pretty good job themselves.
hakka69 Posted November 29, 2008 Posted November 29, 2008 Never tried mine, but the xe1 is supposedly one of the best but it still looks crap compared to hd. I imagine the 3808 is not that much different.
blairy Posted November 29, 2008 Posted November 29, 2008 Hi,I have been thinking about upgrading to the Denon 3808 reciever but the only thing holding me back is the negative comments / reviews surrounding the upscaling ability. What experiences have owners had? Also, what alternative recievers would you recommend to the 3808? I use it for 50/50 music and movies. Any thoughts? Cheers For me the sound quality of this receiver is sensational and you won't better it in this price bracket. Video upscaling is a feature and it's ok but I wouldn't rave about it. Prior to owning this receiver I had foxtel via component through a Denon 2106 to panel. Image was very ordinary. The upscale feature of the 3808 gives a noticeable improvement, but you cannot polish a turd. Last night I was playing around with my Creative Zen MP3 player and speaker dock. Hooked these up direct to panel (avr and stereo analogue) and also through denon AUX inputs with conversion and scaling via HDMI to panel. I reckoned it looked better direct to panel to be honest. What are you looking to upscale and what do you hope to get out of it?
saint781503561665 Posted November 30, 2008 Author Posted November 30, 2008 For me the sound quality of this receiver is sensational and you won't better it in this price bracket.Video upscaling is a feature and it's ok but I wouldn't rave about it. Prior to owning this receiver I had foxtel via component through a Denon 2106 to panel. Image was very ordinary. The upscale feature of the 3808 gives a noticeable improvement, but you cannot polish a turd. Last night I was playing around with my Creative Zen MP3 player and speaker dock. Hooked these up direct to panel (avr and stereo analogue) and also through denon AUX inputs with conversion and scaling via HDMI to panel. I reckoned it looked better direct to panel to be honest. What are you looking to upscale and what do you hope to get out of it? I do agree that the sound quality is the most important thing to consider and i have auditioned the 3808 and like what I hear. I have a PS3 so DVD's will be upscaled through the PS3 anyway. Its mainly Foxtel but I guess eventually Fox HD will be standard so it wont really matter. Anyway, what prices have people purchased this reciever for? Thanks.
POV Posted November 30, 2008 Posted November 30, 2008 agreed.............forget the upscaling and go for sound quality. I reckon the 3808 is a good buy if you are going for 50/50 movie/music as well. It came down to Integra DTR-7.9 and Denon 3808 for me, and i went for Integra as i believe that it's superior for movies to the denon, and this fits in well with my plans to add a two channel pre and power as funds allow(or an integrated) for music. However if you have no ambition to expand and want a good balance solution between movies and music then i reckon the denon is a great buy. you should be able to get it for around the $2700 mark. Incidently there is some pretty sharp pricing on the 2930 universal player if you're in the market. Drew
Jliang70 Posted November 30, 2008 Posted November 30, 2008 I found the difference between my 3808s ability & my former XE1s negligible, with the latter using apparently superior upscaling processing - same as what the higher end Onkyos that would be compared to the 3808 use. Upscaling is over rated in my opinion, sure they look a little better, but once you're used to HD, it just doesnt cut the mustard.My thoughts are if you intend on using it for 50/50 - go for sound quality over any other 'feature'; and personally i dont think any of the others (Onkyo, Yamaha) can match the sound quality of the Denon nor the build quality - regardless of what any on paper specs try to tell you. Function over features anyday! Upscaling is certainly not overrated speically with SD viewing material and you need to go and view a good scaler to form a more complete opinion of upscaling and deinterlacing. However there is no AVRs on the market that can hold a candle for a dedicated video scaler like DVDO video scaler or any HQV based scalers when it comes to deinterlacing and scaling both SD and HD viewing materials. Video scaling in an AVR is more of convenient feature and most despite using good chipset are not implemented as well as those done on DVDO or HQV scalers for commercial reasons. Personally I think there is very minor difference between all the AVRs on the market and similarly priced Yamaha, Onkyo, Integra AVRs can certainly match Denon for sound quality.
50mxe20 Posted November 30, 2008 Posted November 30, 2008 Personally I think there is very minor difference between all the AVRs on the market and similarly priced Yamaha, Onkyo, Integra AVRs can certainly match Denon for sound quality.Yes, it pretty much comes down to personal taste I reckon. There are all quality AVRs.
Recommended Posts