Sony STR-DH740 7.2 Channel 4K AV Receiver (Black)

Okay, so far, so good. Right out of the box, the Sony STR-DH740 is pretty much what the doctor ordered for my home setup. Compatibility------------ I have the following components: PS4 - HDMI XBox 360 - HDMI Apple TV - HDMI (No cable TV, sorry Time Warner, I'm not interested, stop asking...) Wii with an HDMI converter I also have an HDMI switch I could use if I really want to add more components, but with Apple TV and PS4 available, those can cast pretty much everything I want to watch from Netflix to iTunes purchases, to Amazon Prime. Also, they do Hulu, but I never boarded that bus. I've been a Netflix guy forever. I was able to take my old HDMI switch and get rid of it because the STR-DH740 has 4 HDMI inputs, not the pitiful 3 that most systems seemed to have the last time I went looking. I was able to get rid of three cables, too. Two patch HDMI cables needed to make the switch work and one needed to patch audio back from the television to the old receiver (also a Sony, but very old). Wattage---------------------- I also bought a pair of floor speakers from Fluance. They are rated at 200 Watts and their reviewers report that they need at least 80 to start providing convincing sound. I was worried about the STR-DH740 not having enough juice. It says it's a 200 Watt machine, but it does not specify how much goes to each channel on the website. However, the box does: it says it provides 145 Watts per channel. So, I should have plenty of juice to rock the socks off my neighbors. Alas, they have not arrived yet. Sound quality--------------- I will not review the surround sound -- I'm going back to simple two speaker stereo, but with the large floor standing speakers I mentioned. I never wired my room for sound cabling, and frankly, I'm not interested in hiring a contractor to do that any time soon. The audio to my headsets is quite quality. I played Destiny last night and the sound was far superior to the sound from the Sony Gold headset that you can connect directly to the PS4, but without the surround sound location the Gold provides. The sound richness was just astounding, though, with clarity of voice and music that would be hard to beat. (My headset is pretty good, but it needs a good signal to work well.) I tested Netflix and iTunes video, and both were great. Setup-------------- Setup was a breeze compared to what I've done in the past, and with the bare minimum of wires. I have finally gotten down to a single HDMI cable from each component. This makes the setup much simpler than my old system and provides more space to move cables around. You will need access space for installation behind the device, or the ability to move the device in and out of your cabinet/shelves to get to the back, so you'll need longer cables than you think if you need to do that (I have to, because I use an enclosed cabinet). The cable connectors for the speaker cables allow for both free-wire connection and for banana plug connection. You don't HAVE to buy banana plugs, but I would recommend it. They're simpler to use. I wish I could find mine... Controls and ease of use-------------- The STR-DH740 provides onscreen feedback via the HDMI when you turn the sound volume or use the menus, which was something my wife complained about on the old system: my old one did not have video feedback capability. The design is ugly, but quite useful, so I don't mind the ugly. One drawback to the system is the IR remote control. With the PS4 going to Bluetooth for the remote, it would be nice for their other devices to also do this. I wonder why they haven't implemented it? Also, the naming of the different input buttons on the remote control is frustrating. I have to press the cable TV button to make AppleTV work and BlueRay to make the Xbox work. Silly, you know? They could just call them input A, input B, input C, or just assign colors (and stickers). The names make everything quite confusing to explain to my family. Summary------- Overall, this was a great purchase and I'm quite happy with it so far. I'm looking forward to hooking up those big speakers and blowing out my windows next week.

Ok, so This reciver is an excellent choice for a 5.1 or a 7.1 or 5.2/7.2 home theater setup without wanting all the bells and whistles like bluetooth, wifi access and what not. I am running a 5.1 setup with my 5 speakers being all 6homs, so at first i was shy to think the reciver will handle properly but i was wrong, so far i had this reciver for about 3 days now and i play with it every day. Ive seen 4 movies so far and the reciver barely gets warm to the touch. But b4 watching movies there's the setup where your asked to use the auto cal mic and all. Personally i think its a great addition and definitely helps with the set up, but i do recommend after the auto cal to go into the settings manually to check all the adjustments and see if you agree with them. The user interface is not colorful or anything but thats fine you only use it to set the settings and then u dont really see it much. But its all straight fwd the settings and all. If you can read and have common sense then ull be fine no problem. But if you do have questions about the avr such as modes or setting or what dose that light/button do, the user manual dose an exellent job as anwsering all your questions. You shouldn't feel lost at all. But opinion is something else, if your looking for the best settings and want to know what other people have there avr set up then yeah you need google. But back to the reciver, i came from an older sony that wasn't bad but it didn't have hdmi inputs so i couldn't take advantage of HD audio witch kind of bugged me out. So i wanted a decent upgrade, i didn't care for bluetooth or wifi capabilities because i have a separate bluetooth stereo system for music so yeah i just wanted to be able to hear a little bit better sound but mostly more power for my speakers, and let me say this avr dose not disappoint. Its very powerful and i cant even get it past half volume with out me questioning if my speakers are going to blow or not. I do think this reciver is true to its power or atleast very close, but over all it did make my speakers sound better and ive watched movies i had watched with my older avr with the optical cable and man i can hear the difference, its just more clear and the 3d effects are there and there sharp. At times i felt like i had speakers right behind me and above me..but i dont i have a regular 5.1 setup. So yeah i really love the fact when i hit the power button on my ps4 it turns on my avr and tv all on one button and to turn it all of with one button i press the power button on my tv remote. I found out a few things that are good to know if you have a smart tv. When i turnd on my avr for the first time the "up,down,left,right,and enter" buttons didn't work. I thought my controller was broken but it wasn't, because i have a smart tv it some how over rided the avr remote and only let me move around the menus with the actual tv remote so i had to go into my tv settings and fix that. Just thought i should bring that up incase it happens to someone else. Also this avr turns off automatically when there is no audio sent to it after a piriod of time. I believe the people who say this avr turns off alone and what not dident read the manual and find out you can turn of the timer in witch the avr turns off. Ive played games and watch movies and never turned off so far. This avr offers plentiful settings to meet your needs, and definitely souds great. At first if you think things dont sound as good as you would like it to then go into the settings and play with it for a bit, you can always return it the next day or 2 days later. But really just read the manual, or atleast skim thru it. Its very useful it anwsered all my questions, but when it comes to witch setting is best for what then you got to reserch a bit is all. If your looking to upgrade to a simple avr to get all the HD audio codecs and run a 5.1 or 7.1 system with power to spare then this is the way to go!

Just having TV, Bluray, cd player and even cassette player all Sony and of course the cable box it works perfectly concentrating my entertainment center with a single remote control and with fidelity and audio options that delight the listening

My samsung just busted and I was so satisfied of the replacement. The Sony is much more friendly user and easy set up. A1