Sony STR-V333ES 5.1 Channels Receiver
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- THX Certification: No
- Number of Channels: 5.1 Channels
- Type: Receiver
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
ES Through and Through!
Pros
Excellent Movie and Music sound! Good power to speakers and decodes 6.1
Cons
Remote can be a pain, Unit does get hot!
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Demo the unit to see if you can stand the remote or if you already have a universal remote then go right out and buy one now!
UPDATE! At the bottom!
Sony's ES or elevated standard line of products is recognized throughout the industry as an excellent name. The products bearing this glamorous title are usually worthy of high praise. With this receiver though I think Sony outsmarted themselves! By trying to do too much and not testing the product well enough, Sony has put out a flawed product.
Pros: Don't get me wrong as I do like my receiver, but I think that with better testing this could have turned out to be a wonderful receiver. Anyway, on to the good stuff! this receiver imediately impresses just by it's weight. it probably weighs 40-50 lbs. So don't set it on top of any other components as it would probably crush them and if I were you I wouldn't put it on a shelf either. Next all of the connects on the back of the receiver are gold plated. Very impressive as you would expect for an ES product. The speaker connects are all bannana plugs which are spaced fairly far apart. Far enough that they are still easily tightened. You are provided with 4 optical inputs, cd, dvd, minidisc, and tv/sat. There is also a minidisc optical output and dvd coaxial in. A very ingenious feature is the onscreen setup menu. By connecting either a yellow video wire or a s-video cable to the appropriate video channel on your tv you can setup your receiver onscreen. One thing lacking on this model is component video switching which allows you to plug in two component sources and output only one to your tv. This is very important if you only have one component input on your tv. Now for the front display. With the panel closed the front is very simple and while watching a movie completely disappears in the dark. The only thing you will see is the display. Behind the panel is an s-video input which can be handy for hooking up a camcorder or a video game machine. All the buttons are fairly self explanitory and easy to use.
Now the remote needs it's own paragraph. I don't hate the remote only the amount of time it takes to use it. This is where the scientists needed more testing as it can really be a hassle. It is a two-way remote which means that everytime you turn the remote on it comunicates back and forth with the receiver. Now as you can imagine this takes time. Fortunately you can turn off the two-way functionality in the receiver's setup menus. Although when you first press a button on the remote it goes through a warm up period where it attemps to communicate with the rest of your components. The remote only stays on for a few seconds to conserve batterty power as the remote has a lcd screen that is backlit. The major problem with all this is that everytime the remote shuts itself off and you want to use it again it has that five second period before you can do anything. Fortunately for me I have a universal remote that Sony makes that controls my entire setup.
Now the power output on this receiver is fairly impresive as it sends 110 watts per channel. Even in five channel digital mode it sends 110 wpc to all five speakers. This receiver has almost thirty dsp's which are digital signal processors. This means that if you are watching tv through your receiver you can change the dsp to "Game" if you are watching sports or if you are watching a dvd you can change it to auto format decode so that you can listen to the movie as it was intended.
Cons: Mainly all the problems relate to the remote as stated above. I think that Sony would have found a better way to make it work if they had done a little more testing.
Conclusion: If I didn't have my universal remote I probably would have gone running through the streets screaming by now, but I know several people that are not bothered by it at all so I say find a place to test it out before you decide to buy it. Besides the remote it is a very solid machine that produces wonderful sound quality!
UPDATE: I don't know how I wrote this entire review without commenting on the sound quality, but here we go. THE reason I bought this receiver was because of the sound quality. It just sounds more clear and rich than anything comparitively priced. Really for the price I would say that I got a steal. Music sounds alive and home theater sounds better than most theaters I have been to lately. By the way, I am playing this thru Polk audio 6600 5 speaker system and a Polk audio 100 watt sub.
Sony's ES or elevated standard line of products is recognized throughout the industry as an excellent name. The products bearing this glamorous title are usually worthy of high praise. With this receiver though I think Sony outsmarted themselves! By trying to do too much and not testing the product well enough, Sony has put out a flawed product.
Pros: Don't get me wrong as I do like my receiver, but I think that with better testing this could have turned out to be a wonderful receiver. Anyway, on to the good stuff! this receiver imediately impresses just by it's weight. it probably weighs 40-50 lbs. So don't set it on top of any other components as it would probably crush them and if I were you I wouldn't put it on a shelf either. Next all of the connects on the back of the receiver are gold plated. Very impressive as you would expect for an ES product. The speaker connects are all bannana plugs which are spaced fairly far apart. Far enough that they are still easily tightened. You are provided with 4 optical inputs, cd, dvd, minidisc, and tv/sat. There is also a minidisc optical output and dvd coaxial in. A very ingenious feature is the onscreen setup menu. By connecting either a yellow video wire or a s-video cable to the appropriate video channel on your tv you can setup your receiver onscreen. One thing lacking on this model is component video switching which allows you to plug in two component sources and output only one to your tv. This is very important if you only have one component input on your tv. Now for the front display. With the panel closed the front is very simple and while watching a movie completely disappears in the dark. The only thing you will see is the display. Behind the panel is an s-video input which can be handy for hooking up a camcorder or a video game machine. All the buttons are fairly self explanitory and easy to use.
Now the remote needs it's own paragraph. I don't hate the remote only the amount of time it takes to use it. This is where the scientists needed more testing as it can really be a hassle. It is a two-way remote which means that everytime you turn the remote on it comunicates back and forth with the receiver. Now as you can imagine this takes time. Fortunately you can turn off the two-way functionality in the receiver's setup menus. Although when you first press a button on the remote it goes through a warm up period where it attemps to communicate with the rest of your components. The remote only stays on for a few seconds to conserve batterty power as the remote has a lcd screen that is backlit. The major problem with all this is that everytime the remote shuts itself off and you want to use it again it has that five second period before you can do anything. Fortunately for me I have a universal remote that Sony makes that controls my entire setup.
Now the power output on this receiver is fairly impresive as it sends 110 watts per channel. Even in five channel digital mode it sends 110 wpc to all five speakers. This receiver has almost thirty dsp's which are digital signal processors. This means that if you are watching tv through your receiver you can change the dsp to "Game" if you are watching sports or if you are watching a dvd you can change it to auto format decode so that you can listen to the movie as it was intended.
Cons: Mainly all the problems relate to the remote as stated above. I think that Sony would have found a better way to make it work if they had done a little more testing.
Conclusion: If I didn't have my universal remote I probably would have gone running through the streets screaming by now, but I know several people that are not bothered by it at all so I say find a place to test it out before you decide to buy it. Besides the remote it is a very solid machine that produces wonderful sound quality!
UPDATE: I don't know how I wrote this entire review without commenting on the sound quality, but here we go. THE reason I bought this receiver was because of the sound quality. It just sounds more clear and rich than anything comparitively priced. Really for the price I would say that I got a steal. Music sounds alive and home theater sounds better than most theaters I have been to lately. By the way, I am playing this thru Polk audio 6600 5 speaker system and a Polk audio 100 watt sub.
