Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Doing a "re-set" on my Denon...maybe.

Believe it or not, I resisted hijacking a thread. It's almost like you guys don't even know me.

As I mentioned in that other thread, I'm considering doing a factory reset on my Denon 3808. In case any of you have experience with any of this, I thought I'd ask two questions:

1- I was in that group of people that got an updated firmware from Denon that added Audyssey Dynamic Volume and Audyssey Something else...basically compression options. Do I lose those with a factory reset? If so, is there another level that lets you re-setup your Denon without stepping back in the firmware feature updates?

2- IIRC, the primary reason I had wanted to do this was because I "deleted" unwanted inputs and cannot find a way to get them back. (Yes, doing this and other HT stuff has been on my list of Things To Do for about a year, so I cannot remember the exact reason with 100% confidence as to why I wanted to reset it!). I do know that I checked through the batpig site and the manual (HA!) but couldn't find an answer to this. If someone knows, maybe I don't have to reset this thing and start again.

I have a list of 12 things that I've wanted to do in the HT for that year's time:

-Setup the purchased Harmony remote

-Re-calibrate things since adding the VP160

-Install a "Cable Hide" that I built on the wall under the TV

-Pull the TV off the wall and re-install Ethernet and an optical cable out so I can watch Amazon Plus stuff, etc. on the TV and still get to use the Axiom setup instead of the TV speakers, and, the primary reason for doing all this now:

-Install an HDMI splitter that will enable me to use the 3-D capabilities of my B-D player while having Axiom sound (Since my Denon is not 3-D capable, if I wanted to watch a movie in 3-D I had to pull the rack out, and rewire so I had a direct connection between the player and the TV...losing out on the receiver/Axioms.

Yes, I have two kids staying here next week so the HT is a priority...even it's 3-D capability.

My opinion is that a factory reset would only return all values to the defaults. It would not replace or change any firmware that is already installed.

^^^ +1

+2

My assumption is that it wouldn't change the installed firmware either, but I'm not finding anything on the inter-tubes that confirms it for sure. So I thought I'd check here to see if someone has actually done it.

I did it, you'll be fine. Look forward to spending some time setting it back up just the way you want, took me an hour or so.

I really don't think you will lose your firmware. I would do a reset.

In fact, I have just recently done one of my 4311 which I was dreading out of fear that it would screw things up. It worked just fine and as expected.

I agree with the 'do it' crowd. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, the reset itself went fine, but I'm frustrated.

As I mentioned, the primary instigator in this was installing an HDMI 1 in ---> 2 out splitter so I could watch 3D movies with the kids.

Well, the player STILL senses a non-3D compatible link in the communication chain (the receiver), so 3D movies won't play as I had hoped.

If I run from the player straight to the TV, it works. If I run from the player into the splitter and ONLY connect it onward to the TV, it works. but as soon as I also connect to the receiver, I get the warning sign that the device is not 3D compatible so the player won't play the disc.

So.....

I'm running straight into the TV and taking an optical out from the TV into the receiver. I wanted to make that optical connection anyway so the streaming capabilities of the TV could be utilized with the receiver and Axioms, instead of just using the TV speakers.

But I'm dismayed that I only get PLII sound. I was already disappointed that the Denon 3808 was not allowing me to get the Master audio uncompressed modes, but now I can't even get Dolby Digital when watching discs?

This REALLY rubs me the wrong way, because I'm old enough to think of a receiver as something that lasts 20 years, but I'm thinking I should just pick up a Denon 3313 while they are on sale everywhere. The newer version X-4000 offers Audyssey MultEQ XT32 but in a side-by-side comparison on Denon's own site, that's essentially the only difference for the $500 premium.

I HATE the idea of buying another new receiver. I really don't want to be doing this every 4 years!

Has anyone tried the new Oppo with the dual HDMI outputs along with a receiver such as mine....i.e., non-3D capable?

Does the Oppo fail to play the 3D discs if either of the HDMI connections are to a non-3D capable component?

Of course, I could argue that buying a $500 player to get me past some of the issues doesn't make as much sense as buying an $800 receiver that gets me past ALL of the issues....

Ugh.

Do you know how much beer and Tastykakes I can but for $800?

The problem is that technology was pretty static until the late 90's. Then it took off almost on an exponential basis. This is why I no longer buy the top of the line for anything (electronics..anyway) It's just not worth it as technology changes too fast.

I'm eying the 4520 myself, but may wait until a new version of denon comes out (making the 4520 a bit cheaper)

Mark, if you do go with a new receiver, consider the Onkyo 818(with XT32)for about $700 at A4L , rather than the 3313 or X4000.

You should be able to get Dolby Digital and DTS if you run optical from player to receiver. If so, then you could run a seperate optical from TV to reciever to stream from your TV. I'm in the same boat with my older Denon-when I watch 3D movies, I have to compromise the audio.

Optical is limited by the AC-3 Spec to 5.1 with compression so no 7 channel or lossless formats will work. Probably the player will automatically downconvert.

For sure, but he would at least get 5.1 from a disk. Running player to TV to receiver via optical is only giving him 2 channels which can only be upgraded to PLII or Neo:6

After getting my VP160 and adding room treatments, I really starting trying to improve the sound of my 3808. I found a Denon to English dictonary on the web here: http://batpigworld.com/wp/
with it I was finally able to understand all the functions of my AVR. With littel effort I managed to get it to sound better than it ever had before. It was like I bought a totally new system--speakers and all. I recommend giving it a read.