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Denon AVR-3808CI 7.1-Channel/5.1-+ 2-Channel Multisource/Multizone A/V Home Theater Receiver with Networking (Black) | 
| Brand: Denon
Category: CE
Buy New: $1,699.00
New (10) Used (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 2130
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 45
Dimensions (in): 23 x 23 x 13
MPN: AVR-3808CI
Model: AVR-3808CI
UPC: 081757507646
EAN: 0070052544913
ASIN: B000TW78AO
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | 130 Watts Per Channel x 7 Channels, All Channels Rated at 0.05 THD | | • | 4 DVI/HDMI Video Inputs/1 Output, 3 Component Video Inputs/1 Output | | • | 5 Optical Digital Inputs/2 Outputs, 2 Coaxial Inputs, 11 Analog audio Inputs, Incl. Tuner | | • | XM-Satellite Radio Capability, 8-Channel External Analog Input | | • | 7 S-Video Inputs/3 Outputs, 3 Composite Outputs, Digital to Analog REC Output |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
130 watts x 7 into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz) at 0.05% THD * Dolby True HD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, Pro Logic IIx, and DTS Neo:6 decoding * Audyssey Laboratories' MultEQ XT eight-point auto setup and room calibration system (microphone included) * XM Satellite Radio Ready with decoding for XM's HD Surround channels (requires XM subscription and optional XM Mini-Tuner package) * iPod integration (requires optional Denon ASD-1R) *
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Great Receiver July 12, 2008
Pros:
1. The on-screen menu is easy to use, and all settings can be controlled from it.
2. The networking functionality is excellent. Once you get it working, you will love this feature.
3. The USB connection is great as well. Get an 8-16GB USB key, place your MP3 files on it, and enjoy. It even has random play!
4. Full 1080p looks flawless, and the units ability to upscale is excellent. Any video source is going to be served well with this unit.
5. 4 HDMI connections
Cons:
1. Not really a con per say, but this receiver is definitely aimed at the video crowd. While music sounds great, the real power with this receiver lies in its video.
2. The auto speaker calibration. It did a fair job, but in the end, I took the time and did it myself. Not really that difficult if you are patient.
3. The remote. It is not terrible, but you will be getting an all-in-one in short order.
However, none of these cons would keep me from buying this unit again. It is hard to beat the price with this feature set.
great product for the sound performance, but needs lot of work in networking front June 20, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Price
Bought this receiver in onecall for a price of $1399. Personally I think that this product is worth only around $1000.
Upconversion video quality
Once of the reason I bought this receiver is because of the video upconversion feature which was said to be excellent in the cnet review. I don't have any HD sources, connected my SD dishnetwork cable box and sony SD dvd player. Used the HDMI out to connect to the Samsung LN52A650 HDTV. Turned on the video upscaling feature to see how it performs with the standard definition signals but I didn't see a major difference in video upconversion quality, only a minor improvement. On the other hand the samsung hdtv was handling the Standard Definition signals very well and the picture was of very good quality (bypassing the receiver and connected the dish composite output to the hdtv composite in directly). So if you are relying on the video upconversion feature to buy this receiver don't expect much.
Sound.
Great sound output and very nice performance in the audio side. Coupled the receiver with KEF KHT3005 5.1 speaker set, the sound quality was phenominal. Needed to go through the Audessey AutoSetup , but I had to set the crossover frequency manually in the receiver to around 100HZ to get good performance from the subwoofer. Also increased the sub volume manually in the receiver to more sound. In conclusion for sound this is a great receiver.
Network Streaming and connectivity.
Setting up network with this receiver turned out to be very painful experience. My entertainment set is in Family Room which doesn't have a ethernet connection to connect to this receiver. Used one of my old Linksys WRT54GS wireless router to run DD-WRT firmware to turn the wireless access point to work as a client bridge. So that I can connect the linksys router to work as a wireless receiver and hook up the denon 3808ci receiver to connect to this client bridge. After I hooked up the receiver the receiver was having trouble to connect to the network, it couldn't pull a ip address from the network. The a/v receiver became very slow and it took more than 5 seconds to navigate between each menu items. When I connect the a/v receiver to the wired network the a/v receiver was immediately assigned a network ip address and everything works fine. To debug connected my samsung LN52A650 HDTV to the client bridge it immediately reported that no DNS server assigned and no DHCP server was available. I liked the "Test Connection" feature of the samsung as opposed to nothing in the denon.
Now configured the A/V receiver to set DHCP to OFF and manually assigned a ip address and entered all the network details like subnet mask and DNS server info. Powercycled the receiver and now it was able to obtain a ipaddress. Frustrating and I wasted almost a day to figure this out.
As soon as it connected to the network I was able to see the receiver in the www.radiodenon.com website with the receivers MAC address. Signed up in radiodenon and added few stations in my list. It immediately showed up in the A/V receiver. But when I tried to play one of the station the receiver was complaining "Track Not Found" Error. Called Denon tech support and after 1 hour of wait I was able to get a support person. Explained that I can't play a radio station(WMA encoding, but streaming in windows media player protocol MMS) in the receiver he took so much of time to even locate the station. After a while he told me that this station cannot be played in the receiver because it needs a Windows Media Player in the receiver. I was wondering why the receiver cannot understand the WMA encoding. I asked why, when the denon manuals say that all WMA and MP3 stations can be played, but he couldn't properly tell a reason but keep on telling me that it needs a windows media player in the receiver which is not possible.
Later I figured out that the wma stations which is using mms as a streaming protocol cannot be played in this a/v receiver because the a/v receiver doesn't support the mms protocol as it supports only RTSP.
On the other side I tried to play the music files stored on my laptop.
The setup was like this
DLink Wireless Router
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---> Laptop connected to this network.
---> Linksys wireless router acting as client
bridget ___> A/V Receiver
Powered the A/V receiver , powered my laptop , the a/v receiver wasn't able to locate the laptop connected to the network. With trial and error I found out that I need to switch on my laptop first and then power the A/V receiver, after couple of minutes the receiver was able to locate the laptop and I was able to play the music files stored on my laptop.
Though one has to remember that windows media player 11 must be istalled and permission must be granted to the a/v receiver to access the music file folders from your system.
Overall , great sounding product with mediocore network features and very bad network usability. I was looking for the comparable sony STR-DA5300ES but dropped it from my list since it doesn't have a network connectivity :-(
 Mixed feelings June 5, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
PROS: Lots of features and inputs. Sounds great, though I do not subscribe to the idea that different brands of amplifiers sound different. I think, at the same price level, all amps sound the same, at least to human beings. Any differences are only measurable with laboratory equipment and speakers and your listening environment would utterly mask that. Not to start a flame war. Moving on ...
Can run multiple zones with multiple different inputs. Use this regularly.
Internet radio and USB are really good features for me, as is the ability to play off Windows Media server. WRT Internet radio, the Denon website to organize your stations is a nice plus.
Great price and immediate delivery via Amazon.
CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: Amazon is an authorized Denon resaler. Otherwise, Denon will not honor your warranty. Bleeh! See below.
CONS:
Mine just died (:-( after 5 months of light duty use. Worse, the estimated time to repair at a service center is 2 - 3 weeks. That is after calling 4 centers. The other centers quoted 3 - 4 weeks. This is the centerpiece of my home theater/audio system. I'm limping along on cobbled up leftovers and having withdrawal symptoms.
GUI and remote controls are definitely non-intuitive. Good thing,Denon supplies 2 remotes. The simplified remote is usable. I have never gotten the main remote to do much, and I have been completely unable to get it to run my TV or DVD player (which it is supposed to do). To put this in perspective, in all humbleness, I am highly technically literate. So, if I can't get it to work very well (the main remote), I'm afraid anyone other than an obsessive zealot or professional audiophile is going to experience some difficulties. The GUI could stand a lot of improvement, but I had no problems with it. Likewise, the manual is more like a few sentence summary of a particular feature than any kind of real explanation.
Summary: I like it fine. I guess I can buy a good quality universal remote, if that is what I really want to do. Solid core functionality but with plenty of room for improvement wrt the user interface.
This remote sucks February 12, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Love the Receiver but that remote is truely awful. This is my third Denon receiver in 20 years. I haven't had a problem with any of them and this one truely rocks. The Gui system is hard to use at first and so is the remote. Once you get everything set up it a great receiver. I use my old Denon remote because one sucks.
 I have tried several AVR's January 13, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This unit is the real deal. It provides the granularity a semi-technical person will inevitably want. Other AVRs sound just as good, but the cutomization and outstanding GUI is the difference, and the video scaling is solid. The negative posts I see regarding the genesis chip are not from those who own this product. This thing runs rather cool compared to what I have observed with competitors such as the Onkyo 875. And for those who are hung up on THX certification; look at any of the high end speakers, THX is rarely even mentioned as a variable. Not to mention, who really has a THX certified room...good luck with that!
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