Sony STR-DA5300ES Receiver Thread

[FIDDYPOP]

STR-DA5300ES by Sony. I was considering picking up this amp for myself. Does anyone own one or know how it performs?

[meckel]

Cnet liked it

http://reviews.cnet.com/av-receivers...-32552105.html

I have be debating it myself. The six HDMI is very tempting

There is also a review for the 4300ES in Home Theater magazine

[Tyler2106]

Originally Posted by FIDDYPOP

STR-DA5300ES by Sony. I was considering picking up this amp for myself. Does anyone own one or know how it performs?

Haven't had it but have heard only great things about it...and you can't beat 6 HDMI's...Sony's ES series are built like tanks...if you are thinking about it...I would get it...you won't be disappointed...

[Audio5oh]

I am also considering this unit, however, like any other product, I've read good and bad reviews from people that own this receiver. It seems the majority of the reviews are positive, except for one issue that kind of bothers me. A couple of folks say that the HD quality on a HDTV is not as good when the receiver is hooked up via HDMI via a cable box or DVD player. Anyone that owns this receiver have video issues?

[moviefan]

Originally Posted by FIDDYPOP

STR-DA5300ES by Sony. I was considering picking up this amp for myself. Does anyone own one or know how it performs?

I have the 5200, and wish I Knew tor 5300 would be out soon after.
I wish I had tor Dolby True HD and DTS-Ma decoding,
I have used all my HDMI inputs (3), so 6 would be nice.
Here's a gread deal on the 5300:
http://www.authorizedelectronics.com/sonyes.html

[sakbarzad]

i have it and love it.... and no u cant beat the 6 hdmis... as far as the hd issuse it looks good to me and im running it to a 46xbr5.... sound quality is great im using def techs

[cawgijoe]

Soppossed to be a great receiver....also has a 5 year warranty from Sony.

[PBJblu-ray alltheway]

I picked one up last week to replace my 5000ES and was surprised at how much improvement there was. I shopped for a good deal and found it @ a B&M store for $1100.00. Then was able to sell my 5000ES for $500.00, so it was definately worth the money I spent. No complaints here!

[nbxfan]

Originally Posted by Audio5oh

I am also considering this unit, however, like any other product, I've read good and bad reviews from people that own this receiver. It seems the majority of the reviews are positive, except for one issue that kind of bothers me. A couple of folks say that the HD quality on a HDTV is not as good when the receiver is hooked up via HDMI via a cable box or DVD player. Anyone that owns this receiver have video issues?

I've done a great deal of research lately on this before finally purchasing it. Mine comes Wednesday this week...but as to this, I have heard that the HDMI cables don't upconvert from the receiver so, it only passes thru as native. So, as I have Directv and an HD box, the picture should remain the same at 720p or 1080i and not be upconverted to 1080p. You can connect the Component cables to the receiver along with an optical cable and it is supposed to upconvert to 1080p. Also, alot of DVD players have upconversion themselves. I could be wrong about this information but, this is what I have gathered from all the various forums and the few expert reviews I've read thus far. This wasn't enough to stop me from purchasing the unit. Just be sure that if you buy it from a website that the serial number you are getting is higher than some specific number so that it has the latest firmware upgrades because early units have a lot of issues.

[Audio5oh]

Are you sure about the receiver only being able to upconvert to 1080i via an HDMI cable? So, if I get a Blu Ray player, such as the new Samsung BD-P1500, then that player won'tbe able to upconvert to 1080p when hooked up to the receiver? I this correct or am I confusing myself?

[nbxfan]

Originally Posted by Audio5oh

Are you sure about the receiver only being able to upconvert to 1080i via an HDMI cable? So, if I get a Blu Ray player, such as the new Samsung BD-P1500, then that player won'tbe able to upconvert to 1080p when hooked up to the receiver? I this correct or am I confusing myself?

No, maybe I wasn't clear enough. I am pointing out that via HDMI, there is NO upconvert, it comes thru Native. So if you are running a blu-ray or HD-DVD player sending out 1080p, it goes out 1080p. I was using as an example Directv which does not output 1080p, only up to 1080i. So, via HDMI, it will go out to the TV at 1080i but, if you connect via component cable, it is supposed to upconvert to 1080p.

I have a PS3 as my Blu-Ray player, which outputs 1080p, so don't know enough about other players to know if they only go up to 1080i and not 1080p. I am also going by what I've read on various forums. You can download a copy of the manual and look this up. I figured I'd wait for this at this point until it arrives.

[Audio5oh]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm still debating whether or not to buy this. Moviefan mentioned earlier in the thread that Authorized Electronics has it at a good price. I've never heard them before, but it looks like they offer a 30 day return policy, only if the unit is defective.

[Audio5oh]

Does anyone know what serial numbers I'm supposed to look for or which ones to avoid?
nbxfan, did you get your receiver? Are you having any problems and did you see that green dot on the box that everyone's talking about? I figured at this point in time, there should NOT be any bad receivers going around.

[nbxfan]

I got my receiver yesterday, had it out of the box and set up within an hour. No problems to report. I looked for a dot, and there is not one. I don't know how to check firmware, or what the "black crush" refers to that I've heard so much about. I also don't have anywhere near the number of units that are possible to hook up either. I am using 4 HDMI ports, and a set of the Component and normal A/V ports.

I would like to note, which I did not know prior to looking at the receiver out of box that, the 6th HDMI port is for audio only. So technically you have 5 HDMI ports and 1 Audio port. Not sure what you would use this for but, it is truly amazing all the things you can hook up to the unit and that it is ready for. Definitely worth the upgrade from my older Pioneer model.

I have checked everything for sound and picture. I've also checked audio on various HD-DVD's and Blu-Ray's for more recent codecs with no problem. I know I have a ways to go understanding all the features but, as this is my third receiver, they still are pretty much all the same and I had no real hassle.

The one thing that I did and still do have an issue with is that the auto calibration completes but gives me an error message about the room not being quiet enough but, I think this had to do with my sub woofer. I contacted the SW manufacturer today for proper settings and have made adjustments. Will rerun the test today to see if that helped.

Very happy especially as the concern of all the poor things I have heard. A few poor comments far out weigh the reality though.


Edit: Also, I picked up all new HDMI cables for fairly cheap at monoprice.com so that I was sure they were 1.3 compatible. No point buying overpriced HDMI cables as they are all the same. Got 5 six foot cables for under $25 shipped. Not sure if that is allowed to say as it refers to a website and pricing so I apologize if this isn't allowed.

[sokrman14]

I am actually selling my Sony STRDA5300ES brand new in box because I decided to go with a B&K setup. So if anyone is interested in it I am selling it for $1000 plus shipping. It is still sealed in the original manufacturers package never used or opened. Let me know if anyone is interested.

[nbxfan]

Finally found the serial number on the sony site...

STR-DA5300ES A/V receivers with serial numbers below 8806528 may be affected. The serial number can be found on the rear panel beneath the AC power connector.

My receiver falls into this "bad" category but, seems to work fine. I assume the firmware update was done.

[sakbarzad]

Originally Posted by nbxfan

Finally found the serial number on the sony site...

STR-DA5300ES A/V receivers with serial numbers below 8806528 may be affected. The serial number can be found on the rear panel beneath the AC power connector.

My receiver falls into this "bad" category but, seems to work fine. I assume the firmware update was done.

if u look at the bar code on the box there should be a round sticker... if there is that means the reciever has been updated

[PBJblu-ray alltheway]

Originally Posted by nbxfan

I would like to note, which I did not know prior to looking at the receiver out of box that, the 6th HDMI port is for audio only. So technically you have 5 HDMI ports and 1 Audio port.

NOT TRUE - The owners manual is not too clear on this but HDMI port 6 is for a wider range of sound. I am currently using this for my PS3 and it certaintly does send video thru this connection.

wide range of sound ?? Dont ask me !

[nbxfan]

Originally Posted by PBJblu-ray alltheway

NOT TRUE - The owners manual is not too clear on this but HDMI port 6 is for a wider range of sound. I am currently using this for my PS3 and it certaintly does send video thru this connection.

wide range of sound ?? Dont ask me !

Ok, maybe I misread the panel on back, I thought it said audio only. I am currently reading the manual as I had not prior to setup. So, as you own one and are using it, I definitely defer to you. In fact, I may switch my PS3 to this HDMI then as well, if you apparently get better sound.

[DiverSpear]

I have the 5300ES and having 6 HDMI ports is a blessing, I'm using 4. I have an upscaling DVD player hooked to port 6 and can't tell a difference between that port or the others. They say it is optimized for audio maybe I should try my BD in that port. I also like having 3 zones, I have zone 2 on the porch and zone 3 in the garage. The only digital signal that gets passed to the zones is the DMPort. Every thing else is analog, so I hooked my Directv and cd players up with RCA along with fiber and/or hdmi so I can send it to the other zones when needed. The IR jacks in the back of the reciever are nice, I put a sensor on the back porch so I can control the receiver when outside and not have to go inside to change settings or volume.

Zone 3 requires an external amp, zone 2 only requires an external amp if you are running 7.1 if your are running 5.1 you can set the settings in the menu for the side speakers to be zone 2.

Hope this helps.