There has to be something better than this
Written: Mar 09 '03
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Pros: Reasonable surround sound
Cons: Needlessly complicated, terrible remote, low-power signal from outputs
The Bottom Line: Look for a unit with a better remote, and attempt to match new amp to other components by connection type and brand to avoid problems.
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| tharrison02459's Full Review: Yamaha RX-V430 5.1 Channels Receiver |
I bought this unit about 6 months ago and it just keeps giving me trouble. For one, the manual is written for the V530, which has a much more extensive set of jacks on the back (s-video and digital for all, not just some as on this unit) and a considerably different layout. They have callouts for where there are differences, but it's not very helpful or complete.
The user controls on the unit and remote are also incredibly confusing. The remote is a disaster: black, rectangular, with scores of tiny buttons and tiny text layed out in an even grid. This makes is nearly impossible to use in the dark since there are no tactile clues. Since there are no learning modes on the remote and it didn't handle my cable box (or TiVo) it wasn't very universal at all. To be fair, none of the remotes that come with anything else are universal either.
What I didn't consider when buying was that: the amp carries all signals to your speakers and especially to your TV, so it is always involved in the connection, and it is is not working or gets messed up, neither is anything else. It took me a good week to figure out what specific modes needed to be set so that I got both sound and video for TV, VCR, Tuner and DVD. That was fine until I got a new cable box and Tivo.
Presently, mine is not working perfectly and my TV keeps getting a weak enough signal to present a screen saying "unusable signal". I'll probably figure out how to get around this, but I don't think this is something I should have to do :-)
When I first got the unit I set up the system using digital outputs from the DVD/CD to the amp and SVIDEO to the TV. Since there's only one digital output (on the V430) you have to map the input from a specified mode key to this jack, which is confusing to say the least. There are digital jacks for each component on the V530 (the better model) so this wouldn't be an issue.
Other components made their connections to the TV and with COAX connections from the CABLE through the VCR. So this means I needed to switch the TV input to S-VIDEO every time I watch DVD and to channel 3 when I watch anything else. This is a pain in the neck, since you need to coordinate everything (when am is in DVD mode, TV must be in S-VIDEO mode, but when in cable mode, TV is on channel 3). Anything out of step and you either get no picture or no sound.
Once I set this up, figured it out, programmed a learning remote to set all the proper modes on all the devices, it pretty much worked. But we would regularly have cases where my 1 year old daughter got hold of some remote, pressed some button and screwed up the whole thing. If I could have made everything use S-VIDEO this would remove one layer of complexity, but on the V430 there is only one S-VIDEO output. Sigh. V530 has multiple S-VIDEO inputs.
Then, I got the TiVo and it's instructions suggested I use composite cables (Right/Left/Video) instead of Coax to go from Cable box to TiVo and TiVo to amp. This setup is much simpler and means I don't have to worry about changing modes. I was happier with this and it seemed good. I even bagged the S-VIDEO from DVD to TV (instead going through the amp) just to keep everything simple.
But this is when I started getting the unusable signal screens on the TV. Mostly everything is fine, but when the TV picture contains a lot of white, the TV displays this annoying screen. Who knows, perhaps my composite cables need to be shielded (even though I got good quality, but not shielded ones), or maybe there's something else going on. Who knows, and more to the point, shouldn't this be easier?
So, my advice is: forget the front panel of the box you are buying: look at the back connections and look at the remote carefully. Before you buy, look at your other components and figure out how you plan to connect everything. If you can stay with one mode on the TV (e.g. S_VIDEO, or VIDEO, or COAX/Channel 3) that should work for everything or else you'll be switching TV modes in addition to everything else. Stick with the same brand as your other components if possible, since this is really the only way universal remotes would actually be universal.
Warning: this is not how the sales people at retail outlets are trained to sell, unless you are buying a whole system.
And based on what I have seen, this mode, Yamaha RX V430 is a poor second cousin to the RX V530, and based on my experience, not a good selection unless you have DVD and VCR made by Yamaha.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 300
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Epinions.com ID:
tharrison02459
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Member: Tom H
Location: Newton, MA USA
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 1 member
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