RX-V3900 Receiver Review

Basics

The RX-V3900 is a full featured receiver.  Notable features are -
* 140x7 watts
* Four 1.3 HDMI inputs
* 1080p upscaling for both analog and digital sources - and PReP; Video chip is Anchor Bay Technology's 2010 chip
* On screen display of messages like volume changes overlaid over HDMI (an uncommon feature)
* HD Radio
* Decoding for all Blu-ray audio
* YPAO with multi-position measurements
* HDMI output in standbye mode

Setup

The receiver is fairly easy to setup.  Physical inputs can be flexibly assigned to inputs on the remote control from the IO Assignment screen.  Analog inputs appear fixed though.

I hooked up my XBox 360, my PS3 and my Tivo to the HDMI inputs.  I hooked up my Airport Express I used for audio streaming to an optical input.  You can rename the inputs, and they the new name will show up on the receiver display.

Note that the HDMI inputs are numbered such that the top input is four an the bottom input is one.  The two HDMI outputs are numbered in this same order.

I did not have to do anything to set up the network feature except to turn it on.  It automatically got an IP address using TCP/IP.

I set the HDMI standbye mode to fixed and set it to my Tivo input.  I can watch Tivo with the receiver off.  I don't personally find this that useful, but people with families might.  This took me awhile to figure out, because the HDMI inputs were not numbered as I expected.

I ran the auto setup.  Before starting, make sure you set the number of positions you want to take measurements from.  This would usually be each seating position you want to try to optimize sound for.  Auto setup will set speakers to large you may expect to be set to small.   You can manually set size, and turn off the size detection during setup.  I have not tried this yet, but it worked fine on my RX-V2700.  It may be best to use this method rather than changing it after the fact, in case it affects the setup.   

Setting up my radio presets was about as painful as usual with Yamaha receivers.  You likely will have to read the manual.  There's nothing special to do for HD channels, they are set like any other FM radio channel.  If there's an HD signal at that frequency you set, it will attempt to tune to it rather than the FM signal.  I am not sure if there's a way to avoid that.

Video Performance

Once setup was complete, I first evaluated video performance.   I played an HQV test DVD from my XBox 360, and the 3900 was able to improve the tests from pass to fail.  To do this, I had to turn on HDMI video processing and the PReP feature.  The PReP feature is able to re deinterlace a badly interlaced signal.  This could be helpful if your DVD player is bad at deinterlacing.  FYI - the XBox 360 is not a great DVD player due to it's poor deinterlacing performance.  This is the only receiver I know of that can deal with the problem of a poorly deinterlaced 480p signal.  Note that most DVD players can only output 480p over HDMI.

I evaluated standard definition (480i) video processing by playing a poor looking Speed TV signal from my Tivo.  The 3900 was not able to improve this in any obvious way.  Don't expect the 3900 to improve bad looking standard defintion sources.  

A lot of people seem interested in receivers that can upscale to 1080.  To test this, I paused speed TV coming from my Tivo at 480i.  I checked through (no processing,) 480p and 1080p conversion.  No difference on the quality of the paused image that I could see.

In general, video processing does not seem to provide anything for me personally.  It marginally improved my DVD player performance on the HQV jaggies tests.  It did nothing obvious to improve the  Speed TV signal, which I was hoping it would.  Your milage may vary.  Note that I saw no improvement by upscaling to 1080p.  I paus

Tuner

Tuning performance seemed good.  I checked stations I normally listen to.  One of them has an HD signal.  The  HD signal is an improvement.  When I first tune to the station, I hear a lot of static.  Once it locks to HD, it sounds better.  I think HD radio could be nice.   One thing I do not like, is that you have to slide a side switch to use the remote buttons for tuning.  Very annoying.

There's a 'title' button on the remote which will give you the sampling rate.  It's "conveniently" designed so that you need to slide that side switch back to amp to use it.  Nice thinking Yamaha! (not)

Network Radio

Network radio works as well as it did on the RX-V2700.  The interface is a bit confusing.  To get to it, hit the menu button, and goto the music content page.  Navigating through all the possible stations is a bit clunky.  People who enjoy exploring may find it fun.  Other people may wish it was easier.  I like internet radio.  It can be nice for a party where you are looking for a little commercial free variety.

I have not yet tried out the iPod dock.  From comments others have made on the feature, I suspect it works well though.  I have one on order.

Remote

The remote is backlit, which is nice.  But only for some keys.  I can't read the lower buttons well, and they are not backlit.  I am dissapointed in the remote.  The cursor button is especially stiff.  It feels clunky at times.  This is typical for Yamaha remotes even on their most expensive receivers.  It's usable, but it could be better.

Note that some menus have a 'SUBMENU'.  SUBMENUS are accesed using the 'return' button.  It took my awhile to figure that one out.

General Comments

The overall interface is ok.  Some tasks are intuitive and others are not.  The tuner controls are not intuitive.  Changing volume and inputs is simple though with the helpful backlight.  You can hit menu and select your inputs from the input select menu.  This could be nice if you can't remember which buttons are assigned to which inputs.  For example, my XBox 360 is assigned to the VCR button.  I am not sure why Yamaha has not added a game input button.  Surely more people have game consoles hooked up to their receivers than VCRs?

One feature they improved on is the processing mode buttons.  To get 7.1 surround from 5.1 just hit the EXTD SUR button.  You can cycle through various options.  DPL IIx movie seems to sound the best for listening to 5.1 movies in 7.1.  For two channel sources, hit the SUR. DECODE button.  You can cycle through a lot of choices there.  DPL IIx movie or music is about the best sounding mode to me.  But you should try them yourself.

You can hit Pure Direct to bypass some processing.  This includes bass management.  Which means you sub will not be used in that mode.  This works best if you have full range L/R speakers.

You may ask about sound quality.  I have always like Yamaha sound quality, and this receiver has not changed my mind.  It should have enough power for most people, and I think most people will find that it sounds great.  Auto setup will set certain EQ (PEQ) settings.  You can switch between a few modes (such as flat or natural), or switch it off to see what sounds best to you.

In general, I think this a great receiver.  It adds a lot of features I liked over my 2700.  The main thing I miss from the 2700 is the remote.  I think it felt better, and it was easier to see the processing mode buttons.  It has a pretty pricey MSRP - I got it for close to $1500 though.

I wrote a more complete review at avsforum.com in the RX-V3900 thread, which you can probably find by googling