AV Receiver Reviews

The Sony STR-DN1000 does not perform any deinterlacing or upconversion on HDMI inputs. It simply passes the input resolution through to the output. Where it can upconvert—such as from its component input to its HDMI outputs as in our analog tests—it upconverts to a maximum of 1080i. Therefore, the Digital and Analog HD and SD 3:2, 2:2, and MA deinterlacing tests are not applicable here, and neither is the Digital scaling test. The Digital Video Clipping and Resolution tests shown here were all performed with 1080p HDMI in and out, to check the passthrough quality of the digital video circuitry.

The Analog SD Scaling test was performed with 480p component in and 1080i HDMI out, and the Analog Video Clipping and Resolution tests with 1080i component in and 1080i HDMI out. The 1080p display we used for the test (a Sony VPL-HW15 projector) passed all of our 1080i HDMI input tests (as fed directly from the source, an OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player); the quality of its 1080i-to-1080p deinterlacing was not a limiting factor in the results.

The Sony receiver’s digital performance—within the design limits described above—was excellent. Our tests showed that it passed a 1080p source without visible compromise.

But its analog performance was another story, as the chart shows. The resolution tests were borderline as to the resolution results themselves but failed because the burst test patterns were not stable; instead of being rock solid as they should be, they flickered. While the Video Clipping test earned a passing grade, the above-white test clipped sooner than it should and did not pass the full range of white levels in the test pattern. And the Video Scaling result had the most severe moiré we’ve yet seen on this test.

But there was another issue apart from the basic performance of the Sony AVR’s cross-conversion feature. When I tried to pass a 1080i signal through the component-to-HDMI route (component 1080i into the receiver, HDMI 1080i out), the HDMI lock-on would not hold. It would work for a couple of minutes, then the source would disappear and be replaced by a full white field, or a full color field, or a full white field with vertical stripes! I could always re-establish the image by unplugging and replugging the HDMI connection from the receiver to the display, but it would continue to break lock every two minutes or so.

I can recommend the HDMI-to-HDMI switching in the STR-DN1000—it’s superb. But if our sample was typical, I would not plan on using the AVR’s component-in-to-HDMI-out cross-conversion.—TJN