Review by Gregory Hendricks
Rating:
I bought this receiver based on other reviews of Yamaha receivers. I chose this over Samsung’s current 5.1 and 7.1 receiver, because the Samsung units had lackluster reviews. I was curious about the Samsung receiver line because our television is a Samsung LED.

I’m thrilled with the RX-V467. First, the quality is topnotch, which is something you can always expect from Yamaha gear. It’s solidly built and feels that way. There’s a huge heatsink inside, visible through the top vent. Second, it’s feature-rich and surprisingly easy to operate given all the options at hand.

I bought Polk Audio’s SurroundBar and Polk Audio’s PSW10 Subwoofer for this unit: What fantastic sound when you merge these items! For Blu-ray–also based on user ratings–I purchased the Sony BDP-360, and it works great with the Yamaha RX-V467 via HDMI-CEC.

My Samsung UN55C6500 LED LCD television works great with this receiver. I’m even able to get some HDMI-CEC functionality between the receiver, TV, and Sony Blu-ray.

The remote control looks scary at first, but once I stared into it for a few seconds, I realized the forethought that went into it. I was able to set most functions in the receiver without cracking the manual. If you’ve used a receiver before, you’ll likely find this unit and remote easy to operate. The remote can be programmed to operate other components in your HES.

The auto calibration microphone starts the process when you plug it in. A few remote clicks and you’re done. Had to set the speaker size back to Large for the SurroundBar, however, as this is what Polk Audio recommends.

I love that you can name the inputs of the unit based on what you plug in; this makes it easy to see what AV input you’ve selected.

I’ve only scratched the surface. This unit has plenty of features to keep you busy if you like that kind of stuff.

This receiver is $329 on Amazon and other places; great deal!!!!

Downsides:

My Pace HD cable box (Time Warner) did not work well via HDMI cable, but I’m not sure if this was the fault of the Pace, the receiver, or the television (or some combination). Sound and picture would blink or stutter on-and-off for about 30 seconds with each channel change (changed via the cable box). That was just unacceptable, so I went to Component and TOSLINK cables for the Pace without issue. HD cable sounds and looks great now, without “blinking,” using these cable selections connected to the receiver. This unfortunately means I have both Component and HDMI cables connected to the TV.

Does not include an iPhone or iPod dock like the Samsung. The new iPhone/iPod dock should be available within the next month or so, but you’ll have to buy that as an option. Starting retail price to be $99. The receiver does have a mini-plug on the front to connect your mp3 device right away, however. There is currently an iPod-only dock available for the unit ($40-$70 online); I understand it has some iPhone compatibility, but I’m waiting for the new dock.

This unit offers ZERO conversion options. In other words, it will not up-convert or down-convert one format to another (e.g., Composite to Component, Component to HDMI, etc.). Most of the reviews I’ve read on units from other manufacturers that do offer conversion options have been poor, which leads me to believe that it’s the conversion process itself that sucks–not the receivers. No idea if the unit will do the conversion for the iPhone dock…hope it does.

Conclusion:

I recommend this receiver. As with all things, better units are available for MORE money; this unit delivers for the amount paid. If you’re like me (moderate audio junkie) and need a unit for a medium-sized room (5.1 surround), I think you’ll like this receiver. If you fancy yourself an audiophile and like to buy expensive audio and video cables because you think it helps, buy something more expensive.

Review by Teo Manninen
Rating:
Just got my receiver today, plugged everything and turned it on. At first, I was bit confused about setting it up and the remote controll, but after reading a bit from the manual I managed to set things up. After this I made a short sound check to see that everything worked and it did. Then I downloaded the update from Yamahas site and tried updating the receiver with PS3 Slim. Well for my suprice, receiver was already up to date. So now I wanted to test HD sounds and put Rambo IV in, and just wow, sound is great! Even I dont have the best speakers in the world, it still sounded a lot better than anything what I played before with my non-HD Sony receiver. After I had watched the movie I put radio on and just left it there. It has now been on for around 8 hours on row and every now and then when good song comes I turn volume up, but still its really hard to sence any heat over the receiver.

Ok, it has only been in use for a day but so far I have really nothing to complain. Everything is connected with HDMI so I didn’t need the analog upconversing. Even 7.1 system seems to work ok, but I don’t have really anything to test it with, all blue-ray’s only have 5.1 I was thinking of getting some 7.1 test trak later but so far so good. For me the thing that last 2 speakers need to be active ones (to get 6.1 or 7.1) wasn’t an issue since I took those from my bedroom tv. Maybe going to put those back to bedroom atleast for a while when I can get something that has 7.1 sounds.

Review by Jeff
Rating:
I bought the 467 along with a new Samsung 58″ plasma 3D TV and a new Samsung bd-c6900 3D blueray player. The Yamaha needs to have the firmware upgraded to play 3D, and the firmware upgrade was just released by Yamaha.

[[...]

But…I’ve spent a few hours trying to upgrade the firmware and I just can’t find my way through Yamaha’s convoluted firmware upgrade process. They have you copy a .wav file to a CD, and then play the CD through the optical input on the 467 while it’s in update mode. But they warn of two pitfalls. First, they say “Conventional CD burning software is recommended. An audio CD burned by Windows Media Player may not work.” I used itunes on a mac to burn the disc. That’s the only CD burner I have.

Secondly, they warn that the process doesn’t work with all CD playback devices. The warning on the Yamaha instructions says: “Some DVD players use digital filters, which affects the output signal of the devices. the firmware update will not work with DVD players which use these digital filters. CD players usually do not use these filters, so using a CD player is preferred.”

I have tried my new samsung DVD player, my 6-month old Sony blueray DVD player, and a 10-year old panasonic CD-only player. I’m pretty sure the panny can’t deal with the CD-R disc. The two DVD players appeared to be playing it fine. but in both cases, the Yamaha couldn’t interpret what it was being fed. I can’t fathom how an average consumer would find their way through this maze…

Can anyone help?