VSX-94TXH Home Media Gallery and Video Bench Testing
The Home Media Gallery is an interesting concept that is
implemented about as good as the User interfaces for the first generation
high-definition DVD players. That is to say, it's slow and clunky. Navigating
around the system to access various areas is slow and tedious, with cursor
actions being delayed from actual on-screen responses by around a full second.
Even the User Manual is an add-on of sorts, coming as a separate pamphlet about
18 pages in length. In short - it needs some more work.
OK, now the good stuff. Setting up the Home Media Gallery was a snap. If you have a basic home network with a router sending out an IP address via DHCP you'll spend about 20 seconds getting the system ready. The only other thing to note is that the Pioneer HMG uses WMDRM (Windows Media Digital Rights Management). This means that you'll need to add the Pioneer HMG to Windows Media Player's allowed devices (under the Library tab in Options.) Once that's done, just go through the Setup menu of the HMG by selecting Setup and hitting 'Enter' on the remote. From here select Network Setup. If you have DHCP (most common) then select Automatic (DHCP). That's really about all there is. If you use static IPs or anything fancy then you can tweak your own way manually through the Setup - we won't cover that in this review.
Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing
Perfect Score is 130
VSX-94TXH Benchmark Score: 76
| Test | Max Points |
Component Results |
Component Pass/Fail |
| Color Bar | 10 | 5 | Pass |
| Jaggies #1 | 5 | 5 | Pass |
| Jaggies #2 | 5 | 5 | Pass |
| Flag | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Detail | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Noise | 10 | 5 | Pass |
| Motion adaptive Noise Reduction | 10 | 0 | Fail |
| Film Detail | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Cadence 2:2 Video | 5 | 1 | Fail |
| Cadence 2:2:2:4 DV Cam | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 2:3:3:2 DV Cam | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 3:2:3:2:2 Vari-speed | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 5:5 Animation | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 6:4 Animation | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 8:7 animation | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 3:2 24fps film | 5 | 5 | Pass |
| Scrolling Horizontal | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Scrolling Rolling | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Total Points | 130 | 76 |
The VSX-94TXH was sent 480i via component from a Denon DVD-1930CI.
Comments on Bench Testing
We wanted to see if the Faroudja DCDi video processing performed as expected when upconverting standard definition video to the HDMI outputs. The only surprise was the slightly blurred Color Bar test results. The EOL vertical pattern just didn't have the punch we're used to seeing, though it didn't seem readily apparent in the Detail test that any resolution was being lost. The final score shows that the DCDi processing is doing its job and you can feel pretty good about sending standard definition video through this AV receiver.
HD Audio Support
Because the Pioneer VSX-94TXH supports HDMI 1.3a and nearly all that the spec entails, you can know that if you feed bitstream Dolby TrueHD or dts-HD Master Audio into the system, it will be decoded correctly and fed to the speakers in pristine high definition. Your toughest job will be finding a high definition Blu-ray player that can send out the audio natively. Fear not, though, as 7.1 channels of uncompressed PCM will sound just as good. Also remember, that no matter what the digital format, all audio sent into the AV receiver via HDMI will be properly bass managed by the system.
See also:
Recent Forum Posts:
In my experience i've always bought the warranty and the only time I used it is when my receiver was electrocuted. The warranty covered that replacement and several other warranties covered my TV, PS2 and powered subwoofer that all received the power surge from the receiver. (Surge came over the cable line, traveled to my receiver via the s-video cable which subsequently sent it to all my other equipment) The only item that didn't have a powered subwoofer and Circuit city fixed it for a nominal charge. This is all because I didn't have a surge protector that protected the 2 coax inputs going to my cable box.
Thunder18;410217
Congrats. Did the audioholics review sway you any? I really like that receiver, but I just can't seem to stand the remote ;-p
Ah well, from the looks of the other post, it looks like you're happy with it. Good luck with this one. I've had 4 Pioneer receivers and none of them have ever had a lick of trouble save the one that was electrocuted.
Thanks and actually the review made me lean towards it more, I like the power it has and how cool it runs. I put it and my paradigms threw some tests for sure by that I mean listening to it louder than I normally would, im in a house so I can crank it up when im in the mood and probably dont tick off to many of my neighbors lol im pretty considerate though after 10 but anyway my point is after a 2 hour movie with the volume loud enough to were I was reaching for the remote so I wouldnt go deaf and the 94 was just warm. All my other receivers were pretty hot by then especially above the receiver on the audio rack was toasty hot with others but not the 94 it was just warm. Im very impressed with the sound quality and picture to. I think what sold me on the review was the statement at the end " if you want a powerhouse look no further " I think with out going seperates this reciever should should keep me happy for a long time and it makes me even happier to know your pioneers have been good to ya actually im getting use to the remote its not that bad and im learning were all the important buttons are on it like for quick access for speaker level ect, thx, adv surround and so on can easliy be navigated in the dark movie mode now : ).
