Yamaha RX-V565BL

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 7 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 3 stars

  Decent value, but frustrating product failure!

  by achap78 on December 2, 2009

  Pros: When it worked, the unit produced great surround sound. I ran it for a short while on my 7.1 surround system with a Samsung Blu-Ray and the family was very pleased for about a month.

  Cons: Shortly after purchasing the 565, I noticed that after an hour of use, the system would completely shut down. Once the unit shut off, I had to completely unplug it from the power source to reboot or restart. Very frustrating experience!

  Summary: Look, when you get a new toy, you darn for sure don't want it to quit in the first month of operation. Maybe I was just a big exception ...

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  Summary: Look, when you get a new toy, you darn for sure don't want it to quit in the first month of operation. Maybe I was just a big exception to the rule, but man was this a frustrating piece of machinery! It ran well for about an hour at each power on. However, after that hour, the system inexplicably shut down and would not power up without first disconnecting it from the power source. When I tried to reconnect and power on, it worked for approximately two minutes each time before powering down my whole system again! The more I tried to remedy the problem the quicker the system shut down. I could obtain an hours use out of the unit at any time if I allowed it to sit for a while (hour) after failur; but who wants to patiently wait for their $400.00 receiver to decide it wants to work? Returned this unit to the Geek Squad and they shipped it Yamaha for repair. After three weeks, I was issued a store credit with the explanation that the unit had a generic (apparently unexplainable) defect. Today I bought a Onkyo TX-SR607. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Onkyo makes a better quality product!
  
  By the way, I watched my Thanksgiving Day football with television speakers. Thanks a million Yamaha!

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  DG-920 like analog video up conversion & Yamaha sound.

  by schapman55 on March 18, 2009

  Pros: Handles HDTV, PS3 Blueray, PS2 and other analog video up conversion through 1 HDMI output cable to your TV. I have 4 cables hooked up to this unit which handle all my AV connections!

  Cons: OSD could be better but worked fine and not a reason to avoid this unit.

  Summary: If you want to simplify your cabling and wanted the analog video flexibility of the Sony dg-920 ( which you cannot find anymore), this is the receiver you want. Sounds like ...

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  Summary: If you want to simplify your cabling and wanted the analog video flexibility of the Sony dg-920 ( which you cannot find anymore), this is the receiver you want. Sounds like a Yamaha to me. I have had no issues with this receiver in either the video or audio features. Speaker setup was automatic and accurate. I have 4 cables hooked up to this unit which handle all my AV connections! This unit is a real nice value.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Sony vs. Yamaha vs. Pioneer Elite

  by cal1surfer on April 28, 2009

  Pros: EQ for each speaker setting, decent surround quality, looks good

  Cons: Same as prior review - 1980s on-screen display, auto setup incorrectly diagnosed "crossing" of my center speaker connection, didn't like receiver's old school display, autocalibrates just ok

  Summary: Have tried 3 receivers over a month and a half in this order:
  Sony STR DG820 ($315),
  Yamaha RXV 565 ($420),
  Pioneer Elite VSX-03TXH ($599)
  
  Liked the looks of the ...

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  Summary: Have tried 3 receivers over a month and a half in this order:
  Sony STR DG820 ($315),
  Yamaha RXV 565 ($420),
  Pioneer Elite VSX-03TXH ($599)
  
  Liked the looks of the Sony, lot's of good features for the price, liked how music sounded especially each movie's soundtracks, DVDs looked great and sounded very clean, but autocalibrate didn't give very good surround sound results. Had to keep tweaking the surround speaker levels to get good sound and theres no EQ settings other than base and treble.
  
  Really wanted a Yamaha so got it next and noticed a slight fall off in the music quality for DVD scores and soundtracks, but a noticeable difference for the better in intital surround sound quality after autocalibrate. Still had to tweak quite a bit though to get good sounds and the voices sounded echoey. Suggestions were to try Small speakers instead of Large and for each improvement seems something else would not be quite right for me. I imagine I could keep tweaking and eventually get things to my liking. It does have full EQ settings for each channel which is nice. No Base or Treble setting from the remote that I could find - you have to push a button on the unit. Since I liked it better than the Sony though, I took the Sony back and picked up the Pioneer.
  
  Just to share my experience and since this is a review for the Yamaha, long story short I really liked the Pioneer a lot vs. the Yamaha and took the Yamaha back. It's a little apples vs. oranges since the Pio lists for $1000 but I picked it up for $599. The initial autocalibrate is very good and I haven't tweaked anything yet. The surround sound quality is great, it has zoning (not important to me but a bonus) and it really looks nice. Thing weighs 40 lbs vs. 18 for the Yammie. Sometimes ignorance is bliss and had I not tried the Pio, I would have been fine tweaking the Yamaha, but I would recommend spending a hundy or two more and get what I feel is the better unit in the Pioneer Elite if you can find it in the 599 range. Of course at that range you might open the doors to other receivers as well.
  
  I liked the Yamaha, but was never quite happy with the sound. Keep in mind too that I'm a newbie in the receiver world so it may be that I didn't know what I was doing. Again though, all the better for me to get the one that sounds good without constant retweaking. May not be a problem for you if you know what you are doing.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Great value for a 7.1 with 4 HDMI inputs.

  by BunkyJ on July 11, 2010

  Pros: Just discounted 50% at Best Buy, so for the price, I couldn't find anything else that even closely compared. 7.1 Surrounds sound with 4 HDMI inputs.

  Cons: Menu/setup display is basic to say the least. Reminds one of trying to set the time on an old VCR. Not the most powerful unit I've ever owned, but given the price, performs well.

  Summary: My Denon 4308 stopped working yesterday, so I'm sending it back in for a warranty repair. I wanted to pick up a cheaper replacement to use while my main ...

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  Summary: My Denon 4308 stopped working yesterday, so I'm sending it back in for a warranty repair. I wanted to pick up a cheaper replacement to use while my main unit is being repaired (3 to 4 weeks). I was pleasantly surprised to find the Yamaha 565 on deep discount due to a newer model coming out. It has performed well in testing and has me scratching my head as to why I originally paid 8 times the price for my Denon!

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• 8 stars

  value-for-money for a 7.1

  by donkuok on May 17, 2010

  Pros: Easy to setup.
  4 HDMI inputs
  7.1 speaker setup.
  Rich sound

  Cons: Upconversion of analog can be tricky especially component video.
  cheap look on-screen display.

• 10 stars

  Review or comparison?

  by caper26 on April 23, 2010

  Pros: Get what you pay for.
  Analog to digital conversion so that I only use ONE cable to TV
  4 HDMI inputs.
  Ample power
  Scene buttons (one-touch to turn on receiver-select input with desired decode/DSP program)

  Cons: No performance cons.
  As with ANY receiver these days, in depth knowledge is required to take advantage of features
  Cross assignment of inputs (this was fixed in firmware upgrade)
  Some translations of original Japanese manual don't make sense.

  Summary: I researched like CRAZY before I upgraded my old Kenwood HTiB. I had a set of requirements going into it: #1 was I only wanted 1 wire going to TV ...

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  Summary: I researched like CRAZY before I upgraded my old Kenwood HTiB. I had a set of requirements going into it: #1 was I only wanted 1 wire going to TV to eliminate TV Input switching. This included analog-digital conversion (ADC). I don't know what the reviewers were talking about when they said that this feature sucked. I use Wii component which gets converted to HDMI and it looks perfect to me. Another note about the review: The SCENE buttons have NOTHING to do with choosing DSP programs (which most of us don't use, some may). Quote from the review "which allow you to pick a preferred DSP (digital-sound processing) mode for specific listening scenarios" This is completely false as there is a different button for that (Movie/Music buttons) There are 4 SCENE buttons on the front (and the remote). For instance, I use the PS3 a lot for music/movies. It is on HDMI 2. Since I use it often, I program the first SCENE button to HDMI 2, which will remember what HDMI input to use AND which decoder (and.or DSP program). So, everything is off. I open my cabinet door (or pick up the remote) and press the first SCENE button, and the 565 turns on AND goes to PS3 input (HDMI 2), and goes to the decoder I programmed it to use...all with ONE button. You have 4 SCENE buttons. In essence, they are like "shortcuts". So continuing on, if I now want to play the Wii, I press SCENE 3, and it changes to the proper AV input (AV 2 in my case), along with the surround mode I programmed it to use. You still have the choice of using HDMI 1-4, or AV 1-6 buttons.
  Next I would like to comment on the comparison that was used to another amp. This is clearly OPINION and should be taken with a grain of salt. There are a million factors that can go wrong here. I could take that AVR and make it sound worse than the 565 just by selecting different sound fields, or decoders (Direct for instance). Don't listen to these sorts of statements as there is no proof (scientific or otherwise) that proves one amp "sounds better" than another. Way too many conditions to consider. The 565 sounds great (my opinion), but again, you have to know how to set it up, and as with any system, you need decent speakers....a great receiver with crappy speakers will give crappy sound. I have Energy Left/Right/Center, and a Monitor Audio sub, and crappy satellite surround/surround-back.
  Now on to the YPAO (the automatic setup). Yes this may incorrectly identify speaker's phase, but they TELL you this may happen, and if you are sure your speakers are wired right, to ignore it. It uses a mic, so sonically is may "sound" out of phase to the test. I ran the test several times, with different sub volumes, and with different test modes (flat/front/natural). Only when I ignored Yamaha's suggestion for sub settings, did it report so, and correctly at that. (too low/too high) Not once did it suggest an exaggerated crossover (always used 80 Hz for me...Main speakers rated to 60 Hz so this was acceptable). When I used correct settings, I had no sub warnings.
  ABout the satellite radio feature "One surprise is that the RX-V565BL lacks any built-in support for satellite radio, so you'll need a separate outboard tuner if you are a subscriber." That was no surprise as it SAID SO in the spec sheet. That is like saying it also doesn't do X, Y, or Z that a $2000 receiver does...well DUUH! They told you that! If you want that, buy the 665!! Same thing goes for the Zone 2 capability. It's not an option, so why bring it? Are you reviewing what the receiver does or does not? Of course it doesn't do what the 665 does, that's why there is another model.
  I do admit I haven't tested to ADC extensively as I only have the Wii connected at the moment.
  This receiver does have a problem with the specs if you are so inclined in the that they only rate it at 90 W @ 1 kHz, instead of 20 Hz - 20 kHz. The volume goes to +16.5 dB and you would be hard pressed to stay in the room with rock music playing at -20 to -15 dB, without perhaps starting to hurt your ears. remember that it is nearly twice as loud when you increase about 3 dB (some say 6).
  Final thoughts: For an entry level receiver, I am totally satisfied with this unit. If you are an audiophile, you aren't even reading this review in the first place, nor would you be purchasing it. Ample power, great sound, great connectivity. That's my 2 cents. Cheers.

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• 8 stars

  Solid Value

  by Lizadman on April 14, 2009

  Pros: Great connectivity, easy setup, on-screen display (at least it has it), great sound and great price.

  Cons: 1980s on-screen display, auto setup tends to incorrectly diagnose "crossing" of speaker connections (not that big a deal)

  Summary: I'm a newbie to the home theater system scene, but am pretty familiar with electronic equipment overall and wanted a system that performs well without breaking the bank. I ...

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  Summary: I'm a newbie to the home theater system scene, but am pretty familiar with electronic equipment overall and wanted a system that performs well without breaking the bank. I bought the 565 on Newegg for $380 and am so far happy with my purchase. After extensive research, I couldn't find a better combination of price and feature set from a top flight manufacturer. Connectivity is great, although the lack of an S-video connection was a minor speed bump in the install. Didn't list it as a con because I know I'm probably one of three people still using an S-Video connection. Luckily I had a component cable laying around to substitute. Video quality is good, I couldn't detect any deterioration. I haven't yet tested the up-conversion capability though. The back panel layout is logical and easy to navigate. The on screen display is nice to have, but looks like something from an old VCR. At this price point I can live with that. The setup function is great and allows good tweaking of the output, which I was pleased to see. Personally, I found the auto-setup function a little skimpy with the bass output and surround effects, both of which I could increase to match my preference. There's also a good variety of equalizer presets and decoding options. The on screen display made the setup very easy, I honestly wouldn't want to not have it. Note: the auto calibration repeatedly generated an error message saying I crossed the speaker wires (which I read in other reviews). The manual simply directs you to ignore the warning if you're confident in your install. Inputs re-labeled to my satisfaction and I'm good to go. I paired these with a set of Onkyo HT540s and the package sounds great. Full, clear sound quality even at low volume. At 90 watts/channel, there's enough power to wake the neighbors. There's also a pre-out for those that need to amp up and induce mild earthquakes. TV, DVDs and music sound equally great. Keep in mind, though, not much seems to be coded for 7.1 surround. The remote, though ok for the receiver, is pretty useless as a universal, but that's typical I guess. Overall, this is a solid receiver with great features and great sound. And, for the receiver and speakers I'm all-in for $580, can't argue with that.

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