Pioneer VSX-92TXH Receiver

Excellent, but a Couple of Disappointments

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Mar 2, 2008 | 4 out of 5 found this Pioneer VSX-92TXH review helpful

Pros: Gorgeous sound, lots of composite video inputs, plus HDTV capability

Cons: Difficult user manual, video converter defective, warranty uncertain

The sound is gorgeous on this unit, even though I only have two speakers. Counting the front panel, it has seven composite video inputs, which is useful if you have a lot of older equipment that you still want to use. (It also has HDMI and component ...video inputs for HDTV users, just not as many.) One disappointment is that my unit had an annoying flickering on both the composite and S-video outputs until I turned off the video converter feature. (It looks similar to "hum bars" drifting through the picture at varying speeds.) Perhaps this is related to this peculiar note from the user manual: "For optimal video performance, THX recommends switching Digital Video Conversion (in Setting the Video options on page 72) OFF." (The video converter apparently only provides upconversion, not downconversion, by the way.) Speaking of the manual, it is very difficult reading. There are many features that require careful study, and sometimes experiementation, to figure out what they are trying to say. Another disappointment is that the Pioneer Web site claims that the unit comes with a two year warranty, but after you buy the unit and open the box, you find out that the warranty document says it is not valid if the product was purchased from an unauthorized distributor. I haven't been able to find any mention of this little "gotcha" on their Web site. Even if it were mentioned, how is the consumer supposed to know who is an authorized distributor and who isn't? It seems like a shoddy business practice to me. I tried calling their support line and I still don't know whether I have a valid warranty. Read more Less