Home > Consumer Reviews > Denon AVR-888 7.1-Channel/5.1+2-Channel Independent Zone Home Theater Receiver with HDMI I/O and Serial I/R Control (Black)

I love this receiver and give it a 5star because right now it's very cheap to get ahold of. Less than $400 is a bargain. Do the research on this and compare to others at the same price and you'll agree. Some reviews say it's difficult to setup and for an hour i agreed. After figuring out that i couldn't use an analog signal for audio with the digital video and plugging in optical rather than the white/red cables that come with component this thing sparkled. It replaced an older Kenwood that I paid about $500 for several years back and the sound difference was amazing. Everything is so clear and the darn thing is smart. After going through the auto setup the receiver knew exactly where and when to play certain noises. It's so easy too once you get the hang of it. I recommend using component to perform setup because it gives the full menu on your TV screen...other wise you have to guess on it's little display to move up or down, which isn't obvious. The menu is a little vague but people who have played with these things will catch on quick. The remote is a little wierd but works fine if you look at the directions. This previous year model doesn't come with the new hd converters but most newer hd equipment have their own. Comparing to the Onkyo versions such as the new 606, this has great video quality. Colors come out great. Plug everything in correctly, and it's labeled pretty clearly, run the auto setup, and sit back and enjoy. The easiest way is to use HDMI and then you don't run into my digital/analog problem but if you use component cables, remember to use an optical cable or coax for audio. This lets you assign any input to any device....that's great if you ask me. Doing this you don't have to worry about which port you plug into, just change it however you want. There's plenty of inputs for everything

Seems like this could be a kick a@@ system, but I have been having a problem since we brought this home - surround sound cuts out randomly - have tried switching from analog to Digital Coax this did not fix the problem - receiver says H/P on when it cuts out and H/P off when it goes back on....

I have called Denon cust svc 3 times with an average wait time of 1 hour and 20 minutes each time (I am currently on hold @ 56 minutes with 4 calls ahead of me.... Q started @ 14 calls ahead

This sucks

My old Yamaha receiver finally died on me and I needed a replacement. I wanted something that I could grow into and the Denon AVR-888 seemed to fit my criteria. First of all, it is one of the only home theater receivers with a phono input (which may not matter to most people).
The setup only took about 15 minutes and the sound is incredible. The manual is pretty poor, but with a little bit of patience, it can be figured out.
My home theater consists of the following:
Denon AVR-888 Receiver
Hitachi 51G500 Rear projection TV
Mitsubishi HD1000 Projector with 106" pull-down screen
Panasonic DVD player (cheap)
Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR
Vista Media Center PC
Hauppauge HD PVR
Technics Turntable (from 1982)
Wii
Speakers: Front and center are small Yamaha speakers that came with my last receiver. Surround speakers are Proficient Audio 6" in-wall speakers.
All video signals are running through a component video switch and into the Denon (except for the pc which uses DVI direct to the tv or HDMI to the projector). The picture is crisp with no degradation.
The sound from this unit is nothing short of amazing. I can't wait until I wire up my rear surround speakers for 7.1 surround.
If you're in need of a high quality, low cost receiver, buy the Denon AVR-888. You won't be disappointed.

Reviews on other sites lauded the build quality and quality of the power this unit puts out but warned about a shoddy manual and remote control. Those comments were right on both counts, but understated how difficult it is to program this this unit due to the manual and remote, which are both POS.

My wife, a geek who maintains our networked, 1-Mac, 2-PC household (and built one of them), built her own DVR, and programmed our Harmony remote, is stumped by this equipment, able only to grasp the basic functionality. She's spent 8 hours so far searching for information to supplement the manual, which incorrectly describes many controls on the remote, which itself seems defective.

We can watch our DVDs and listen (with Belkin dock) to one of our iPods through the receiver (the 2nd generation (before click wheels were used), but we can't take figure out how to take advantage of the many advanced features listed in the documentation because it's so bad.

In addition, the user interface on the front of the unit is screwy. For example, the default volume display goes from -100 dB to 0 dB, with 0 being the *maximum*. If there's an alternative way to display the volume, we haven't figured it out. For another example, to play music on the ipod, you have to flip the remote over, open the back, and press a special button to switch the surround sound mode to -- get this -- "DTS Neo:6." How much more convoluted could that get?

The AVR 888 and its kissing cousin 2803CI, could have been outstanding units, if Denon had spent a few bucks more to get the user experience right. As it stands, though, stay away from both these units.

Best Receiver in terms of price verses quality available today. Outperforms all Onkyo and Yamaha Receivers I have owned and fairly easy to set up, make all connections and follow the Onscreen setup menu, get to the manual for tweeking later. Gobs of power and sound quality is superb in terms of neutrality and seperation. Amazon price is unbeatable and great customer service as well!