Yamaha RX-V381BL Receiver (Black)

This review is aimed at game console users looking for 4k and HDR passthrough. This is a great unit with lots of features for the price. But in order to use HDR, you will need to go into the Advanced Settings menu (accessible by turning on the unit while holding the Straight button on the front) and then manually selecting 4K Mode 1. The unit defaults to Mode 2, which passes 4K but not HDR. I'm using an Xbox one s and can pass through 4k @ 60hz with HDR to my TV, and have not detected any input lag through the receiver. I have not done any detailed testing for lag, but the receiver has enough modes that I'm sure there is a combo that will remove the majority of it. Overall the sound is great. I'm a videophile vs an audiophile, but this is an audio improvement over my old pioneer unit. Would certainly recommend for 4k gaming.Update as of August 2019-The only frustrating thing with this receiver is the menus. It will do basically anything you want it to, but you have to find it by crawling through some dense menus. I recently learned how to use the ARC (audio return cable) functionality. I'm running my xbox one x to a samsung tv (ks8000) and then running the tv to this receiver. This lets me use video from the xbox and send sound on to the receiver. To make this work, you need to either use an optical audio (toslink) cable between receiver and tv or you need to plug one end of your hdmi cable into the labeled ARC port on your tv and the other end into the output port on the receiver (which seems backwards, but works). Then set the receiver to hdmi control on. Then set your tv to output via hdmi/receiver instead of its speakers. Then back to receiver to set ARC on in the hdmi menu. The receiver should be set to AV2 as default sound from tv. Finally you need to hit the straight button and cycle through the scenes to get to 5 channel if you want surround sound to work. Otherwise you end up with not all speakers outputting. Simple, right? :)

Pretty good little receiver. Overall sound output is great for movies, my older Denon AVR-3803 sounded better while playing music but movies I believe is this receivers bread and butter. Dialogue from the center channel is very crisp and clear while my older receiver had to be turned up to hear certain scenes. I also purchased this unit because my older receiver did not have HDMI inputs, this one has four which all support 4K and HDR. Would recommend!

Since being converted to a sound bar guy I thought the true surround sound home theater setup was a thing of the past for me. However, I ended up upgrading the TV to a 4k UHD Vizio, and moving into a home that the previous owners were kind enough, to our surprise, leave behind their 5.1 Polk Speakers - without subwoofer. So I started researching receivers that would support multiple 4K devices, and wasn't too expensive in case the speakers left behind didn't work. Not a practicing gamer, for now, since I traded in the PS for a acoustic guitar.Here's my setup:1. Vizio 4K UHD2. TiVo Bolt (4K)3. Amazon Fire TV (4K)4. Chromecast Dongle5. Surround Speakers (Polk)I settled on this unit because of a review I had read that pointed out that NOT ALL receivers claiming to be HDCP 2.2 capable were actually HDCP 2.2 capable ON ALL AVAILABLE HDMI INTERFACES BUT ONLY THE FIRST PORT. In case you are like me at the time and do not know what that means, it means that with HDCP 2.2 capable interfaces you are able to pass-through 4K programming. BIG gotcha! And some of these claiming to be HDCP capable receivers were more expensive.This unit claimed to be capable on ALL 4 HDMI INTERFACES. Important to me because my setup above included more than just a single 4k capable device, and it is Bluetooth capable to boot. For the money it was worth a shot. If it didn;t work out, I'd put it out in the garage and go back to the sound bar. Well it worked out, and I couldn;t be happier.Setup was easy using the built-in Yamaha YPAO, and all the connected devices were autodetected. So no need to fiddle with the speaker settings. Just sit the optimiser in the specified location and hit a button. And, no need to manually enter a lable name for the input sources as they were all autodetected and named for me, except for the chromecast dongle.And with the Bluetooth now my portable speakers can be used how they were meant to be used. Out and about, not in the home.I am extremely happy with this purchase and would recommend it to anyone who asked. Sorry sound bar! It's kind of cool having to look to your left our right because you think someone is there. Especially when watching horror flicks with the wife and kids. Muwahahaha!BTW - the Polk speakers worked to perfection with this receiver. And the optimiser/configuration made me forget that I didn't have a sub-woofer.

An overall very good amp for the price. I enjoy the sound effects and Bluetooth.

Fantastic product, is even able to stream Bluetooth audio while using any other video output!

A+++++