Some basic setup questions on Denon AV receiver

[eganders]

If anyone out there has a Denon AVR-687, I hope you can help me with a
few things.

1. I went through the audio setup (actually, blundered through it).
Is it possible to display the setup on the monitor? Can you lead me
through the actual setup using one of the diagrams in the manual or a
button description?

2. Can the unit display any information on the monitor such as the
volume level and other prompts?

3. Is there any place to obtain Denon specific information on the
internet other than the Denon website?

4. How much better would it be to use the digital coax/optical audio
connections than the standard line connections? I have the DVD
recorder in the main path from the cable box to the receiver and it
does not have passthrough digital audio.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Mark D. Zacharias]

eganders wrote:
> If anyone out there has a Denon AVR-687, I hope you can help me with a
> few things.
>
> 1. I went through the audio setup (actually, blundered through it).
> Is it possible to display the setup on the monitor? Can you lead me
> through the actual setup using one of the diagrams in the manual or a
> button description?

Should be able to see setup menu etc via the regular (composite) video
output, quite possibly not the others (HDMI, for example). This is a generic
statement, though. Many receivers are this way, though.

>
> 2. Can the unit display any information on the monitor such as the
> volume level and other prompts?
>

Probably - most Denon's do.

> 3. Is there any place to obtain Denon specific information on the
> internet other than the Denon website?
>
> 4. How much better would it be to use the digital coax/optical audio
> connections than the standard line connections? I have the DVD
> recorder in the main path from the cable box to the receiver and it
> does not have passthrough digital audio.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.

The digital inputs are going to be MUCH more desirable for movies and any
other source which has discrete surround channels. As it is about the best
you can do using standard stereo 2-channel output from the recorder is Dolby
Pro-Logic, which is late-80's technology.
If the DVD recorder has discrete 5.1 audio outputs you could use those going
over to the 5.1 channel analog inputs on the receiver.

Mark Z.