Specific questions for UMC-1 Owners

[0pter0n]

hi,

As I sit here reading the forum threads and waiting for my number to come up, a few questions have come to mind for those of you who have gotten yours:

1. Is the audio output for surround modes with your speakers materially superior to what you previously owned or expected? (I do not need to question the 2-channel capability.)

2. Is the video processing output materially superior to what you previously owned or expected?

3. Specific glitches aside, such as Emo-Q or the 480i - 480p functionality question, are the configuration options materially superior in both setting and results to what you previously owned or expected?

I am taking into account the varying levels of system configurations and demands among forum participants and hope to get some input from the variety of experiences you all have had.

Thanks very much.

[goodwinaj]

1. Yes/No Outlaw 990 Sounded Just as Good but no new formats.
2. Yes
3. Yes

[wizardofoz]

(Soon to be replaced Energy Pig) What is this Energy Pig?

[jmilton]

Feb 22, 2010 12:08:35 GMT -5 wizardofoz said:

(Soon to be replaced Energy Pig) What is this Energy Pig?

We use these all of the time, here in the States!

[regulator]

I am replacing a Marantz Sr6003

1. No - Audio is great, but did not blow the Marantz out. Comparable
2. No- Same, video is good, but it was good with the Marantz too.
3. Yes- the flexibilty is much more than the Marantz, you can tweak the settings a lot. It's a very nice feature
No real difference in quality, audio or video wise. So far even with the upgrades my old Marantz AVR is the winner here. It just worked out of the box, no firmware updates needed.
The UMC has the upgrade, but it has had issues with drop outs, OSD disappearing suddenly,
problems turning off completely/trigger issues. Nothing major, just usually have to reset or turn on/off again. I never had these issues with the Marantz.
To make it worse, and this is only for me, I got a bad remote - did not work at all.
I also have a USP-1 and the remote codes for that unit and the UMC have not been fixed. Annoying to say the least. Otherwise, it's a pretty nice processor.

[stormchaser]

Replacing a Denon AVR 2107.

1. Yes!/Yes! I spent a few hours last night listening to Beck's Sea Change DVD-A, Beatles' Love DVD-A, and MoFi Holst's the Planets SACD. Blown away on all of them. Much more detail and overall power than formerly.

2. Not really noticing a significant improvement.

3. Yes. While Emo-Q has some issues, the manual settings menu is extensive. The one glitch with some settings not being saved will hopfeully be addressed.

The bottom line for me is that the sound quality is very much worth being patient for a few bugs to get worked out.

[goodwinaj]

Feb 22, 2010 12:08:35 GMT -5 wizardofoz said:

(Soon to be replaced Energy Pig) What is this Energy Pig?

The Apple TV. Its on all the time like a DVR, hard drive always spinning even when in "standby". Hot to the touch etc.

[dfdo]

1. Yes. Replaced an Outlaw 950. Has a B&K before than. Also sounds better than Denon 890.

2. Not really. I'm using pass through. My Pioneer BDP-51FD does a slightly better job with DVDs. Also I think any Blu-ray player with ABT chipset might do a better job than the UMC-1.

3. Yes. Emo-Q has some issues. Therefore, I have resorted to manual configuration.

[kt10r]

One of the things ive been wondering is with all the people saying the umc sounds better or worse than other receivers is are they comparing the sound with any type of eq or room correction on? Seems like the only way to tell if one sounds that much better is if they were listened to with equal settings. Ie flat eq and no room correction applied. Its not hard at all to boost eq bands just a touch and make things sound better or different. The only way i can see anybody saying it sounds "better" is if they hooked it up like a preamp for music. "usp style" Im waiting for someone like ntrain to do a not so biased review. These are just some of the thoughts that have been going though my mind and am in no way saying anybodies opinions are wrong or anything.

[snodog]

1. Yes and no, my old units were Marantz SR 6200 which it blows away and the outlaw 970 which sounded pretty darn good too BUT no modern HDMI inputs. Good point Goodwinaj.
2. Cant really say other than TrueHD to which Id say yes but that is also the audio recording lossless too.
3. Yes by far, you can actually adjust the sound to your liking.

[hemster]

...the UMC is just bug ridden.

The UMC is just a mess.

Wow!... As a current UMC-1 owner I couldn't disagree more. Sure the unit is not 100% perfect (what unit is?) but it is certainly an excellent processor, especially for the money.

Emotiva have issued a firmware upgrade resolving some issues. They are working on isolating and reproducing other issues which will be addressed in due course.

Remember that usually only those having trouble would post and most happy customers do not bother posting.

[hemster]

Answering the OP's questions:

1. Yes. I had the Marantz 5003 receiver which had very good sound and all the latest codecs. The UMC sounds a better.

2. Haven't really decided between the video processing on the UMC or the Oppo BDP-83 yet. Need to spend more time comparing the two.

3. UMC has lots of config options which is a good thing and allow tailoring to your specific environment (e.g. being able to set EQ per input and assign multiple sources to the same input etc.)

No regrets here and I have confidence that Emotiva will resolve the real issues reported.

[0pter0n]

I don't mean to shut off anyone who wants to post their findings, but I feel obliged to acknowledge those who so far have done so.

Given the intensity of these forums discussions, as well as some surprisingly strong negative accusations against Emotiva, I want to try to maintain a realistic perspective on the UMC-1. This is one way to do that.

Thanks.

[flamingeye]

This is just my opinion ,but of course your going to see strong negative accusations against Emotiva there are some very high priced competitors out there with a strong fallowing that would love to see Emotiva fail that way they can justify there high pricing and there followers are vindicated in there perches.

[nickwin]

Feb 22, 2010 10:42:18 GMT -5 0pter0n said:

3. Specific glitches aside, such as Emo-Q or the 480i - 480p functionality question, are the configuration options materially superior in both setting and results to what you previously owned or expected?

Could someone fill me in on what the 480i/p issue is? I keep seeing it come up, but I cant find specifically what the issue is.

[DYohn]

Feb 23, 2010 17:45:33 GMT -5 nickwin said:

Feb 22, 2010 10:42:18 GMT -5 0pter0n said:

3. Specific glitches aside, such as Emo-Q or the 480i - 480p functionality question, are the configuration options materially superior in both setting and results to what you previously owned or expected?

Could someone fill me in on what the 480i/p issue is? I keep seeing it come up, but I cant find specifically what the issue is.

It's really not an issue at all. it's a design decision made by Emotiva. The UMC-1 does not pass through 480i signals. The lowest resolution it will output is 480p since it is an ATSC device. So, if you use an old CRT display that is only capable of NTSC broadcast images, you may be in trouble.

As an aside, the UMC-1 will accept a 480i signal and upscale it to whatever resolution you want, and the only source for 480i that currently exists in the US is old RF modulated DVD players and VHS machines. There may still be some NTSC broadcasting happening in Japan that I'm not aware of... and as far as I know all modern DVD and Blu Ray players up-scale the old 480i DVDs to at least 480p so I'm not sure why this is even being discussed.

[nickwin]

Feb 23, 2010 18:09:53 GMT -5 DYohn said:

Feb 23, 2010 17:45:33 GMT -5 nickwin said:

Could someone fill me in on what the 480i/p issue is? I keep seeing it come up, but I cant find specifically what the issue is.

It's really not an issue at all. it's a design decision made by Emotiva. The UMC-1 does not pass through 480i signals. The lowest resolution is will output is 480p since it is an ATSC device. So, if you use an old CRT display that is only capable of NTSC broadcast images, you may be in trouble.

thanks dyohn ;D. I've got an old 480p projector and I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have any issues with it.

[owtuv]

Feb 23, 2010 18:09:53 GMT -5 DYohn said:

Feb 23, 2010 17:45:33 GMT -5 nickwin said:

Could someone fill me in on what the 480i/p issue is? I keep seeing it come up, but I cant find specifically what the issue is.

It's really not an issue at all. it's a design decision made by Emotiva. The UMC-1 does not pass through 480i signals. The lowest resolution it will output is 480p since it is an ATSC device. So, if you use an old CRT display that is only capable of NTSC broadcast images, you may be in trouble.

Not an issue at all? What you seem to miss is that not being able to pass through native SD resolution, i.e. NTSC 480i and PAL 576i, is a MAJOR LIMITATION of the UMC-1 video system/implementation and a serious DEAL BREAKER for those of us who are looking for an upgrade of our current processor/AVR, but really want to pass through an unmolested video signal to take advantage of our current video processor (dedicated VP, BDP video chip or TV/monitor video system).

This LIMITATION is what makes the UMC a useless toy to me and I also fear that the XMC will have the same design limitation. BTW, I´ve repeatedly asked Lonnie to confirm whether or not this is the case, but his SILENCE does tell me this is probably and sadly the reality.

Best regards,
Ole Willy Tuv

[hikinokie]

Feb 23, 2010 16:40:55 GMT -5 flamingeye said:

This is just my opinion ,but of course your going to see strong negative accusations against Emotiva there are some very high priced competitors out there with a strong fallowing that would love to see Emotiva fail that way they can justify there high pricing and there followers are vindicated in there perches.

Want to see strong negative accusations? Check out the Emo thread at AVS Forums.

[DYohn]

Feb 23, 2010 18:47:06 GMT -5 owtuv said:

Feb 23, 2010 18:09:53 GMT -5 DYohn said:

It's really not an issue at all. it's a design decision made by Emotiva. The UMC-1 does not pass through 480i signals. The lowest resolution it will output is 480p since it is an ATSC device. So, if you use an old CRT display that is only capable of NTSC broadcast images, you may be in trouble.

Not an issue at all? What you seem to miss is that not being able to pass through native SD resolution, i.e. NTSC 480i and PAL 576i, is a MAJOR LIMITATION of the UMC-1 video system/implementation and a serious DEAL BREAKER for those of us who are looking for an upgrade of our current processor/AVR, but really want to pass through an unmolested video signal to take advantage of our current video processor (dedicated VP, BDP video chip or TV/monitor video system).

This LIMITATION is what makes the UMC a useless toy to me and I also fear that the XMC will have the same design limitation. BTW, I´ve repeatedly asked Lonnie to confirm whether or not this is the case, but his SILENCE does tell me this is probably and sadly the reality.

Best regards,
Ole Willy Tuv

Like I said, it's not an issue. It is nothing that is wrong with the device. It's a design decision to not support 480i pass through. If it means it does not suit your needs, so be it, but it is not any sort of defect or failure, it's just leaving folks who want this behind. C'est la vie.