Pioneer Elite VSX-44 7.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver with HDMI 2.0

Receiver was an excellent receiver would buy again

Horrible product and worse customer service. Do not buy from this company. Better receivers are available for less money that come internet and bluetooth ready.I have now had 2 of these and both are being returned. Takes forever to set up, it randomly turns off and on, randomly switches on its on from cable to TV settings, etc. Horrible.This time around, after watching Netflix fine with sound, etc. last night, I come home and it will not play anything. No Playstation 3, no Satellite, nothing. I see on the front the HDMI is flashing. So I disconnect everything and reconnect them all. Nothing. Still flashing.I call to get some help from Pioneer. After 15 minutes on hold the guy tells me it sounds like the HDMI board is out. I ask him how this is possible for an HDMI board to be out after 30 days with minimal use. I then tried to discuss the problem with him to attempt to fix it and he just says I will put you in touch with customer service and puts me back on hold mid sentence. I was with technical support for a total of 1 minute.After being on hold again for a long period of time, Ashley gets on the phone to tell me I have to disconnect it all (again) and drive 30+ miles to drop it off at some camera shop. After a discussion about my prior experience with the Tech guy not giving me any answers I asked her if she could help figure it out. She just continued to tell me to take it to the Camera shop, it cannot be returned just fixed after 30 days of ownership and I am stuck doing it all. She then hung up the phone on me when I asked to speak to someone with management experience. She also stated during this conversation that there was ONE manager that worked in the entire Pioneer electronics division and he was in meetings.Just save the hassle and your hard earned money and go somewhere else. This place and product is garbage.

I've had mine for 24 hours so far. After initial setup and calibration, I was watching The Avengers on my Smart TV's Amazon prime video app when suddenly the sound cut out from the receiver. I double checked the ARC settings for both my TV and receiver, made sure the HDMI cable used supported ARC, recycled the power by front switch, all of which seemed properly setup. Eventually I found a forum where someone with similar issues on an older Pioneer receiver resolved it by pulling the power plug and waiting 10 seconds to power back on whereby it would begin working again. Yup, that fixed it. If I recall that was a VSX-1020, a few year older version than this receiver; funny Pioneer never resolved that issue in later versions.On to the Pandora features, I have a wired house with gigabit connection, fiber internet, and a top of the line Linksys WRT-1900AC router. My entertainment center has an 8 port gigabit switch connected to my game consoles, this receiver, and a htpc. All network patch cables I've made myself to ensure a proper, clean length, as well as tested with a cable tester. All my av gear is hooked up to a Furman power conditioner as well. For some reason, this receiver plays music by pandora for one or two songs at best, then just locks up. The only way to get any response is to power this off, then back on again.Pioneer currently has no firmware updates for this receiver making it too buggy to recommend at this time. If you want a receiver for just the receiver function, this will do the job. As for their advertised web apps such as pandora and internet radio, that's a failure.The OSD user interface looks identical to a pioneer receiver I used in 1998. Horrible SD resolution black with white text w/ aliasing, cluttered remote that's poorly labeled in blue font that's invisible in dim lighting.One plus, the IOS and android remote app is a good overall touch, it prevented me from having to use the abysmal included remote for most tasks, therefore I'll give this 2 stars for that. As for the sound quality, it's pretty average. Honestly, from my experiences with Onkyo, Denon, and Yamaha receivers, it's the worst I've used so far. I'm inclined to disconnect this and return it. I'm just dreading the idea of dealing with wiring again since I've spent a good part of yesterday afternoon making it all nice and neat....

I am not a techie, not a sound hobbyist so take this has a typical consumers POV.I replaced a 15 year old Harmon Kardon receiver which was nice at some point. It didnt have an on TV display navigation , so there has been some progress in the last few years. My question is why in the world would I want to suffer through the ugly and clumsy navigation screens this receiver has? Ive read it is a problem in the industry as a whole and not specific to this brand or model. It was really frustrating to deal with the interface.My second issue was how the network connects. Why wont it just look for a connection like a tablet or a phone or a computer will? I was unable to figure out how to connect it wirelessly even though the settings in my router was set appropriately. But thank you pioneer for making me dig through my closet to find my router login information. Much appreciated. I connected it via hardline and it works.Pandora suffers from the same horrendous on screen display. Why? How much is it to code a nice screen?My other question is who in the world uses all the different settings and options that come with these things? Do I need to take a course as MIT to know how to use an A/V receiver?That out of the way - the system did come together fairly easily. I really like the labeling on the HDMI ports. The speaker calibration was a nice touch, but I didnt notice much difference after.The sound is extremely crisp and it "hits hard" if you know what I mean by that. My older receiver would play a more dull or muddy sound. It didnt have HDMI ports maybe?The app for my phone is really nice, and functional! I wish the remote was as functional as the app. total button chaos as is typical. Back lit buttons would have been very nice.Overall this receiver is nice. It plays fantastic sound but is not up to todays display standards, or ease of use. I would have purchased a receiver that was $300 more money if it had an HD display that was as sleek as a modern TV menu.