It is definitely designed to be primarily used with full HD equipment or that the very least with HDMI enabled components. It comes with five HDMI ports but also has Component, Composite and S-Video as well. It also has connection for the optional iPod dock so you can play your music directly from your MP3 player.
The rear has a plethora of connections. Whether you have a 5.1 or 7.1 system, each speaker port is labelled so setting up the receiver doesn't require a PhD. The on-screen menu will also help quite a bit in the placement of speakers in the room and you can choose whether the front speakers are ground or height mounted so the best sound possible is achieved. The receiver comes with a microphone which, when connected, is used to precisely calibrate the output of each speaker so that the surround effect is optimal for your home theatre environment.
The microphone is positioned in six different listening positions in the room, as laid out in the manual, and measurements are taken. The receiver then uses an algorithm to balance the speakers. The process is very simple and easy to follow although it is quite tedious to set up.
Unlike simple surround sound receivers, the AV3310 works best when used for both audio and video connections. It can upscale standard resolution analogue signals, making the images look quite impressive. Obviously, running a Blu-ray will look better but if you have a massive DVD collection, it's good to know it won't go to waste. The
Denon also has its own on-screen menu too making configuration a breeze.
The sound quality is excellent. We didn't test with high end speakers, unfortunately, but it was still remarkable. The audio we pumped into it all sounded accurate without any fidelity loss. We tested with a 5.1 set up and a 7.1 and found that the system performed well when playing back in 5.1. The 7.1 sounded better but if you only have a 5.1 speaker set up, this receiver will still sound quite good. We definitely recommend you take advantage of the audio calibration microphone when setting up though as it makes a huge difference.
