Denon AVR-4308CI A/V Receiver:
User Interface User Interface
As much as I have always loved Denon's AVRs, I've never been a big fan of their remotes, which seem to have gotten worse every year. The main remote supplied with the AVR-4308CI is no exception. It fits nicely in the hand with "hard" buttons on the lower half, but I don't care for the upper half, which is a backlit touchscreen. There is no tactile feel in that part of the remote, and I couldn't feel if the button I was pushing was actually being activated. I was very glad to switch to my Universal Remote Control MX-700, because I was able to quickly download the proper codes into it and rid myself of the Denon's remote.

Also supplied with the AVR-4308CI is a "sub remote" that can be used in the main zone as well as in remote zones. This remote doesn't fall into the "universal" category, but I found it easier to control the AVR in the main zone with this remote than the main remote.

The front-panel display is easy to read at a distance, and several buttons provide useful functions. For example, you can enable or disable Zone 2, 3, and/or 4, and three "quick select" buttons let you quickly jump to preset inputs. A section of the front panel flips down to reveal more controls as well as a headphone jack, easy-access input, and the setup mic jack for the Audyssey MultEQ XT.

This year's AVRs from Denon sport a new GUI (graphical user interface) that is displayed on the TV screen. Unlike many AVRs, the AVR-4308CI displays the GUI via HDMI, which means you don't have to connect an S-video or composite output from the AVR to the TV and switch to that input just to see the GUI.

In the past, the onscreen menu system resembled a DOS text-based system; now it looks like a Windows or Mac environment. Twenty-three pages of the user manual (out of 90 total pages) are dedicated to explaining how to set up and use the AVR with the new GUI. Fortunately, it is so intuitive that diving into the manual is only necessary to find the specific location of a setting you are looking for.

The GUI let me easily assign all my sources to their proper inputs and name the inputs correspondingly. I was able to do this in mere minutes with little to no hassle.