Denon AVR-887 / AVR-2307CI Questions

Sansui
Sansui Posts: 372
edited March 2007 in Electronics
I'm toying with buying a AVR2307CI for under $500.00 which has been refurbished. This comes from a Denon authorized dealer. I can't really afford either a new 887 much less a new 2307CI and I've noticed a couple of differences.

Are refurbished items reliable for longer than the warranty period? How come a refurbished unit is only warranted for 90 days but a new one is warranted for 2 years? I assume that coming from an authorized dealer that it was refurbished by a "factory" authorized tech. Don't they trust their own repairs or equipment? What have been your experiences with refurbished AVRs (especially Denon ones)?

I only noticed three differences in the detailed stats:

The 887 has "Pre-outs for Multi-Zone 5.1 + 2 Mode" and the 2307CI only has them for "Multi-Zone" only. I don't plan to use this unit for music (2 Mode?), just TV and movie viewing. At a later date I plan to go to HDTV (which I know nothing about yet). It appears like this unit handle HDTV but will it handle a regular TV and the DVD player like my Onkyo TX-SR304 does now?

The other difference I noticed is that 887 can't handle "RS-232 Port - Third party remote controllers" but the 2037CI can. What are "RS-232 Port - Third party remote controllers"? Examples please?

This has "CI" (Custom Integration). Am I supposed to be impressed with this "feature"? If so, why?
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