So I received my AZ3000es yesterday as well and I completely agree with you. I had all kinds of issues. I currently have a new Yamaha RX-A6A that I have 2 more days to return if I want. After setting up the AZ3000es, had the same "black screen" issue where unit turns on but it just shows a black screen saying game. No auto set up like other receivers. So I press home and scroll thorough the settings just to see what's there before running auto calibration. First problem I saw was that "ZONE 2 is enabled and powered on out of the box". That made no sense to me at all. Turned that off and started watching tv. Sound was horrible. Sounded badly muffled and like the bass was completely maxed out. Then I did auto calibration. Went through with no errors. Completed the process and selected engineering type and saved. Started watching tv again. Still sounded really bad. Went in to settings to see what auto cal did and there's nothing there. So i redid calibration, same thing nothing there. I factory reset unit, powered off and redid. Same thing. Auto cal says it's saved and unit is calibrated but when you go into settings or try to use some features, it says you need to run auto cal. Now i call Sony. After an hour on the phone with the tech, he says I'm not sure what's going on it's definitely not correct. So he sends me to the higher support that handles just ES receivers. I tell him what's going on and he says wait, you have a new AZ ES receiver? Are you a dealer? I say no, I'm a regular customer. I told him i pre ordered on Sony website and received today. He says, that he's shocked i had it and that Sony tech support and dealers don't even have them yet and that they aren't being released yet for 2 more weeks. So he ran the the set up and some other things, did confirm that the unit is indeed not working properly. He did say again, that I shouldn't have the unit yet because they have not been released yet and as of right now there is no tech support for them yet and the Sony techs have not evaluated the units for real world issues yet. So unfortunately I will be returning the unit because there's clearly massive software and possible hardware issues with no time frame for a fix. If I hold on to the unit and wait for a fix, I'd miss the return window. Sony tech said they aren't being shipped to dealers until at least March 15th. You're not looking at a software update for at least a month. I really a shame because on paper it looks great and I have always like Sony products. The AZ3000es looks great, good build quality, fantastic warranty but clearly not ready to be released yet. Way to many issues right now. There were more issues I found that I didn't state here but I'm not going to write a book here. My unit was all steel frame. You said it was all plastic on the outside? Anyway, I'm returning and going back to the Yamaha RX-A6A.