Here's a quick breakdown of the features:

• 7-Channel 840W Powerful Surround Sound (120W x 7 RMS) [8 ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.04% THD]
• Digital ToP-ART and High Current Amplification
• Pure Direct Switch for High Quality 2-Channel and Multi-Channel Sound Reproduction
• 192 kHz/24-Bit DACs for All Channels
• YPAO Automatically Sets Best Sound for Any Room, Any Speaker Placement
• Dialogue Lift for Enhanced Dialogue Sound
• 9-Channel Speaker Outputs with Zone 2 Out
• RS-232C Interface, Trigger Output and IR Port
• Dolby Pro Logic IIx
• Zone 2 Speaker Out and Amplifier Assignment, and Zone 3 Volume
• Front Panel Video Aux Inputs with Optical Digital an d S-Video
• 8 Digital Inputs (5 Optical/3 Coaxial): [Fixed and Assignable]
• Dolby Pro Logic IIx and DTS 96/24 Compatibility
• Audio Delay for Adjusting Lip-Sync (0-240ms)
• Selectable 9-Band Subwoofer Crossover
• 16 Surround Programs (55 Variations) with 2 THX Programs
• Component Video Up Conversion
• HDTV (720p/1080i) Compatibility
• Wide-Range Video Bandwidth (60MHz -3 dB)

The new receiver adds 10W/channel to its predeccesor

Custom Installation Flexibility
The RX-V1500 also has some cool features that make it easy to achieve flexible custom installation in three different rooms (zones) of the home. Zone 2 power amplifier assignability and speaker terminals mean that Zone 2 can be fully independent with its own 2-channel power, while you still enjoy 5.1-channel sound in the main room. The video signal can be output to Zone 2 as well. Zone 3 has its own volume control, and there is an IR port for remote control capability and a trigger output for automatic power-on of other components. There is also an RS-232C interface for using a touch-screen controller or a PC to configure the receiver.

We're guessing that you can employ our Denon biamping technique to the YamahaRX-V1500 and RX-V2500 as well, though we'll give you a full report once we obtain our review sample.