Onkyo TX-SR505 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

First, the bad:When I originally got the receiver, I had some major issues with it. It would go into auto-protect mode for no reason every hour or so. I would need to unplug it and wait a half hour before using it again. The final time it went into auto-protect was when the receiver was not even on. I needed to take it to an Onkyo dealer to have them fix it, but it was still under warrantee, so it was not too bad.The only other problem I have with the receiver is that the connectors on the back for the speakers are hard to use. I assume that these connectors are higher quality than the traditional spring clamp types, but they make it very difficult to connect speakers without taking the whole unit off the shelf.Now the good:Ever since then it has been working very well.There are plenty of connections for whatever types of input you could possibly need. I use the digital inputs a lot, and it is nice having 4 of them (2 optical, 2 coaxial).The interface is quite easy to use, even if you want to use all the advanced features. The auto-setup works well and there are a lot of ways to customize your set up. You can use and equalizer on each set of speakers individually, as well as adjust the relative volume of each. Also for the low-level subwoofer output you can set the crossover frequency, which is very useful.The unit does get a little hot in the back right corner, but the rest of the device stays cool. I wouldn't recommend putting anything directly on top of the unit unless there was a gap and some airflow in between.The different cinema filters are pretty useful too. Having both DTS and NEO is a plus. Between these two standards, you can pretty much handle anything a dvd player can throw at you. The filters include settings for music, movies, unplugged, studio mix, etc. There's also a "theater" filter which adds some reverb to the mix for that movie theater feel.Overall, I definitely recommend this receiver. It does everything I wanted it to do, and then some.

At this price, the PROs definitely outweigh the CONs.PROs:=====1. This receiver's layout, connectors, and operation are very straightforward. As a typical male who never reads directions I did just fine connecting the high-def TV, DVD player, MP3 dock, and surround speakers. I'm finally using the digital audio capability of my DVD player! This enables the true surround sound signals for each audio channel as encoded on the DVD.2. The included microphone supports an automatic setup feature that adjusts a myriad of available settings to balance your home theater speakers, taking into account speaker distances, room accoustics, and the like. Then, all of these settings are adjustable manually should you want to change anything.CONs:=====3. There is no up-convert to HDMI. This isn't a quality sacrifice, since any up-conversion can't make the output video any sharper than the input signal. Rather, this is a convenience issue because you'll have to use your TV controls to switch between video input sources *of different types*. This receiver still can switch between video sources of the same type. For example, switching from the DVD player to the VCR can be handled entirely by this receiver if both are connected via composite cables (red, white, and yellow RCA jacks in this example). However, this is not the case if the DVD player's video output comes via an HDMI cable or component video cables. Because this receiver doesn't switch between video types, your TV will need input jacks for every type of video your individual source components output (this is already the case before you buy this receiver).4. I have my high-def TV tune in the digital signal from cable (not a separate cable box). I then send the tuned-in sound from whatever channel the TV selects sent to this receiver via standard composite audio cables (red and white). Because there are no "TV In" jacks for this purpose, I simply connected to the "Tape Deck In" jacks. This functions perfectly well, but it is a little awkward remembering to select the tape deck when I want to hear the TV sound through this receiver.Again, for the incredible price to get all the first-class features, I am willing to put up with a couple minor inconveniences.