Onkyo TX-NR1008 9.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver

• Network capability for Internet radio and streaming audio files (MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, FLAC, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, LPCM)
• 135 Watts per channel at 8 Ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.08%, 2 channels driven, FTC
• 7 HDMI inputs (1 front/6 rear) and 2 outputs; pop-open/close front access panel
• Audyssey DSX and Dolby Pro Logic IIz for new surround channels
• ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) Video Calibration and HDMI video upscaling to 1080p

EDIT: Downgraded from 5 to 2 stars for spectacular warranty service failure on the part of Onkyo. See below.

You know how it is. Take a look at your entertainment area. How many pieces of hardware are sitting there? A TV, a cable box, maybe DirecTV; a CD player, maybe an iPod dock. DVD player? Blu-ray disc player? Old VCR? An Airport Express for AirTunes, perhaps? How about a PS3, an Xbox, a Wii? Apple TV? Slingbox? Hulu player? Mac mini media station? How many speakers you got? 5? 7? 9? Maybe there are speakers elsewhere in the house, and you'd like to be able to watch TV here and listen to music there? Do you like Pandora satellite radio? What about XM HD?

Of course, all your hardware is cutting edge, just bought yesterday, right? No? HDMI, component, S-video, coax analog video, coax digital video how many formats you got? Your TV is it 1080p, or 1080i? What about your audio? All digital? Digital optical, digital coax or do we have some good old RCA jacks? White/Red left/right? Or are we talking about a full surround setup? Maybe you're like me and have a legacy pair of Tannoy bookshelf monitors, coaxial cones, that sound fantastic bi-amped. And maybe that last sentence sounded like the ravings of a lunatic.)

I don't know what you got. And neither do the good folks at Onkyo. So in this one grand box, they have provided doggone near as many solutions as you could possibly need.

For video, it can take 6 HDMI inputs, and send them to one or two outputs, a main (and if desired a sub) output. Upcoding can be disabled; or everything can be auto-upcoded; or you can force everything to upcode to a certain rez. Since my old TV only supports 1080i, I needed the ability to force up and downcoding to that format; the lower-line Onkyos only upcode to 1080p and that wouldn't have worked. There are also about a gazillion other ways to input video into this beast, and you can configure the machine to link any input to any button on your remote. For example, I have my PS3 coded to the 'game' circuit, whereas my DirecTV box is "CBL/SAT". The machine is fully HDMI 1.4a compliant, which means upcoming 3D will work right out of the box; and it supports HDMI audio return, although when you really find out what that is you may not want it.

For audio, it can take 2 optical audio, or 3 digital coaxial audio, or about 1 gazillion RCA-type audio inputs, amplify them, and output them direct to your speakers. If you want a 9.2 super surround setup, with R,L, center, R/L front high,R/L front wide, R/L surround, R/L surround rear, and a powered sub or two: this box gets the job done. However, in that case, there are no amps to spare for zone 2 or zone 3, which means that you'll need a separate power amp to power those separate zones.

If you want powered zones, you have to sacrifice some of your surround speakers. For me, I wanted 5.1 surround with bi-amped front speakers (the tweeters and woofers of the fronts are powered each by a different amp), so I lost powered Zone 2; I still have powered Zone 3. Zone 3 routes to a pair of outdoor speakers on my deck, so I can relax with Pandora Internet jazz (ah, Thelonious my old friend) while my lady is inside watching the cackling buffoons on Project Runway in all their hideous glory.

You do have to hook the machine up to a hub that is gatewayed to your Internet connection, and that has to be a wired connection. I use an Airport Express to bridge my home wireless network to a cat6 cable that connects to the Onkyo; this setup has the added benefit of AirTunes, which, via a mini-phones cable (or 3.5 mm mini optical to TOSLINK, your choice) serves up my iTunes library to the amp, and that process can be controlled from my Mac laptop or iPhone. Wow, it gets technical. Thank goodness the Onkyo menu is clear and easy to read. I will say, make sure the Internet is up, connected, and actively serving to your Onkyo before you power the Onkyo on for the first time; or you will have some difficulty getting connected later (you'll have to go into the Network setup area and 'save' the network settings. The firmware upgrade is highly recommended. It takes 45 minutes; the RHMI setting has to be 'off', and the amp has to be in USB mode for it to work; that was annoying.

Sound fidelity is awesome and the settings are intuitive. I especially appreciate the myriad ways of dealing with power-on loudness; you can make sure you never blow out your speakers, or your eardrums, by navigating the easy to use menu.

One thing I wish I'd known before I bought this unit: the powered Zone 2s and Zone 3s can only accept analog sources. That means that optical audio and coax-digital audio cannot be piped to your zone 2 and zone 3. Luckily, most devices that serve that kind of audio also output analog audio; you can just plug that audio into a separate input and route *that* to Zone 2 or 3 instead. Annoying, but understandable; probably saved Onkyo a few bucks. Internet radio behaves like an analog source for this purpose, and that's a blessing.

The remote, which is backlit and easy to use, can also be programmed as a universal remote, which is handy, although it is IR, not RF, so it will never truly be the Master of All Remotes.

Internet radio on this baby is AWESOME. I can't get over having my own Pandora station outside on my deck; Onkyo also contracted with a company called vTuner that provides about a thousand channels. The Pandora client is full featured, lets you reconfigure and approve/disapprove of music, and even shows the album cover art on screen. Pandora streams to this beast at 128 kbps joint stereo, which is PandoraOne quality regular Pandora is 64kbps aacPlus joint, which is compressed and tinny but you don't need to subscribe, and I've yet to hear an ad.

Let's not forget Audyssey DSX: it is a little mike that you put at ear height at each listening area (i.e., chair) in your quiet surround sound field, and the machine automatically configures each speaker level and EQ to preset specs. It works really well, and the task is something that took dozens of hours to do by hand in older surround sound setups.

So yeah, this baby tames the confusion, knocks out its opponents (there is nothing else available below the $5K pricepoint that accomplishes everything I mentioned above) and unifies the audio-video title, sort of like Mike Tyson did to the heavyweight championship. I think you gotta be a little bit of an AV geek to set it up, but my lady, who is not all that geeky, instantly understood the remote it's pretty much nearly one-touch.

EDIT Sep 2011: The machine started flashing its red light one day about 11 months after I bought it, which by the manual suggested it had entered 'protection mode'. I unplugged it, disconnected all connections, and waited a day as the manual suggested, then plugged it back it. It promptly caught fire I am talking about large orange burst of flame inside the unit. Not safe; plastic was burning. I shipped it to the authorized service center, which cost about $60. 3 weeks later, I received an email with photos of a few hairs inside the unit. I called and was told that the hairs invalidated the warranty, that it would cost $250 up front to receive an estimate for how much it would cost to repair the unit, and that if not, I could pay shipping to receive the defective unit back.

I didn't abuse this unit. I don't have pets who could have gotten hair into the unit. This means, to me, that the Onkyo warranty is a sham. There is no way a few hairs in the unit could have caused a fire hot enough to melt plastic if the hairs were even really there before I shipped it; I doubt they were. Looking around on the Internet, I found plenty of stories like mine. Onkyo is well known for not honoring its warranty when it ships defective products.

Understand, then, when you buy an Onkyo receiver you are buying a disposable product whose warranty will not be honored; and which, therefore, essentially has no warranty. I have downgraded my rating considerably based on this fact, which I wish I would have known before purchase.

Buy Onkyo TX-NR1008 9.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver Now

The unit is treasure trove of features, but there's one open issue over an HDCP error when the two HDMI outputs are both active. This problem only occurs with the cable box, not Blueray or other video sources, so it may be an issue with the Comcast/Motorola STB, as some generation Motorola STBs have been known to fail through any receiver repeater, let alone two.

Since Onkyo's tech support is so obtuse, it's hard to conclude if it's their problem or not. Their answers tend have the binary range of "not our problem" to "replace the unit" without any real interest in diagnostics. They admit that they only have a Direct TV Cbl/Sat STB, and don't know how it behaves with anything else.

Apart from that, the performance is fantastic. The fidelity is beautiful and there's support for just about every audio codec. The non XT version of Audyssey MultiEQ and Select2 vs Ultra THX are mainly a factor for rooms larger than 2000 cubic feet that need very granular tuning of speaker arrays. The provided Audyssey features are powerful, and easy to set up. I especially appreciate the Dynamic volume, which has already contained numerous blaring commercials. It's also useful to know this has full support for 1.4a, also called high speed HDMI. The single possible shortcoming of this model compared to substantially costlier ones may be its Faroudja vs the Reon upscaler, but that's only important for content that isn't already high def, since their deinterlacing from 1080i to 1080p should be the same. Beyond that, the audio return channel is a bonus if you want to get audio from an OTA tuner, just using HDMI instead of an extra audio cable, and remote over HDMI will be handy for later components that support it.

The internet features are also comprehensive. There's such a range of them however that there's no direct access to each, not even on the OSD, so they must be stepped through on the display. An enhancement in the OSD for direct access would be useful. They conveniently offer a free vTuner account, along with easy access to other free services like Pandora, and access to pay services like Rhapsody, Sirius, Napster and others along with DLNA support for local music storage. For those with iPads, the oRemote app can directly access more than the OSD using WiFi, (though its interface could use some contextual awareness). There's also a less comprehensive app that runs on the iPhone called OnkoTron that can at least handle remote zones without an IR repeater.

It's likely that the HDCP problem is on the STB side, (Motorola DCH-3416), but I'll only confirm that because Amazon has been so cooperative with a replacement unit that I'll try shortly. Hopefully Onkyo will eventually find it more cost effective to train support staff than refurbish returns, (though I'll probably be able to confirm this without having to open Amazon's replacement).

It was a close call between this model and the Yamaha RX-867. The Denon 3311 and Marantz 7005 models are attractive too, though more expensive, (but their absence of controls on their chassis, requiring the remote to access some central functions, doesn't appeal to me). Aside from my dual HDMI issue, this qualifies as one of the most complete, high fidelity media managers available. The higher cost alternatives only slightly improve the quality of some components, but can barely provide a feature the 1008 doesn't have, at its more than ample performance. It seems that, while Onkyo may have spared some expense on their customer support, they've invested wisely enough in their engineering to make a surprisingly high level of performance relatively affordable.

Read Best Reviews of Onkyo TX-NR1008 9.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver Here

straight to the point. My beloved kenwood receiver of 10 years got too old and couldn't keep up. I kept the kenwood speakers and I thought they wouldn't be able to sound as good but they came a live. the onkyo sounds great, the setup was a breeze. The on scrren display made it even easier. My setup is with 5 speakers and I had to buy a powered sub klipch. I also used the one of the zones for the backyard rockspeaker which sounds incrdible. When I'm outside I play the internet radio and make watering and cutong grass a fun job. Love that I had all this hdmi inputs. The remote controls everything I have coneccted except for the game console. I really don't have any negative things to say. It was well worth the price. Let's just say eveything I wanted to do it does for me. Hope this help you make your mind about buying it.

Want Onkyo TX-NR1008 9.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver Discount?

Overall: B+

The Positives:

I love Onkyo. My Onkyo CD changer, purchased in 1995, is still working perfectly. My Onkyo TX-DS575 receiver has worked flawlessly for 10 years and I expect it to keep working for years to come (unlike the several Sony products I've owned), but the TX-NR1008 had so many cool new features that when I saw it on sale I jumped on it.

Internet connectivity is great. That was my primary motive. Now I can get stations from all over the world! OTA reception here is almost non-existent and my cable company does not provide much of an FM lineup. Between vTuner and Pandora, I now have all the tunes I'll ever want. Fortunately, my internet router is close enough that running a length of CAT-6 cable was no problem. Followed neurotome's good advice and made the connection first. Don't think that's covered in the manual.

The automated Audyssey setup, with the calibration microphone is another big plus. I use a collection of mismatched vintage speakers and this makes setup a snap. Used to have a Richter Scale with calibrating mic and that was neat. Audyssey does it all automatically!!

The ability to route all the AV sources through the receiver was another major selling point. Plenty of HDMI inputs. Lots of RCAs. Digital coax and 2 optical inputs. Now everything goes neatly in & out of one box.

I wanted to be able to add more speakers. Now I have front, front wide, front center, sub, surround and back speakers. Nine speakers, and the ability to add 4 more! The ability to configure a center back instead of L & R worked well in my listening room. Still trying to wade through all the different listening modes is daunting. Not all modes use all 9 of the installed speakers, and of course some modes sound good with some sources and terrible with others. There seem to be about a million listening modes and combinations of modes (for example, the combination of Dolby and Audyssey or DTS neo:6 and THX Cinema/Music/Games). Some modes do not use all of the available speakers, but the little graphic on the receiver displays which speakers are being used.

Don't know why Radio Data Display is not available on North American models (my car radio has it).

This receiver is so feature-laden it will take weeks (or months) for me to get a grasp on all of them. For example; my Oppo DVD player up converts, but so does my Pioneer plasma (but it's "only" 1080i), so does the Onkyo. Probably should turn something off.

Overall, great Onkyo quality and lots of bang for the buck!

Any negatives? YES!

The manual is unnecessarily confusing, poorly written and leaves questions unanswered. I'm an audiophile computer geek with a PhD and had trouble with the manual. People who want this to work out of the box are in for a surprise. Download the manual here:Onkyo tech support is disappointing. Email support was slow and unhelpful. Telephone support had me on hold way too long.

Part of the confusion is: This thing is just poorly designed. You want to be able to play your CDs? Fine. Want to listen to TV sound through the receiver? Not so fast. There is a SINGLE INPUT marked CD/TV. Choose one. My TV sound now routes through the GAME input. To listen to TV I have to select GAME. Roku goes to CBL/SAT. If I had a game or a cable box I'd be out of luck. STUPID design! I thought it was me, but when I finally got a tech on the phone he said that was how it had to be done.

And using the remote is a nightmare. The remote is NOT illuminated. Oh, the buttons light up ONE at a time AFTER they are pressed. Not much help in a darkened home theater when you want to change something. And of course you have to remember that "GAME" means "TV." The buttons are small and the print is tiny. I have to turn on a light and get out the reading glasses to make a selection.

I may resort to purchasing a Logitech Harmony remote control. MAYBE that will solve some of the ergonomic problems, but it makes the $800 sale price of the receiver seem like less of a bargain if I have to spend a couple hundred more to get a decent remote. And that STILL won't change the fact that TV sound is routed through the Game input. A great product compromised by some really dumb design flaws.

I'm not going to cover what's already been said, but I have a few things to add.

The input selectors on the remote and front panel of the receiver are a stroke of genius! It makes it possible for even my mother (no disrespect intended, but she just doesn't get technical things!) to operate the thing. It also discourages users from inadvertently changing settings as she constantly used to do while trying to switch inputs. In this regard, the receiver is definitely superior to the Denon AVR-3311ci (but unfortunately without MultEqXT).

The fact that the remote has them too is also awesome, and that it switches remote function mode is also awesome. It also controls many more things than most cheesy universal pre-programmed remotes. Kudos for the guys who had the idea of internet lookup for programming remote codes and then programming the remote from the reciever! That's the "coolest" feature on this thing, even if it's not completely necessary.

I sure would have liked an RF (non-infrared) remote though, especially as a second remote for zone 2 and 3. Let's face it, an IR remote for zone 2 and 3 is worthless since you're going to be running those zones outside the room.

As far as the on screen display (OSD) and overall user interface, these people should all get Apples and iPods and play with them for a while to see what a real GUI (graphical user interface) should be. I'm not an Apple guy, but they sure know how to make a good user interface. The folks at Onkyo have a long way to go. Sadly I've heard this receiver is one of the better ones in this regard, so this isn't a slam on this receiver in particular, but on receivers in general.

For anyone at Onkyo who may be paying attention, and to users everywhere, this is my pro/con list for the user interface:

Pro-

Easily readable, and fairly well organized once you get the hang of it.

Lots of options!

Fairly good looking.

Cons-

Remote buttons are unclear as to what they do, and receiver is sometimes slow to respond.

Many buttons won't work at a particular time, with no explanation on the OSD.

Many options are often greyed out, with no explanation unless you read the manual. Good grief people, a simple "this option is not avaiable because..." would be great.

Most relevant information is only available on the OSD, rather than the receiver front display. Why do I have to have my big screen running to listen to internet radio?! Show the station name and song title on the front display like every other internet radio!

I'd like even more options (like volume change speed).

The amp is powerful and clean, which is a big step up from my old Kenwood. I'm not sure how it would do with all channels driven, but most likely this is a limited use case scenario.

The front fold down panel is hefty and looks like it won't break easily. The receiver has a great look to it and really adds class to my system.

The internet radio is great, however I have some complaints:

-As I said above, show the song title and station name on the display! I don't want to have my expensive TV running just to show song title!

-Make it easier to change the station, just like regular stations.

-Quicker start up would be nice. It takes probably a full minute to start up the internet radio from power off.

I would also like to add that the OSD is usually pretty important to see, so in general (not just internet radio) you often need to run the TV even for audio sources. To make matters worse, there's no provision for analog out while HDMI is selected, so you can't run a little display for audio and the HDMI output for video. You can switch, but it's a menu operated choice that's not easy for novices to switch.

For this kind of money I almost expect a color LCD front display. I know no other receiver company does it for this price, but it wouldn't add that much to the cost, and it sure would enhance what kind of info you can put there. I'm not into bling, but it would be much more flexible than the old vacuum florescent display they use, and would hopefully solve some of these problems mentioned above.

I had high hopes for this receiver, and it's fulfilled most of them, but it is a little rough around the edges, as I assume many of these AV receivers are. Let's face it, receiver manufacturers are charting new ground here, and they don't appear to be doing their homework in the GUI category, but again, this is a great receiver that does what it says it will do.

I chose this receiver over the Denon AVR-3311ci because of several things:

9 channels in the amp, this is cool and handy

Crutchfield guys said this one is easier to use

More zone options

More pre-outs