Onkyo Ht-s907

The 7.1-channel receiver dishes out 90 watts per channel and offers the usual assortment of Dolby Digital, Dolby EX, Pro Logic IIx, DTS, DTS-ES, DTS Neo:6, and DTS 96/24 surround processing modes. It also supports XM Radio’s Neural surround format.

The TX-SR604 receiver has a total of five A/V inputs (including the front-panel set), plus three component and two HDMI inputs. The HDMI connection carries Dolby Digital, DTS, CD, DVD-Audio, and uncompressed PCM audio--as well as high-def video--between the source and the receiver, so you won’t need to hook up a digital audio cable. While the TX-SR604 will convert composite and S-Video sources to component-video output, it will not do analog-to-HDMI video conversion. Thus, as mentioned above, HDTV owners will need to run component and HDMI cables to their set. If you don’t need HDMI connectivity at all, it’s worth checking out Onkyo’s cheaper HT-S990THX--that system is THX certified, but it lacks a DVD player.

We counted six digital audio inputs (two coaxials and three opticals on the back panel, one optical up front), and one optical digital output. Compatibility with Blu-ray, HD DVD, or SACD/DVD-A players should be guaranteed, thanks to the HDMI inputs and 7.1-channel analog inputs. Like every receiver currently available, it cannot decode the new highest-resolution soundtracks (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master) on Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, so make sure your high-def disc player can decode these formats internally if that’s important to you. There’s also one stereo analog input, plus a tape in/out set for use with a cassette or CD recorder. XM Satellite Radio, including XM’s Neural Surround, is available with the addition of an XM Mini-Tuner/antenna and a subscription. The RI (Remote Interactive) jack can be used with Onkyo’s DS-A1 or DS-A2 iPod docking units. There are also high-quality speaker binding posts for seven amplifier channels. One final note for analog purists: there’s no phono jack, so you’ll most likely need to invest in an external preamp to enjoy your record collection.

The receiver doesn’t offer switching for a set of "B" stereo speakers, but if you’re using only five of the receiver’s seven channels, you can hook up a set of stereo speakers to the Zone 2 speaker connections. The arrangement is actually better than "B" speakers, because you can listen to a different source--say, the XM radio in Zone 2--while someone else is watching a DVD in the main room. Other multiroom connectivity options include stereo audio outputs, as well as infrared and 12-volt trigger outputs.

The DV-CP704 DVD changer sports HDMI, component, S-Video and composite video outputs. The HDMI output can upscale DVDs 720p and 1080i resolutions. The benefits of upscaling are subtle, but the overall idea is that it can make an improvement if the video processing in the DVD player is better than the video processing in the TV--see the Performance section for more information. Like virtually every DVD player we test, it cannot upscale over its component video output. As a side note, we were happy to see the DV-CP704 came with an HDMI cable.