Onkyo HT-S5100 7.1 Channel Home Entertainment System (Set of Nine, Black)

If you intend to use this with a DVD player using coax or optical connectors, then this system will be great. The is my current set up and I like the quality of sound and the ease of set up.

But my praise ends there. With the understanding that this unit has HDMI (plastered on the box and on the receiver), I was confident that I would be able to plug the Sony S-350 into the HDMI port and be able to enjoy the lossless format from Dolby. Regardless what the Circuit City sales guy had to say, this system is NOT capable of playing lossless formats. This was confirmed when I called Onkyo technical support.

As an alternative, I thought that I could buy a Blu Ray deck that has analog outputs. I would then connect it to the analog inputs on the receiver. Though you would think that the lossless formats would work, Onkyo technical support insists that it will not produce what I am looking for.

In sum, I suggest that those who are looking to migrate to Blu Ray should consider the HTS-6100 and be ready for the future.

I bought this system with the full knowledge that this receiver does not decode 7.1 HDMI, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD. Where this system really shines is it's outstanding sound quality. Why purchase an AV system that will be obsolete before it's delivered?. The receiver has 7.1 analog inputs for preprocessed signals from your blu-ray player or other 7.1 preprocessed sources. A perfect match to the new inexpensive soon to be released Sony, Panasonic and Samsung Blu-ray players W/7.1 loss-less Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD decoded analog outputs and BD/BD live w/Ethernet connections for on the fly updates to help fight off obsolescence. I would buy this system again today in a heartbeat!

If you're looking for a complete solution, this is it. For the price, this delivers some of the best sound available in a complete receiver and speaker package with 7.1 sound! I had it recommended by two different people, one who went to a store and heard it side by side with other systems, and one who is a major audiophile and who has read many reviews on different systems. I didn't have to do any research, but I did go and listen to a few systems before buying, just in case. The system didn't dissapoint. And set-up was very easy. Being a technician, I didn't need help setting the unit up; however, if I was less technically inclined, the color coded wires and easy quick set-up diagrams would have been very helpfull. If you are new to audio and looking for the best 7.1 system under $800, or if you are a seasoned audiophile looking for a good system without a high price tag, this is the stereo for you!

I have had this HT system for a couple months now and I have loved it since day one. This system is perfect in every way I can think of. The mike setup system can not be overated in producing the perfect sounding listening environment. It makes some movies come to life. Ths sub will rock you in movies and songs. I had an older analog system that was 5.1 and no sub. It was a toy in comparison. Buy it and you will love it guaranteed. BTW I ordered it on a Thursday and received it on a Monday. It could have been a coincidence, but that was some quick shipping IMHO.

The sound is excellent, and the auto-setup procedure using the supplied microphone is brilliant. One feature I like is that at the press of a button on the remote, the unit will display what audio signal it's getting; mono, stereo, 5.1, etc. This is useful for figuring out which TV channels are providing a 5.1 signal.

One thing to note is that the video technology in the receiver only passes the input signal through to the TV but won't convert from one format to another. So if you have 3 components that put out HDMI, it's very useful to use this receiver to switch among them. But if you have 1 HDMI, 1 component video, and 1 S-video, for example, the receiver is useless and it's simpler to connect the different components directly to the TV.