I have the Denon 3808, and I tried the Onkyo 875 for a bit, then returned it. The Denons all have a rep for sound quality, and the Onkyos have more features per dollar. The Sonys don't really have a rep yet, and I have no experience there. RTFM.
I found that the Onkyo ran quite warm and should not be put inside any rack -- it needs all the circulation it can get. It also had an incompatibility with DirecTV DVRs (Dolby Digital sound went mute for 3 seconds following any interruption (rewind, pause, ff, etc) but this may be fixed now (DirecTV's problem).
If I could do without HDMI connections, I'd gladly trade my Denon 3808 for my old 3803. Two annoyances: On power-up, the 3808 does not respond to the remote for 5-10 seconds, breaking remote macros. And (like all HDMI) changing sources is slow. HDMI sucks.
As far as upscaling: 1) I have never seen any DVD upscaled by any device that beat 480p into my Sony set. Basically this means my set's upscaler is very good and I don't need to do this externally. 2) I cannot imagine why anyone would want to upscale from 1080i to 1080p unless their TV set is VERY broken. Again, the TV needs to convert everything to its native rez anyway, and either the set can deinterlace or it can't.
Denon likes the Faroudja chip because they can tweak it and the Reon chip (sez Denon (see Denon exec's thread at AVS Forum)) is pretty much "automatic."
Other things to consider that are not widely mentioned: input limits. I beleive that the Onkyo is limited to video 6 total sources, and the Deonon to 7. Never mind the input connector count. I have no info on the Sony, but I imagine there's a limit there too. Has to do with the size of the assignment matrix.
Interesting, when I turn my 3808 on only a second later I press which input I want and it switches, maybe there is something wrong with your unit? I find it very fast at that. I love my 3808, I don't need upscaling because I have that in my Denon 3930 dvd player (Realta HQV). I don't use video tape of upscale anything else.
I love my 3808ci as well -- it can also stream internet radio and you can configure it from a web browser which is quite handy.
I have the same delay issue you do though... Maybe I need to try upgrading the firmware again (I just bought it a few months ago though, and upgraded at that time). It really is an annoying bug. My old Pioneer Elite 74 automatically turned on if you selected an input from the remote - very handy - but the Denon doesn't do that.
I wouldn't buy a high-end Sony receiver... I haven't read anything about them so I don't think they're that great. They're fine on lower end though (I have a cheap $200 one I bought 8 years ago that's still running fine - but it doesn't do anything special :) )
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kcmurphy88 @ Jul 9th 2008 12:32PM
I have the Denon 3808, and I tried the Onkyo 875 for a bit, then returned it. The Denons all have a rep for sound quality, and the Onkyos have more features per dollar. The Sonys don't really have a rep yet, and I have no experience there. RTFM.
I found that the Onkyo ran quite warm and should not be put inside any rack -- it needs all the circulation it can get. It also had an incompatibility with DirecTV DVRs (Dolby Digital sound went mute for 3 seconds following any interruption (rewind, pause, ff, etc) but this may be fixed now (DirecTV's problem).
If I could do without HDMI connections, I'd gladly trade my Denon 3808 for my old 3803. Two annoyances: On power-up, the 3808 does not respond to the remote for 5-10 seconds, breaking remote macros. And (like all HDMI) changing sources is slow. HDMI sucks.
As far as upscaling: 1) I have never seen any DVD upscaled by any device that beat 480p into my Sony set. Basically this means my set's upscaler is very good and I don't need to do this externally. 2) I cannot imagine why anyone would want to upscale from 1080i to 1080p unless their TV set is VERY broken. Again, the TV needs to convert everything to its native rez anyway, and either the set can deinterlace or it can't.
Denon likes the Faroudja chip because they can tweak it and the Reon chip (sez Denon (see Denon exec's thread at AVS Forum)) is pretty much "automatic."
Other things to consider that are not widely mentioned: input limits. I beleive that the Onkyo is limited to video 6 total sources, and the Deonon to 7. Never mind the input connector count. I have no info on the Sony, but I imagine there's a limit there too. Has to do with the size of the assignment matrix.
Hope this helps.
mntwister @ Jul 9th 2008 12:36PM
Interesting, when I turn my 3808 on only a second later I press which input I want and it switches, maybe there is something wrong with your unit? I find it very fast at that. I love my 3808, I don't need upscaling because I have that in my Denon 3930 dvd player (Realta HQV). I don't use video tape of upscale anything else.
kcmurphy88 @ Jul 9th 2008 12:38PM
mntwister--
Gee, I'd like to fix that. Maybe you have later code? Hmmm.
Xyzzy @ Jul 9th 2008 1:24PM
I love my 3808ci as well -- it can also stream internet radio and you can configure it from a web browser which is quite handy.
I have the same delay issue you do though... Maybe I need to try upgrading the firmware again (I just bought it a few months ago though, and upgraded at that time). It really is an annoying bug. My old Pioneer Elite 74 automatically turned on if you selected an input from the remote - very handy - but the Denon doesn't do that.
I wouldn't buy a high-end Sony receiver... I haven't read anything about them so I don't think they're that great. They're fine on lower end though (I have a cheap $200 one I bought 8 years ago that's still running fine - but it doesn't do anything special :) )