Questions about Onkyo TX-SR508/608 (1 Viewer)

[brock1sampson9]

So I'm looking at buying one of these two receivers, but I'm not sure which. I can't seem to find a complete spec. list for either one. I really like the fact that the 608 upscales pretty much any signal to 1080p, but I read a review somewhere from a guy who said that he wasn't that impressed with it. So if any of you guys have this model could you tell me what you think of the Faroudja (or however the hell it's spelled) processing.


Two other main questions I have which are kinda bugging me:

1.) The partial spec. list I found for the 608 on Cnet lists "HDMI switching" as one of its features as well as HDMI repeating, pass-through, and upscaling. My problem is the spec's for the 508 don't list "HDMI switching", only repeating and pass-through. So my question is, what does the "HDMI switching" feature do here and do I need it.?


2.) Does anybody know if one or both of these models have a sleep timer? Again I cant find anywhere that it says yes or no for either. I have a tendency to fall asleep with movies playing and I dont like leaving components, especially not $300 receivers, sitting on all night unnecessarily.


Other than those things, i would really apreciate any other kind of opinions on either of the two, I really wanna buy the right one.

 

[gene c]

I'm not sure if this link comparing the 508 to the 608 works (it doesn't .

 

[brock1sampson9]

Well then, thanks very much. I hadn't even thought of downloading the manual, that would be sure to save quite a bit of time.

 

[gene c]

The manuals don't tell you everything you need to know, sometimes it seem as though they don't want you to know, but they are a good place to start. Be sure to pay attention to the fine print and side-bars. That's where the good stuff is .

 

[brock1sampson9]

So i read through the manual for both but there is one last thing that I wanna be totally clear on because I asked 3 different salesmen at the store i work at and got 3 different answers. Do you know if one or both of these receivers will carry both audio and video through HDMI. I was told by 2 of the salesmen that I would need seperate cables for Audio and video, i.e. HDMI for video and Optical for the audio. Another saleman then told me that that was wrong and I only needed the one.
According to the diagram in the manual it looks like I only need the HDMI for both signals into the receiver. But before i buy it I though I would ask those that know alot more than i about the subject. The diagram is here: http://www.eu.onkyo.com/dl/1465319/Manual_TX-SR508_TX-SR508_En.pdf on page #19. Would you interpret this diagram in the same way that I have?

 

[gene c]

Both the 508 and 608 will accept both audio and video via hdmi.


What the manual was referring to is that, like most other receivers in this price range, an audio signal coming in via a digital connection will not be converted to analog for output from the analog VCR OUT jacks. I doubt this will be an issue for you or anyone else.