Older Denon vs Onkyo 605 (1 Viewer)

So I'm pondering replacing my aging, pre-DD receiver. Right now I'm looking at picking up a used Denon 2805 or a refurbished Onkyo 605. The price is essentially the same. I have a 5.1 setup and no plans to go to 7.1 anytime soon.

The Onkyo has HDMI 1.3, but from the reviews I've read does a fairly poor job upconverting. It is more future proof of course, but given that I'm only running 5.1 I'm not sure how much that matters.

The Denon seems a bit higher up the food chain, but lacks some of the codecs of the Onkyo. It also lacks HDMI.

The HDMI doesn't trouble me all that much for video, as I would likely bypass the receiver and use the various inputs on my TV to avoid the not so great video processing of the receiver. But my main concern is sound quality. Which would seem the better way to go there?

Thanks for your opinions.

-Rob

Have both brands here.

Both are very clean and conservatively rated.

For me, Denon is not reliable with frequent breaks downs and very poor servce. I have not owned the Onkyo long enough to rate service or reliability, however.

I suppose right now, Onkyo is the better value.

The analog>hdmi conversion of the 605 is not all that great, so it basically comes down to how important having some hdmi switching, and HD audio is. You also have Audyssey on the 605. If those aren't important to you, I would go for the Denon, which is a much higher quality model.