Onkyo 609 or 809

[TKoP]

So it looks like I may be replacing my beast of a TV – I must have one of the last rear projection TV’s (a 65” Hitachi) that the “better” half has had enough of it dominating our family room. This upgrade will include some collateral losses to my main system, i.e., I will want to get a new receiver as my current receiver doesn’t have any HDMI inputs (my beloved Denon 2802).

Here is what I’ve got to connect to the new receiver:
• HD Dish Receiver
• BluRay Player (my current DVD player being another collateral loss)
• Wii
• Xbox (the original, not the current)
• VCR (I still have the original Star Wars version on VHS)

Some wishes:
• I’d like to have all of the equipment connected to the new receiver and have just one HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV
• I’d like to be able to pass through the Dish DVR without turning on the receiver – this is purely for the SheBeast. Other components would be nice, but if the Dish Receiver passes through without the receiver being turned on, that’s pure gold.


Some Other info
• I will never connect an outboard amp to this receiver; therefore, I don’t care if I have pre-outs. If I ever go this route, I’d buy a dedicated preamp.
• The room is smallish, so I don’t need 250watts/ch. 100watts/ch will be just fine.
• No need for multi-room connectivity.

Since I’m cheap (I am an accountant/CPA after all), I was looking at Onkyo’s 609 and 809 receivers and trying to figure out why I would need to jump to the 809 from the 609. The ability to pass through a signal without the unit being turned on wasn’t something I thought was available on a receiver until I saw a recent post around here, but I can’t tell if one or both have that ability. Also, when I looked at the specs, it looks like neither unit is capable of upconverting a component signal to HDMI – or am I reading that wrong? It seems like I’ve seen that they do, but the spec sheet doesn’t have a check mark to that particular item.

So, any comments?

 

[heeman]

The 609 does pass the HDMI Signal when the receiver is off when set that way: From the Users Manual:


When enabling the HDMI Through function, regardless of
whether the AV receiver is on or in standby, both audio
and video streams from an HDMI input will be output to
the TV or other components via HDMI connection

 

[Doghart]

I have the 809 in my main living room system.

Never compared it to the 609, but i could answer any specific questions you have.

D

 

[TKoP]

Thanks for the replies..

Heeman has answered the first question – I can pass through an HDMI signal while the unit is in standby mode.

The other main question I think I had was just to confirm that my equipment with component outputs will be upconverted to HDMI.
I can’t imagine it doesn’t, but when I look at their summary of specs, the line for “Component Video Upscaling” is unchecked.

Other than that, I don’t think there are any other features that I need that I know aren’t already in the 609.

When I look at the extra stuff I’d get in the 809, there’s nothing there that looks compelling enough to pay double for that particular receiver over the 609… unless there is something I’m missing.

For example, the video processing uses Qdeo for the 609 and HQV for the 809. Will I notice?
Or the ISF calibration controls? Or the MultiEQ audyssy for the 809 vs the 2EQ for the 609?

I already know I don’t care about the pre-outs or the multi-room differences. The 609 has all of the connections I ever expect to need. I don’t need the extra 35watts I’d supposedly get from the 809.

So I guess the final question is if I’m missing something that I haven’t touched upon. What would make me go “D’oh!” when I later found the 809 had feature X that isn’t included on the 609..

 

[Yesfan70]

I'm willing to bet that those receivers do have up-converting through HDMI. I have a Panasonic DVD-recorder that's much older than the Onkyo receivers you list and it will upconvert the signals from my VHS tapes when recording to DVD-Blanks. It's pretty handy as I don't have to run a composite cable from the DVD-R to my receiver to watch what I'm recording.

So I would think if that feature is available on a pretty bare bones DVD-recorder, it should also be available on a mid to higher end a/v receiver.

 

[MatthewB]

Have the 805 and love it for the power alone but alas the failure of one of only three hdmi ports and has had to be sent in for repairs due to unit not turning on, I would look at Denon instead which for me has given me no issues whatsoever and its pretty easy to find a 3810 for very cheap which should be more than you will need for years to come.