Onkyo HT-S5400 680W 7.1 Channel Stereo Receiver & Speaker Package TrueHD DD+ Pliiz DTS-HD 4XHDMI Blk

Comment:
Overall this system is nice, got it for $500 and am pleased with it but kinda disapointed with the fact that if you hook something up with component (like an older xbox 360) then you must have your reciever hooked up to your tv with component as well. You cant pass the component through the hdmi.I found it easier just to leave the component hooked right up to my tv and have an opticle cable run to the reciever instead.

Comment:
I needed a sound system that had HDMI and supported the latest uncompressed sound formats for movies and I wasn't looking spend a whole lot. I didn't have a receiver nor did my old speakers use standard speaker wire so I need to get everything at once. This set on the other hand does so the next time I want to upgrade I can do a piece by piece replacement.The included speaker wire is adequate and conveniently colour coded but it's best to replace it with something better. At the time of this review, these are only $20 more than the 5.1 set but the receiver with this 7.1 set is slightly better so even if you just want 5.1 it would be worth getting these and just not using the rear surround speakers. The feet of the subwoofer are pointy (hard plastic) and rubber pads are included to protect hard wood floors but it can be difficult to apply them since they're small and don't stick so you have to lift each corner and slide them under and hope it doesn't slide off while applying one of the others. It would probably be easier to stick a sheet of cardboard or some coasters underneath.One major issue which thankfully is easy to fix but is an issue that has been known for a while and affects other Onkyo receivers is with Deep Colour. If you hook up a PS3 to an Onkyo receiver and the picture and sound cut out (sometimes occasionally sometimes frequently) it is because of this so while it may scare you into thinking something is broken you just need to change a setting. My PC wasn't having the issue (different source), trying different ports on the amp and a different HDMI cable didn't stop it and the PS3 still worked fine when plugged directly to the TV. Through Google I discovered that this is an on going issue and that going into the PS3 settings and setting Deep Colour to off will fix it and I haven't had any issue since (didn't notice any change in image quality). It's stupid that the problem exists but it's easy to fix.The receiver doesn't upscale and doesn't even pass-through to HDMI from a SD source. So if you have say a Wii hooked up with component cables, you will need another set of component cables going from the receiver to the TV in addition to the HDMI cable for the HD sources. Not a huge deal but worth knowing. If you have audio extensions you can plug the video directly to the TV and just send the audio to the receiver.The power button on the remote doesn't seem to work. I don't think my remote or the included batteries are defective since the LED lights up and the other buttons such as volume and input selection work. It's a minor issue that I can live with and it might just be my remote that is the problem.A common complaint with Onkyo receivers is heat but even after using it for over and hour the top of mine felt fine.I don't know if the mounting holes are standard or not but I got some stands for the rear surrounds and the stands came with 3 different ways to mount speaker but it still wasn't a perfect fit. It got the job done but I don't know whether the blame belongs to the stand manufacturer or Onkyo for not following standards.Overall the set sounds great (even with the included speaker wire but it got noticeably clearer when I switched to better speaker wire), the price is good and while there are some issues they are minor and may not even be applicable to everybody. If you're looking for something that sounds great but doesn't cost too much this is a great option.