Product Review
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After a lot of research, I purchased the 905 last year. Onkyo had some production issues (strong demand) and so I waited MONTHS before one became available. On paper, the specs look very good.
Ultimately, Onkyo bought-back my receiver from me because of several design flaws that firmware updates could not fix. For example, the DSPs are poorly designed such that there is a delay of 2-3 seconds when locking onto and audio stream. So every time I fast-forward through a commercial, the video plays for 2-3 seconds with no audio. Changing audio streams on Blu-Ray movies had the same delay.
In addition, there is a significant audio delay that causes a mis-sync between audio and video. Again, Onkyo says a firmware update cannot fix the problem. I bypassed the Reon video processor to help with the problem, but then you lose the built-in scaling feature.
Only service centers are permitted to do firmware updates. In my case, there was a 2-3 week backlog. Thankfully, one update leaked to the internet and I was able to do it myself. However, Onkyo found out about the leak and was not happy.
Onkyo also makes no mention of any firmware updates on their web site. So unless a consumer calls in regarding a problem, they will never know an update is out there. They should clearly state on their product support web site an update is available and to call their service center for more information.
If they can fix these and other defects in the 906 model (due mid 2008), then it would be a winner. But the 905 has so many issues that I switched receivers and now own a Denon. For more insight to the problems, check out the avsforum site where there is a large discussion on this model.
Ultimately, Onkyo bought-back my receiver from me because of several design flaws that firmware updates could not fix. For example, the DSPs are poorly designed such that there is a delay of 2-3 seconds when locking onto and audio stream. So every time I fast-forward through a commercial, the video plays for 2-3 seconds with no audio. Changing audio streams on Blu-Ray movies had the same delay.
In addition, there is a significant audio delay that causes a mis-sync between audio and video. Again, Onkyo says a firmware update cannot fix the problem. I bypassed the Reon video processor to help with the problem, but then you lose the built-in scaling feature.
Only service centers are permitted to do firmware updates. In my case, there was a 2-3 week backlog. Thankfully, one update leaked to the internet and I was able to do it myself. However, Onkyo found out about the leak and was not happy.
Onkyo also makes no mention of any firmware updates on their web site. So unless a consumer calls in regarding a problem, they will never know an update is out there. They should clearly state on their product support web site an update is available and to call their service center for more information.
If they can fix these and other defects in the 906 model (due mid 2008), then it would be a winner. But the 905 has so many issues that I switched receivers and now own a Denon. For more insight to the problems, check out the avsforum site where there is a large discussion on this model.
