I posted earlier about Onkyo’s new 2010 receivers, and the specs impressed me so much, I bought one. I’ve had the Onkyo TX-NR808 for about about three weeks now and it’s been a positive experience so far.

There’s a lot to like about this receiver. What pushed me to buy it over the other receivers I’ve seen in the past two years are these features:

• Graphical Overlay over HDMI – high end models had this feature but this is one of the first for a $1000 receiver
• HDMI Upconversion to 1080p – earlier models did not upconvert HDMI, only analog
• 7 HDMI ports including one front port – useful for my cameras
• USB input for iPod/iPhone control – can switch between iPhone control or using receiver GUI
• Ethernet port – for playing music found on  your PC

Like most receivers, it has a ton of features I will probably never use. This includes support for HDMI 1.4 for 3DTV, second subwoofer out and Dolby PLIIz height channels.Installation was a snap, and I finally got rid of all my optical/digital coax cables and use a complete HDMI setup for PVR, DVD and XBOX. I haven’t hooked up my PC yet – I haven’t felt the need to since the receiver can play the music on my PC using it’s network features. A great feature is the ability for the receiver to find new remote control codes using the Internet. The manual had no code numbers for the XBOX but when I used the receiver it quickly looked it up.

There are a few nuisances that take getting used to. The most distracting is a “click” sound when the receiver switches between 5-channel sound to 2-channel sound, and back. Normally this doesn’t happen often but some poor HD channels on rogers have the main show in 5.1 but switch to 2.1 during commercials. The workaround is the force the receiver into 5.1 for all inputs. I think the volume control is a little too finite, I could use a bit less control there – it takes too long to turn down a loud commercial. It’s also a very large unit, small cabinets may have trouble fitting the 808. Lastly, the remote control cannot be my only remote, it doesn’t replicate the “list” key on my cisco PVR which gains entry to the recorded shots.

A firmware update was available two weeks after I received the unit. Trying to do the firmware update over the Internet cause an 35-1 error. Luckily, some helpful people on AVSForum pointed out that the solution was to do the update while the receiver was in the USB/NET mode. Selecting that mode allowed the firmware to be successful.

Overall I recommend this receiver, however the 708 is $200 less and doesn’t lack any of the important features. If I were to do my purchase over again, I’d probably stick to the cheaper 708. If you are looking for receivers, I recommend Electronics For Less which does free delivery for most receivers but also has a storefront in Markham.

There’s some rumors going around on the blogs about the details of the iPhone OS version 3.0 that will be announced on the 17th. Here’s what Boy Genius Reports lists:

• MMS
• Tethering via Bluetooth and USB

The new version of iPhone firmware is out. Don’t upgrade if you are jailbroken and/or unlocked as this will probably lock you out until it’s cracked by the “iPhone Dev Team”. Use iTunes to get the latest update if you have a legit phone.

Pioneer has release version 2.0 of the firmware in their AVIC-F series of headunits (F90BT, F900BT, F700BT). The new firmware is available here and has the following improvements as documented by the AVIC forums:

1. 1. Boot time is a lot faster, its tolerable now. I am so used to waiting the original time it comes up and im like wowa, nice. 30 seconds exactly to music from ipod and screen. 72 seconds from bootup till vr update complete. 102 Seconds from boot for Bluetooth connection and loading complete.
   
2. The screens respond as fast as you touch them there is no lag now, great improved.
   
3. The blue boxes are now gone from the idle no route input map screen. Amazing what a difference this makes in the viewable area. The destination ins deleted now once arrived.
   
4. The screen bright max before is what 7 is now, at 10 its almost blinding! However this isn’t in effect until the unit completes boot up, you suddenly see when it reads the settings the screen comes up much brighter all of a sudden.
5. The contact screen is useful now! It lists them by mobile/office/home now.