This is a newbie question, but I'll ask it. I just purchased a Denon 1930CI DVD player for the 1080p capability. Subsequently I picked up a Onkyo HT-S894 for my HTIB. I am wondering if there are any problems / repercussions to using the Denon DVD player with the Onkyo receiver and selling the Onkyo DVD player (1080i). Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I've seen many posts that mention problems with the HDMI on the HT-S894. As far as I can tell from the posts, am I correct in understanding that you must use HDMI across all components in order for it to work or all Composite or vice versa? If I am incorrect, please let me know. Otherwise I'll just have to wait for the packages to get here and play around with them. Looking to save some time.

Thanks in advance,
Kris

free bump to the great guy

Hi,

I am not sure where this hdmi rumor started, but I guess it was the Amazon review of the ht-s894. The ht-s894 has no problems that I have run into regarding hdmi. I have had it hooked up to my vip622, my current Sony sxrd, and the Sammy 6187 that I had before switching to the sxrd. All worked perfectly.

Now, the ht-s894 will not upconvert composite,svideo or component to hdmi. It will convert composite and svideo to component. So if you have multiple input types, connect both the hdmi out and the component out to your tv and you will be able to display everything (including the setup menu of the ht-s894) on your tv.

The only other issue that I ran into is that the dvd player that comes with the ht-s894 doesn't output sound via hdmi (the receiver can accept sound, just the dvd player doesn't output it) but it comes with the digital coax to connect the dvd player so I guess it doesn't matter much.

As for the Denon 1930CI DVD player connected to the ht-s894, I see absolutely no reason why you would have any problems with it. The 894's dvd player is just a seperate piece anyway. All the audio, speaker connections, and video switching are built into the receiver.

Ace:

Thanks for the help. You are correct that I was basing my information on the Amazon review as well as the Crutchfield overview. Sounds like what you're saying is if I have my HDMI and Component hooked up to the XBR, then I should be able to receive HDMI sound as well as have the set-up menu on the screen. Is this correct?

By the way, have you calibrated your audio settings? I was trying to find a list of quality settings that others have identified to save me some time. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Do you have any of your speakers on stands? I purchased some 23" stands for the front to test out before purchasing any for the rear. I've heard good things, but have no experience here.

I'm enjoying the Denon, so I think I'll sell or stash the Onkyo DVD player. I'm glad it's just a standalone piece. Thanks again for your help already and any help you can provide.

I think you wasted money on that denon player. Your TV should de-interlace the picture from the onkyo player anyways. Also, it's not true HD anyways, so why bother? If you purchased an HD DVD or Blu Ray player, I would suggest ditching the onkyo one, but for another upconverting player, there is no point!

sampsonka4,

Yes, it will pass hdmi sound on the XBR hdmi input, and you can view the setup menu on the XBR component input.

As far as speaker stands, I just bought some cheap little 4" wall mounts from Wal-Mart for all of my speakers. I have the front speakers mounted directly on my tv stand using those wall mounts. Maybe not ideal, but I have to work with a fairly odd room.

I have played around some with the audio settings, but for the most part it is going to be very room specific. One question that I have had is what the crossover settings should be for these speakers. If anyone who is knowledgeable on this could chime in it would be appreciated. Here are the specs:

Speakers freq response 65Hz-35kHz Crossover freq 5kHz
Sub freq response 25Hz-150Hz

Current settings:
front 100Hz
Center 100Hz
surround 100Hz
LPFofLFE 120Hz

Possibilities: Full Band, 40Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 80Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz, 150Hz, or 200Hz

Will an XBOX 360 HD-DVD Player work with the S894 in place of the DVD player that comes with it? I figure $200 for an HD-DVD isn't bad, but I didn't know if you could just add it in with that system

I don't see why it wouldn't work. The reciever in the 894 is fully self contained. No special connectors. The dvd player that the system comes with is just the Onkyo 404 dvd player. Any other player should be able to swap in.

Hey Ace, I see that the s894 will upconvert composite & S-Video to component, but will it de-interlace the signal? i.e. will it take the 480i from my satellite receiver and make it 480p? Onkyo's website does not advertise it that way, seems like they would if it could do that. I'm in the market for a my first surround system, so I'm looking for the best HTIB for the price, and the s894 is the frontrunner for me right now. I'm not sure if I'm willing to dish out the cash to get one that will upconvert to HDMI, but the component upconvertion sounds like a nice feature. Do you find the picture to be better using this component upconvertion, or don't you really notice much? Maybe de-interlacing is an expensive upgrade too, I'm not sure, I'm pretty new to all this.

Thanks.
Matt

REally good question mt.Im also interested in buying the 894 because of the hdmi hopefully someone will be able to answer the question also can the 894 be able to do truhd and dtshd for bluray or hddvd players?

Good question. My guess would be that it won't de-interlace. I will have to check the manual again when I get home, but I don't remember seeing any video settings in the menu. You can select what input goes to which output, but that's about it. I would think that if there was any image conversion capabilities that there would be some control options as well.

I don't see too much difference upconverting to the component. I really don't think that the receiver has much in the way of video processing hardware. Just what it needs to do the switching and connection upconversion.

Also, since component can handle 1080p resolutions, the lack of HDMI upconversion isn't that big a deal IMHO. Two cables instead of one to get everything switched through the receiver isn't bad considering an HDMI upconverting receiver probably costs quite a bit more.

let me start by noting that i'm a newbie. i'm writing in response to ace's mention of the dvd player with the 894 not transmitting sound to the 894's reveiver through the hdmi cable.
i purchased the 894 last week and i have been able to get sound from the dvd player that came with the 894 to the receiver. in fact, the only cable that i had connecting the dvd player to the receiver was the hdmi cable. plus, i'm no expert, but the sound quality seems pretty darn good. am i missing something here?
thanks

Radiobroad,

I double checked the specs, and you are right. The DVD does output audio over hdmi. I think when I changed things around, I didn't change the digital input for the audio. Sorry about the incorrect info.

As far as the de-interlacing question, I can find no mention of that capability in the manual. I did find mention of the hdmi interface being capable of up to 1080P.

I just got this HTIB and have a quick question. The DVD player that came with this system is somewhat loud -- during a silent scene in a movie, I can hear it. Is this A) a problem with my settings or B) is the DVD player just naturally noisy? Thanks. I'm a newbie here.

The Onkyo DV-CP704, right? I have that one and it's perfectly quiet.

No, it's the Onkyo dv-sp404. Anyone else have a problem with it being loud? Thanks.