The "Official" Onkyo TX-SR608 Thread (No Price Talk) - Page 156

I know it's a pain in the behind but I have the same problem myself. I use a harmony one remote and select an activity I created 'deck' music from inside my media room. I'm thinking of installing a separate outdoor volume control for it. I use an Airport express for my deck tunes due to the problem that zone two can't pass digital signals, and just use either the iPad or iPhone to select my music. Bottom line is IMO the 608 is really great at doing all the things it sets out to do with 5.1 and 7.2 and two chanel but the zone two function for menus a little lackluster.

Once you hook it up direct to the 608 I think you will be quite happy. Run the Auddessy too, it does make a difference.

Even connecting with the RCA connectors won't give you access to audyssey. In your case the optical connection is the best way for now but I think if you want to use the 608 I would ditch the sound bar and aquire either a 5.2 or 7.2 speaker package. The individual speakers will then be connected directly to the posts in the back of the amp and then powered individually. For now optical out of the tv seems your best bet. Definitely not ideal but better than tv speakers.

How do soundbars work? I always though they were L/C/R all in one package? If he has 3 RCA connectors on the back he jsut needs to make 3 cables to hook it to the 608 and the Auddessy should work? Not saying it will work well, but the Auddessy should be able to send signal to each speaker and get a reading to tweak with?

Don't know if it can or not, I never looked up the soundbar specs.

Even if it the soundbar can decode DD, does the tv pass DD 5.1 when source are connected to tv HDMI Inputs?

If the tv can pass DD 5.1 and the soundbar can decode DD then you're fine. The soundbar should have some form of indication its receiving DD. Either an icon would light up and/or it would display Dolby Digital (Dolby D, DD 5.1, etc...) on the display panel (if it has one).


Its already simple without the receiver. All source connected to tv inputs and tv optical out to soundbar. You're not gaining anything by adding the receiver to the soundbar setup.


The soundbar RCA jacks and optical jack are input only and plus the 608 does not have optical output.

Hey folks, I have a question about the up-a1 ipod dock. I'm getting background noise when listening to music. Its not the ipod. Should I return the dock or is it the 608?
Has anyone had this problem, thanks.

I am wondering about this myself. I usually keep it on light regardless of what I am watching (blu-ray, directv, etc.). However, with the start of baseball season, I am noticing that the announcers sound boxy or hollow. I experimented a little bit, and found that by putting the dynamic volume on medium, this helped a little bit. Thoughts on why this might be?

Dynamic volume is basically controlling the levels of the lowest and highest sounds creating a smaller range of audio output. When it is off the range 'could' be very high and you some times get the problem of quiet dialog and massively loud action sequences, where your forever turning the volume up and down for different scenes in the program. What the dynamic volume actually does is reduce this range so that the difference between the lowest and highest volumes is much less. Creating a more average level of volume. I leave it off 99% of the time and may put it on when I want to watch late night movies. Late night mode is good for that too. From my understanding of it, it actually doesn't 'compress' the audio just controls the volume.

funny you guys are talking about dynamic volume..I've been meaning to talk about how I love that feature for a couple weeks now. After I set everything up proper, dialog always seemed like a 'meh' to me. Once I had the Dynamic EQ set to On, and Dyn. Volume set to 'Low' it was like a breath of fresh air. Everything came in loud and clear. It was really awesome. I was wary at first b/c it was a feature altering the sound from its original source, but no way I could ever live with it 'Off' now. Its always on 'Light' for me, may turn it to 'Medium' whenever the wife says she can hear some sort of hissing noise or static, but I don't know, I never notice anything like that and it doesn't sound as loud to me when its on any other setting.

been reading through this thread, and i couldn't find anything specific to what i've noticed, but it appears the VGA port is pretty limited if you plan to use it.

i hooked up my laptop last night to Onkyo for the first time and it was overscanning. pretty standard, so i altered the settings so it wasn't overscanning but it appears a bit fuzzy. i use a projector etc so it wsa quite obvious at the quality. tried to disable any pass through, 720p/1080i/1080p etc. if i didnt set a specific output and chose through the Onkyo was still passing out a 1080p signal, even if i set the laptop to 1280x800, 1280x720, 1920x1080 etc.

has anyone had any luck in disabled any video processing on the VGA->HDMI process so that nothing is touched?

i know it's a receiver issue as I connected my laptop directly to my projector, and voila, picture was absolutely sharp as as PC monitor and no overscanning issues. but yeah for the life of me i can't get it to disable any processing, even if set to through mode

i dont have a laptop with HDMI at the moment which is annoying as I have a feeling the HDMI output would be much better.

Hi smokenz, you can try turning Game Mode to On or turn off Video Processing (see page 21 in OM or see first post in this thread).

Hey JChin, thanks for the advice.

I have tried the suggested video processing option to skip from use and the issue I have is still there.

with game mode off, all the settings custom, video, NR off and vprocessing set to off the image is output to the right of my projector screen.

set game mode to on and it outputs slightly overscanned.

i see that the options are working if i choose other inputs, HD Fox box, PS3, Xbox 360, all of which use HDMI, and all set to 720p as my projector is 720p(but supports 1080p signals) and it appears the signal is being passed through, as i set the HDMI output to "through". the projector shows 1280x720 60hz for each of these inputs.

but my laptop is outputting 1280x720 over VGA and the receiver is outputting this at 1920x1080 60p over HDMI. I thought it would have only passed to 720p output if video processing is off, but it appears it must process the VGA signal and only outputs at 1080p??

I've checked the settings everywhere and can't figure out why it's doing this.

HDMI output is set to through, and passes a 720p signal from other HDMI devices. VProcessing set to Skip, all the settings on Page 1 input.

Either I've missed something so obvious that it's passing my view point or the receiver isn't happy passing VGA to HDMI.

And for a test I've even set my VGA cable to 1920x1080 to see what happens and the issue still exists. Part screen in custom, or full screen overscanned with Game mode enabled, but overscanned at 1080p and definitely not looking sharp like VGA connected directly to my projector at 1280x720 60HZ

arrrgh ths bugs me!! haha, i may have to get HDMI somehow for my laptop, or a new laptop

I know there's no price talk... however, I'm getting ready to replace my failing 606 and I would like to stick with Onkyo. I got very familiar with their UI and I'm still a fan even though the 606 is crapping on me (owned for 2.5 years). So I've decided it's between the 608 or the V667. Any suggestions on where I could find a great deal?

I notice some announcers sound hollow and some don't when switched between different games. So I tend to believe its due to broadcast.

Now if the game is broadcast with a much higher volume where its definitely more noticeable then maybe I can see where Dynamic Volume (with Dynamic EQ) might have help. Guess its possible that balancing the levels helped muff the hollow effect .

Another suggestion, curious if this would allow 1280x720 pass through by setting HDMI Control to On. And also try with HDMI Control turned On with receiver off (Standby).

Newegg extending to 4/06 on 608.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that noticed this.

has anyone tried plugging in an Ipad2 through the receiver? I assume I would need the apple digital av receiver and would further assume that I would just plug the hdmi cable into that and then into the front HDMI port of the 608?

For the 608 the best deal I saw (3hrs after I bought elswere) was Newegg.com

It might make since at this point to purchase a 609.

My only concern/counter to that is that the 608 has been out a while, is very well understood, vetted and known to be an extremely good AVR. the 609 is brand new unit/design and has not been available long enough to know if it is a winner or not... And the big price difference in the units.

I connected my iPad to this receiver with the new Apple Digital A/V Adapter and it worked just fine so your ipad2 should as well.

Does anyone have any specs or info on the quality of the headphone jack for the 608?

Hi bushy81, the headphone output signal is stereo only so no other enhance listening mode option.

I meant what kind of output power it has, what impedance load it can handle and if the quality is anything near a standalone headphone amp. I have some Sennheiser HD555's for watching movies which is fine for late night viewing but I also have a better set of sennheiser headphones for listening to music. I wanted to perhaps add a headphone amp for more detailed listening especially if I get the turntable im looking into.

I'm loving my 608 so far; sound is fantastic through my 5.1 ceiling speakers with analog and digital sources and my older 720p TV has never looked better. I wanted to get some thoughts on listening and video modes from the group.

LISTENING MODES
Like many in this forum, I enable Dynamic
EQ and Dynamic Volume: Light for all my inputs. I've been experimenting with several and have found most luck with the following:

- Dolby PL II Music: for all music (iTunes AirPlay/LastFM/AppleTV)
- Dolby TV Logic: for television programs (digital or stereo)
- Game-RPG/ACTION: for gaming (Dead Space 2 is particularly well mixed and a good showcase)
- Dolby Digital / DTS / etc: for movies (whatever is native to the movie)

I'm generally happy with all except perhaps movies; I haven't really been blown away yet. Anyone have a different experience they'd like to share?

VIDEO MODES
Now I know some folks have been unimpressed by the 608's video modes, but I've found the default custom setting to work quite well for everything; I've also calibrated my TV obsessively so maybe that's why. I also have it automatically scale (up to 720p which is native for my tv). This upscaling is mainly for the Wii and original Xbox360 via VGA.

Movie Mode seems like it's doing some weird things to sharpening and I can't really see what Game Mode does, but from what I see while gaming, I like it. Besides more info on the defaults, does anyone have a good custom setting or preference?

Just wanted to share. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,
Peter

Are you asking about the video upconversion or audio aspects of the receiver? If audio I generally switch between all the Movie THX settings from movie to movie with the audessey calibration on to see what sounds best at the time. Video modes? I have swapped between video processing on or off and can't tell the difference on a lg le5400

Onkyo service is terrible - follow my saga twitter @onkyoIsBroken

I'll have to play around with the THX modes some more; it seems they require higher volumes to sound as loud as the other modes. Have you noticed this too or am I imagining things? Thanks for the input.

Yea this is true. Seems to require about 25% more volume than the other settings. So be careful switching back to say the "All Channels" setting as to not blow the windows out of your house. I can only imagine they have it set up that way to accent some of the other more detailed sounds that would otherwise go unnoticed, that's just a guess if I wasn't on my phone I would look into it a little more.