Built in DVD allows space to be saved. Nice features including DTS.

Hard to learn remote due to numerous buttons. Won't play cd-r, but we have a 100 disc player that will.

We have 2 of these receiver/DVD players in the house. One works with no problems and the other was picky for a short period of time. Both work great now. Good piece with smaller speakers. Not enough power for high end tower speakers, but getting a powered sub and making the proper adjustments will solve that problem.

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Carver, Sony

great sound & DVD reproduction

unbelievably bad remote control, speaker connections next to useless unless the thinnest trash cables are used. Power output seems to be below than what the instruction book reads/

unit produces above average quality in sound and DVD play.Can only handle small speakers. Remote control is a joke as virtually impossible to see ! Also speaker connections are so narrow and simple that they belong on a 60.- Walmart radio. They allow only the thinnest of speaker cords to be connected ,unbelievable !! It proves that no one from mamagment ever takes home these babies and use them in a proper environment. The engineers must not be using those babies either !

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Bryston/Sony/Denon/NAD

Great user friendliness. Great price. Incredible value. Onkyo quality. All in one component eliminates the need for a lot of space.

Horrible remote. It's not backlit and it seems like they wanted to stick a 1000 tiny uniformed size buttons all on the same panel.

Onkyo definitely has an overachiever in the DR-90. It has a receiver/tuner, CD, and DVD player. This unit has DVD features that you might only find on a lot of higher end units. It doesn't seem to have a lot of bass and it doesn't have a bass boost as my older Onkyo receiver, but I've heard that adding a subwoofer will make up for the weak bass. It certainly beats buying a seperate Dolby/DTS surround unit in addition to the DVD player. No connections to mess with and it's certainly cheaper than buying seperate components. I don't know why, but with the additional connections for my VCR, it even makes the quality of video playback seem better. I'm not happy that it won't play CD-R, but I can get over that or hookup my previous Onkyo CD player to the unit for that. It's a hard to find unit and most authorized Onkyo retailers don't carry it. I had to order it from a list of authorized dealers I found on the Onkyo website. I ordered it from ABT Electronics.com which had the best price on it outside of bidding on it. Most people I found got theirs for less by bidding, but I needed instant gratification and couldn't wait for the bid process. Pricing is very wide on this unit. Most sites were retailing between $525 - $725, but you can find sites that sell for quite less with free shipping and no tax depending on where you live. This is an excellent buy and reinforces my loyalty to Onkyo.

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Onkyo and Samsung

picture and sound are both outstanding, great value

This may be picky but the manual should elaborate more. I know it's nice to keep the size of the manual to a minimum but I'd rather have all the technical information.

The sound I'm getting is fantastic but I don't know how much that is due to the DR90 and how much is due to the speakers - Paradigm Atom fronts, CC170 center, cinema surrounds and a PDR-10 sub. As a system it sounds great. My gripe is nowhere in the manual does it say where to set the frequency cutoff on the subwoofer. It allows you choose between "small" and "large" settings for the other speakers. I ASSUME the "small" setting will send all low frequencies to the sub (which BTW must be an active sub), but the manual doesn't specificly say so. There is plenty of power available. I do not play movies at ear-splitting levels and I have a seperate system for music, so if you intend to use it for music and like very high volumes, be sure to audition it that way before you buy, I can offer no review in that respect.

We were planning on getting a new TV but the DVD picture quality is so good it makes my 10 year old 25" RCA look great, so we will live with it for the time being. It gives me time to save up for a big screen 16:9 HDTV. The DR90 does have RGB component video out and S video out.

The remote is very good, the only drawback is it isn't back-lit. The volume controls are large and in a corner so easy to find in the dark. It is supposedly a learning remote too but I haven't used that feature yet.

Having the DVD player and receiver in a single unit has a number of advantages. First is value. Good luck finding a quality DVD player and a quality AV receiver that does DTS for anywhere near what you can buy the DR90 for. In fact, it would be hard to find ANY DVD player plus DTS AV receiver for the money, even absolute junk. There are no hookup issues between the DVD and receiver, there is one remote, and the unit takes up less space.

If you are thinking of buying, be sure to use a price search engine like CNET.com or mysimon.com. I've seen the MSRP for this unit listed at anywhere between $699 and $949. You don't need to pay anywhere near that. There have been many for sale recently on ebay and occationally on ubid.

I watched a couple of movies on my in-laws HT system which consisted of a Marantz DV7000 (not progressive scan), a Marantz SR7000 receiver, a $1600 set of energy HT speakers (sorry don't know the model #), and a fujitsu 42" plasma TV.
They had the whole thing professionally installed. The picture quality was better on this system but not much better, even with the plasma TV. Outstanding picture on both systems. Remember also my system is not complete, the TV is 10 years old. The sound, however, did not compare. The DR90 with the Paradigm speakers (all speakers total retail $890) sound noticably better.

My value rating would be a 6. I give it a 4 for overall rating only because if you spend a whole lot more money, it is possible to get even better sound and picture (like a progressive scan DVD player) and a backlit remote would be nice.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz DV7000 and SR7000

All-in-one design simplifies surround sound setup, PRICE!

Remote control

I got this DVD player/receiver/amp from UBID for $349+shipping. I bought a set of Warfedale Movie Modus 5 speakers at the same time. It's been a great combination. The DR90 does a great job of playing DTS audio. The only things lacking are the lack of progressive scan video output and the remote - which simply put - SUCKS! The remote resembles those early 90s' remotes where every button is the same size (very small) and are labelled in smaller letters above the button. The layout is OK but the cursor control should be closer to a circular design. Of course decent remotes only cost $20 anyway...

This is a follow-up to my previous review in which I described a terrible Onkyo customer service and product support. Finally I contacted the executive management about the problems I had. In contrast to my frustrating experiences with the customer service, the management was extremely responsive, the day when they received my letter they called me back. Suddenly also my DR-90 could get repaired within a couple of days.
By now I am again a very satisfied user of the DR-90, and hopefully some people at Onkyo's customer service have changed their attitude. To summarize, the DR-90 is a very good machine, I probably was just unlucky to receive a unit that broke within a very short time.
A final warning though: be aware of the fact that auction websites may present a very cheap source but they are no authorized dealers. The manufacturer's warranty will usually not be honored.

Great receiver/DVD package. Good sound, excellent video, layer changes almost un-noticable,
no problems with lots of DVDs, DTS, DD, plays CD RW, not CD-R

remote, without a doubt. does not play CD-R

I got this unit from Cambridge Sound Works for a really nice deal with the speakers and a powered sub. This DVD rocks! It is pretty quick on layer changes. It can handle moderately dirty disks. The sound is pretty good.

It plays CD-RWs but I noticed this strange thing after a lot of experimentation. If I play the CD-RWs in the morning, it pauses at various places. The same CD-RW plays almost flawlessly at night! This happens for all the CD-RWs that I have. I tried covering up various parts of the unit thinking that daylight is affecting the laser pickup or something, but still it paused at different points. If I find an explanation and how to remove this glitch, I will post it. Has anyone experienced this?

I think overall this player is an excellent value. It also has a 2 year warranty on parts and labor.

The remote is really pathetic, with same size buttons, and no backlighting! I have to turn on the light everytime I want to use the remote. I cannot even feel my way around!

I can't imagine getting
1) excellent receiver
2) 3 zoom modes, 3 FF and REW modes 2X, 8x, 30x
3) repeat, multiangle, 3 slow modes 1/2 1/4 1/8 (forward only)
4) inputs and outputs - digital, component, powered sub.
5) individual speaker level setting depending on where the speakers are located and where the listener is.

for this price! Totally satisfied with the value. And of course its a Onkyo!

Its easy to set up and works like a charm till now. I have watched some 20 DVDs in 10 days! From Matrix to My fair lady!

System:
Onkyo DR-90
Panasonic 27 inch CT27D10 - has component input. Excellent value again! Looking to upgrade to sony wega 36"
Cambridge Sound Works - Movieworks 408 with powered and passive subwoofer.

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none

Space-saver, simple, nice

Below average sound, very noisy transport, remote

Pretty good solution if you plan to play DVDs only or can live with average audio. Otherwise fine. Also it doesn't play CDR, but that was not my major concern. Anyway, I returned mine back to the store.

Rich, dynamic sound, good video performance, lots of features, solid construction.

As others have mentioned, the remote.

Previous reviews have said it all. This unit is great for someone who wants/needs an all in one solution. The DR-90 has many features found on higher end players. The thing that surprised me the most was how much quality sound this thing pumps out for its rating of 55 wpc. I am a believer in Onkyo's amp technology. The remote is very user unfriendly, buttons are too small and poorly labeled.

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Various other A/V gear

Good bang for buck. Offers options often found on higher end units at a reasonable price.

Using the remote is an exercise in futility. Seems very brittle as it fries the laser pickup when it sees even the slightest scratch.

I received the DR-90 as an early christmas gift and was blown away by how great of a unit it was. The feeling quickly changed to one of anger as the DVD/CD portion of the unit promptly died after only three weeks of use. I then had to deal with the horrible service department at Onkyo who told me that my warranty was not valid due to the fact that I purchased the unit from an auction site. After many phone calls and several heated discussions, the unit was repaired free of charge and worked perfectly. It has been 3 months since that time and once again the laser pickup assembly has gone bad. I don't understand why a company such as Onkyo would sell such a poorly designed product. I would be curious to see how many of the other people who have had problems with this unit, purchased them from auction sites. I was thinking about buying their top of the line receiver, but after all of the problems I have encountered with Onkyo, Denon here I come.