Price Paid:  $1250.00 from Oade Bros.

Summary:
I purchased the unit with great expectations. Unfortunately, my experience is the opposite. Though the picture is absolutely outstanding on my Sony KD-34-XBR2, the unit would only play the surround channels. When I watched Chicago, I could hear the music and watched Richard Gere's voice was barely audible. It would never play any DVD-A disc I inserted. Then I took it to the service center along with my DV-989 Ver 2. They tried for over a month to get it to play a DVD-A or a DVD with all channels making sound without any success. Before this ordeal is over I will be whithout these products for close to three months! What a pity for such well built equipment does not to work properly.

Strengths:
Outstanding picture quality.

Weaknesses:
My conclusion from reading the other reviews, these sound problems still persist.

Similar Products Used:
Tannoy Eyris surround sound speakers STRDA-555ES DVP-V900S

Summary:
After reading some of the reviews here, I almost passed this unit by. Fortunately, I had the chance to demo one at a nearby audio store and found that it had none of these problems so I took the chance and bought myself one online. The unit I purchased was also free of the problems mentioned in the earlier reviews.

As with every player, the Onkyo had a couple of quirks which are slightly annoying but not bad to the point that I would consider returning it. During DVD-V playback, I might have to set the unit into forced video or film playback mode but it's not much of a hassle. I can easily set up a macro on my remote have it done with the touch of a single button.

I'm not a videophile as much as I'm an audiophile. I don't really scrutinize the picture quality and search for barely noticable artifacts during a movie. But, if you don't have the appropriate mode selected, that combing will make you pull your hair out of your head.

Build quality of this unit is very high. The casing, transport, DACS, dual power supplies etc. all play a key role to the excellent performance it provides. After listening to Eric Clapton (24/192 analog stereo) I just wanted to get up from my seat and ask him for his autograph. High res audio is simply amazing and this unit delivers it all beautifully.


I hope that Onkyo resolved the problems that others may have experienced and all units play as well as mine. I'm very pleased with it and I would highly recommend this to others that seek the same type of performance that I do.

Regards,
Nikos

Strengths:
Audio: Superb sound. Very clean with no listening fatigue. The unit really shines with hi-res DVD-A stereo material.
Video: Very good - once you set the appropriate mode.

Weaknesses:
Audio: none that I noticed.
Video: You MUST force the player into Film mode in order to watch films that were transferred onto DVD otherwise the player will most likely be in Video mode and you'll be subjected to artifacts (particularly combing) throughout the movie. This is poor flag detection reading but once you set the unit in the appropriate mode, the picture is beautiful.

Price Paid:  $1335.00 from Stereoland

Summary:
Love the substantial feel, look and quality build. Two power supplies for minimal noise. Wondering about using the analog outs for the CD's while keeping w/ the digital out for the dvd's. Seems to allow a higher sampling rate using the analog's w/ those limited availability recordings and I'm curious if the DAC's are better in this unit than in my B&K, which doesn't process at those higher rates. If you want to improve your dvd video quality to the highest possible standard , buy it. If you're looking for a huge improvement in audio, it's not a good enough reason to shell out the dough, you could buy an old Sony 7000 and do as well for CD sound.
Waiting to try out the dvd audio, I didn't buy it for that reason, rather the picture quality - and that is stunning.
Hooked it up to a Richard Gray power unit, just to make a great picture better.

Strengths:
Absolutely stunning picture quality. Film like images using the progressive scan.

Weaknesses:
Price. Audio is very neutral, but still experimenting w/ the LFE management.

Similar Products Used:
Sony S 7000

Price Paid:  $1300.00

Summary:
My final update on the player. I have had the unit to Onkyo service twice. They did a great job with shipping and customer service. It just seems this product isn't quite ready for primetime. Maybe if I got another unit, my problems would vanish. Alot of you have emailed me about the unit and my issues. Well, here is the final status report.
DVD playback, Awesome. Best DVD playback I have ever seen. Of course who am I?
DVD-AUDIO playback. Well here is where it gets grey. Remember back in 1986+ when we first got CD's? How people used to handle them, and still do, with felt gloves? Well, you REAllY, REALLY should do this with DVD-A's and this Onkyo. The *slightest* finger print can throw the unit in to convulsions. So yes, it does play all my DVD-A's now. Although it still won't play past track 2 with "Blue Man Group"(plays fine on my friends Panasonic). The new "AI" soundtrack disc seems to play fine. Maybe there's some error in the encoding on the "BMG" disc that is making the Onkyo freak out. The Onkyo could be too sensative to variances in encoding?
In the end, I am going to keep the Onkyo as a $1300 DVD THX Ultra player. It is worth that price for it's DVD video playback and THX certification(if that really matters). As for DVD-A playback, I am going to go buy a nice $300 deck from the local retailer and finally be able to listen to my six DVD-A titles worry free.

Strengths:
Awesome DVD playback

Weaknesses:
DVD-A playback error correction is poor. Easily thrown off by small smudges.

Price Paid:  $1300.00 from Onecall

Summary:
I was very excited to unpack this unit and hook it up. Some have stated they have had no problems with the unit. Even the original ones. I find it funny that those people haven't even tested there unit for the problems discussed. Mainly DVD Audio. Regardless, I connected it up and prepared for audio bliss. The unit simply cannot get all the way through ANY DVD-A disc I have tried. "Foreigner", "Metallica", "Blue Man Group", "Tiger Lily" were some of the discs tested. All suffered from digital noise, skip, and lock up after some time playing. Mine is a "B" model as well. I have also had it "lock up" on certain DVD menu's. The only way to recover from a "lock up" is to shut the unit off. Something my $100.00 Oritron has NEVER done! I plan to send it off to service and hope for the best. If it cannot be fixed. Then I have a $1300.00 hunk of metal and plastic sitting in my theatre room. I purchased the unit in June, 2001 too. This website only has 2000 listed as a choice oddly.

Strengths:
Awesome DVD video decoding. Sleek styling and simple controls

Weaknesses:
Poor DVD Audio playback. Even with the newer "B" model. Some playback problems with DVD's and there menu's.