How much improvement will the ONKYO TX-SR875 make on freeview etc?

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Hi all,

I was reading the review of the ONKYO TX-SR875 in the latest mag, and it does look mighty impressive - it costs a bit too! I'm only just setting up my first real home cinema, but am determined to get the best I can afford.

So far, I've not even decided on a TV(!) but looking at them in the showroom always disappoints, which has got me wondering about the power of the ONKYO, and whether that is the answer to my dislike of fuzzy edges and so on when viewing off air broadcasts.

I spent ages thinking of getting the Toshiba 42X3030D, but then am i just going to be disappointed, and wishing I'd gone for something better - or would the ONKYO be able to make up the difference. Or could I just get the SONY KDL-40X2000 and not worry about the video processing?

In short, I'm a bit uncertain until I see it working as to whether I'm happy - and that annoys me :-s

I have a SONY RDR-HXD970 as my freeview box, which doe have HDMI - will this be anything like the ONKYO, or are they just different leagues?

I'm a bit lost, and don't mind spending a bit, as long as I see the difference.

Any help or advice would be warmly received!

Thanks in advance,

Tom

 

[Andrew Everard]

The problem's not going to be the quality of the Onkyo's upscaling, which is very good indeed, but the inherent quality of the Freeview transmissions, which are prone to looking blocky and showing up low-rent productions. For example, the WHFSV review crew, who spent most of their daytimes watching TVs, would tell you just how nasty all those Flog It In The Attic Under The Hammer at the Country Park Car Booty Sale shows look. To say they seem to have been shot on an old camcorder is being charitable. And those channels have by no means the lowest Freeview bitrates around.

What will the Onkyo's Reon video processing do with that? Well, it may improve it marginally, but there is that old saying about silk purses and sow's ears - it can't work miracles, and those shows will still look blocky and low-rent.

Where the Onkyo does shine is with a good quality video signal - if I tell you the one I'm running at home now makes even the picture from the Naim DVD5 player look so much better, you'll get the general idea. Garbage in, garbage out, I'm afraid...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that Andrew.

So, I'm still a bit unsure. I guess I'd best go for the best tv I can afford and see - I've spent so long in stores looking at the buggers, that I'd best bite the bullet get a tv, see what it's like with just the Sony freeview box, and then think about the video processing vs. just sound debate after (i.e. how much to spend on the receiver)

Thanks again,

T