Question on set up. I'm thinking about buying this package but I have a question. I emailed Onkyo but haven't heard back. Does the receiver have to be powered all the times? In other words, if I cable my Tivo to the receiver and then run another HDMI cable out to my TV, can I leave the receiver powered off when I only want to listen to audio from the TV. Surround sound is fine but I don't need it while watching the morning news. Question on set up. I'm thinking about buying this package but I have a question. I emailed Onkyo but haven't heard back. Does the receiver have to be powered all the times? In... » Read More Question on set up. I'm thinking about buying this package but I have a question. I emailed Onkyo but haven't heard back. Does the receiver have to be powered all the times? In other words, if I cable my Tivo to the receiver and then run another HDMI cable out to my TV, can I leave the receiver powered off when I only want to listen to audio from the TV. Surround sound is fine but I don't need it while watching the morning news. « Show Less
1434716
Having now received my A/V amp; I can tell you that the 3300 does pass the HDMI signal from the last source used while the amp was powered on; you'll have to turn the amp on and change source if you want a different source; then turn it back off.
1434717
The instruction manual, which I viewed as a pdf on the Onkyo website is a little ambiguous when it comes to a pass-through signal, I know this unit is a repeater so direct pass-through is unlikely; there is an option to have the amp pass the sound to the TV and simply turn down the A/V amp volume; but the unit has to be on; I didn't see any mention of it working with the unit turned off. I can't tell you any more at this point as I haven't received the unit yet; should arrive tomorrow!
1434718
To the best of my knowledge, yes you will need to power your unit on. However, you can change the listen mode to stereo if you don't want the surround sound morning news. I will tell you that for the price this thing is amazing. I've had problems with Onkyo support not being very helpful as well, but the product is great.
1434719
The feature you want is called...HDMI pass-through in standby.No the 3300 doesn't have that.There is no "off". There are 3 modes...On.Standby.Unplugged from the wall.
1434720
Thanks for the info. I was hoping the receiver would allow a pass-thru or something if the receiver was powered off. Hopefully, I can map the on/off on the receiver to my Tivo's on/off.
1434721
Thanks for defining what I was trying to describe, "Standby pass-through". With that I was able to Google what I was looking for and found the following from Onkyo news:"All 2010 HDMI v1.4 models include a new feature call HDMI Thru. HDMI Thru allows content to pass through to the TV when the receiver is in a standby state." I'll hold off on the 3300 and get the HT-S3400 when it's released.
1298564
I have this same receiver with cox cable box as well. I have the HDMI wire running from the receiver to the TV. The second HDMI wire from the cable box to the receiver. It works fine. I had to switch the HDMI port on my TV for some reason? I was not getting video, only sound? I tried a different port and it works fine. My problem is that my 7.1 surround sound speakers sound bad? I feel I have to turn the volume almost all the way up to get it even remotely loud.
1806621
I use a Roku, Apple TV, etc. and connect them all to the TV with an HDMI cable, then let the pass through to the receiver handle the rest. Just remember you can shut off the TV speakers and run surround only if you'd like. There's a button for that on the remote. In my case, I paired this with s 6500 series Samsung TV, so the remote can handle both, which is convenient. Great receiver / DVD unit for the money.
2236372
Hi missy, your DIRECTV Receiver SHOULD have an HDMI output. If indeed it's an HD Receiver. Just connect it straight to one of your HDMI Inputs on your display. What model do you have? H20, HR21?For your onkyo, you should connect your DIRECTV straight to your surround system, using an optical or digital coaxial cable.PS3? I don' t know much about game consoles. I'll ask my brother who knows more about this than I do, and get back to you.
1448700
I will explain our situation and hopefully that will answer your question. We have the receiving side of the cable on our Samsung TV and the "blaster" side in front of our Tivo. Both devices are on different floors of our house so I know the Tivo is not receiving the signal by accident. With both devices turned off (wich for Tivo actually means "standby" just like about every cable box in the market) if I send a signal to the receiving side of the cable the Tivo will receive it, even if I have not turned on the Samsung TV. Of course, I have to turn on the Samsung to see that Tivo received it, but when I do, I can see that Tivo received the signal and executed the command I gave it. Therefore, I believe the answer to your question is probably "No, the component does not need to be power on for the IR to transmit, but beware that the component must have a CEC connection as part of its HDMI connection and the HDMI cable must also have the CEC wire." I am not a technical person, but I believe the reason is that the CEC connection is always "on", although at a low power consumption state, even when all the devices are turned "off". That allows the CEC wire to be used to transmit information even when the device that has the receiving side of the cable is turned off.
68905
I just bought this unit, so I can understand the question. It is really quite simple.There are three HDMI inputs and one HDMI output on the Onkyo HT-S5100 (also tons of other RCA, etc. inputs, no problem there!). The HDMI output feeds into the TV, of course. But I found I needed to connect a cable or an optical cable to the back of the TV in order to feed the audio back into the Onkyo amplifier. Now EVERYTHING sounds great!
890539
According to the manual, the better option is to run one video only and one audio only to your receiver. This is how mine is setup and it works better especially when watching online content.
1636652
Thanks for the response A.L. I originally had everything hooked up with HDMI -- both my HD-DVR cable box and my upconvert DVD player. My first thought was maybe it was the cables themselves, as I bought less expensive ones off Amazon. Tonight I went out and bought top of the line HDMI cables from Best Buy. Same problem! Then I figured I'd take the HDMI cables out of the equation and test my iPod using the auxiliary RCA jack on the front of the receiver. Same problem!I'm positive the speakers are connected correctly and completely. And these are also brand new -- the Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1ch home theater set!I think I have a bum receiver. I listen to my morning TV at level 60. That just doesn't seem right. Thanks for the response A.L. I originally had everything hooked up with HDMI -- both my HD-DVR cable box and my upconvert DVD player. My first thought was maybe it was the cables themselves, as I bought less expensive ones off Amazon. Tonight I went out and bought top of the line HDMI cables from Best Buy. Same problem! Then I figured I'd take the HDMI cables out of the equation and test my iPod using the auxiliary RCA jack on the front of the receiver. Same problem!I'm positive the speakers are connected correctly and completely. And these are also brand new -- the Onkyo... » Read More Thanks for the response A.L. I originally had everything hooked up with HDMI -- both my HD-DVR cable box and my upconvert DVD player. My first thought was maybe it was the cables themselves, as I bought less expensive ones off Amazon. Tonight I went out and bought top of the line HDMI cables from Best Buy. Same problem! Then I figured I'd take the HDMI cables out of the equation and test my iPod using the auxiliary RCA jack on the front of the receiver. Same problem!I'm positive the speakers are connected correctly and completely. And these are also brand new -- the Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1ch home theater set!I think I have a bum receiver. I listen to my morning TV at level 60. That just doesn't seem right. « Show Less
170691
Erratic behavior of this receiver is well known. Unfortunately, the unit may have one of the the known issues with the units produced in the "problem" production run. There is a factory recall program of this receiver from Onkyo. Check the following URL for your unit being covered: http://www.onkyousa.com/Support/service_info.php# My unit had several of these issues including intermittent powering off, no sound, frozen/locked, firmware update failure, the list goes on. Bottom line, check the website with your unit serial number and if covered, Onkyo will send you a postage paid box with packing instructions for your unit. If not covered, some troubleshooting suggestions are in the rear of the user manual (if you haven't tried swapping the TV back) . Most likely the unit will require some sort of repair.
12514
if you are trying to use its online feature (radio, streaming audio, remote etc) it is better off to use a Apple TV or XBOX.Onkyo online stuff is not quite convenient to use (slow and lagging). i stop playing with it after a few weeks. hope this helps : )
378677
Stephen G., I'm interested in connecting 2 receivers and switching between them. I have a modern home theater receiver (Yamaha RX-V477) and a vintage receiver (Realistic STA-76 circa 1975). Each one does some things better than the other and I want to easily switch between them depending on what I want to do (like play vinyl on the vintage) and watch movies on the home theater receiver. If you know of something that can do this, please let me know. Thanks.
943821
When I first set my Onkyo up, ARC worked fine. But it does not work now. Both my LG TV and Onkyo receiver have had software updates. So, one of them screwed it up. By the way, before I got the Onkyo, I had a Yamaha which was returned. ARC NEVER worked on that receiver. So, I suspect this is an issue with the TV not the receiver.
2209288
The idea is that the receiver then controls everything. So when you switch inputs on the receiver, it then switches both audio and video. Otherwise you'd have to switch the receiver input, and then go switch the TV input. Of course, this only applies if you have more than one video source (eg: blu Ray player and Xbox and cable box or DVR). It really is ultra useful and only adds one HDMI cable.HOWEVER: do not buy this specific receiver. It does not handle HDMI switching well (only passes through video does not capture audio), plus the sound quality is horrible. Get a more modern and high quality one, such as a Yamaha or Denon. The idea is that the receiver then controls everything. So when you switch inputs on the receiver, it then switches both audio and video. Otherwise you'd have to switch the receiver input, and then go switch the TV input. Of course, this only applies if you have more than one video source (eg: blu Ray player and Xbox and cable box or DVR). It really is ultra useful and only adds one HDMI cable.HOWEVER: do not buy this specific receiver. It does not handle HDMI switching well (only passes through video does not capture audio), plus the sound quality is horrible. Get a more modern... » Read More The idea is that the receiver then controls everything. So when you switch inputs on the receiver, it then switches both audio and video. Otherwise you'd have to switch the receiver input, and then go switch the TV input. Of course, this only applies if you have more than one video source (eg: blu Ray player and Xbox and cable box or DVR). It really is ultra useful and only adds one HDMI cable.HOWEVER: do not buy this specific receiver. It does not handle HDMI switching well (only passes through video does not capture audio), plus the sound quality is horrible. Get a more modern and high quality one, such as a Yamaha or Denon. « Show Less
405373
I think it's a good question. Yes, the receiver has to be turned on and you have to have the correct input selected. After all, the receiver does a LOT of processing (switching, upconverting) between its inputs and its outputs. It seems unimaginable that there could be a direct link between one of the four HDMI inputs and the HDMI output when the receiver is off. (Sorry!) But I haven't actually tried it, so I'm only giving you an educated guess here (but I'd give 100-to-1 odds on it!).
1631531
Are you sure it's the receiver and not the program? I have noticed with watching football games that I get a lot of volume ups and downs from the surround speakers. Sometimes I can hear a fan yell something from the back left and then it's gone. I think it's difficult for the broadcasters, when broadcasting live, to get the surround levels all perfect. I've had less problems with watching a drama show in the evening for example. This, and I think the surround sound with a lot of programming is pretty primitive. I wouldn't worry about it unless your blu-rays also have problems.
844462
Hi Tech,I have an Onkyo 606 model (older) and I am able to watch TV without having the surround system on. I am sure this newer model works the same way. Looking at the remote control, it is the same exact remote that I have with the 606. When you want to turn the surround off and just listen to the TV through the tv speakers, just press the receiver button and then the On/Standby (power) button. It takes about 12seconds for the picture to come back on, but the Onkyo will pass the signal through with no problem. You can then watch TV with no surround.Hope this helps.Tom
916505
Use a splitter my receiver only has one pre out for my sub so when I placed the order I also got that as well. The splitter was a recommendation when I was looking at the sub and from what I was told when I was looking around it helps with the signal. This sub really hits nice and clean hope this answers the question