Onkyo's new receivers feature both XM and Sirius satellite radio
By Erik Hanson 
posted Apr 24th 2007 9:28PM
posted Apr 24th 2007 9:28PM
Onkyo has the loot for you if you want to hear Oprah and Howard back-to-back, with announcements of five receivers featuring both XM and Sirius satellite radio compatibility. The TX-SR575, TX-SR705, TX-SR805, and TX-SR875 models all support both formats for your radio jones, while the high-end TX-NR905 model also adds support for HD Radio digital broadcasts and an Ethernet jack for Internet radio and multimedia streaming. The receivers all have the usual collection of video ins and outs, and sport 1.3a HDMI connectors with Deep Color capability for switching between sources up to 1080p resolution. No pricing or dates were announced for the TX-SR575, but the TX-SR805 will ship in May for $1099, the TX-SR875 in June for $1699, the TX-SR705 in July for $899, and the TX-NR905 in August for $2099.
Read - Onkyo THX Certified Receivers
Read - Onkyo TX-SR575
They actually did specify a date for the TX-SR575. They didn't mention a price. Though you can easily find that on Amazon or elsewhere.
"UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ (4/24/07) -- Onkyo is now shipping the TX-SR575..."
They did announce a price for the TX-SR575: $479 -- although they may have added that recently.
I gotta say that these devices are very impressive, feature-wise. The -875, with 4 HDMI 1.3a inputs, with everything upconverting to both HDMI and component, are better than anything yet announced at the price point, and the bridging to 5.1 with power fronts solves a number of audio concerns.
Onkyo has a winner here.
Here I come amazon... But what happens when the two companies merge?
Hopefully they fixed the HDMI sync problems too.
Also interesting:
"Additionally, all video sources will also be upconverted to HD output via the units' component video outputs to accommodate video displays lacking an HDMI input."
Neat, but I thought this was illegal?
No, it's just not allowed in DVD equipment with DRM media. But nothing says you can't upconvert your VHS tapes. Or whatever happens to be on the input.
Why would you want to run XM or Sirius through a high end stereo? The audio quality is really poor and it will just make it worse. I pay the extra $3 / month for the Sirius high-bandwidth internet stream and it makes a world of difference.
Two questions: Power specs??? What exactly can I input over the ethernet? An AVI file would be nice. No actual reason it couldn't be done....
That's great, but I would rather have HD radio (IBOC) for free in the lower end models than have the "opportunity" to pay a monthly fee for XM or Sirius.
Why are there so few receivers, preamps, or stand alone tuner to support HD radio? There seem to be plenty of car radios and crappy clock radios and tabletop radios that support is.