Onkyo is actually the first mainstream manufacturer to officially introduce a series of home audio products that offer the two big features that have been MIA on home audio products till now, the HDMI 1.3; consisting of an onboard decoding of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks found on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. For now it is the most exciting and surprisingly affordable A/V receivers. Together with HDMI 1.3 and Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD support (except the two low-end models), include support for XM and Sirius satellite radio (not including subscriptions and accessories). All the seven models offer Audyssey automatic speaker calibration, 7.1-channel analog inputs, at least two HDMI inputs and one output, and compatibility with Onkyo’s iPod docks. The whole arrangement is impressive and most alluring, especially for those on a reasonable budget. For a home theater receiver this model has an excellent feature set and ample power for most setups. The Onkyo TX-SR505 is a capable home theater with stunning versatility, to better appreciate this versatility think of the modern home entertainment components that everyone wishes to acquire. The Onkyo TX-SR505 comes with a formidable selection, with HD-ready displays, DVD players (including the latest Blu-ray and HD DVD players), gaming consoles (such as the Xbox and PlayStation 3), set-top boxes and MP3 players (especially the iPod). While it does support 1080P HDMI switching, it is disappointing that the receiver does not pickup the audio data from the HDMI connections, a separate audio connector (Toslink or Coaxial) is required. This may be the reason why some people may opt for other models that are capable of decoding the audio signal over HDMI. However this model has all the components that aren’t even on the other models in this same price range and this is what qualifies the Onkyo TX-SR505 as a good buy.