Just now realized I have at least 3 jobs out there with Onkyo's that have bad HDMI boards and are out of warranty. all three of these, the equipment is with the tv so i was able to go straight from the sources to the tv directly and then just add optical cables for surround sound to the avr. We re-program the remote and charge less than a new receiver would cost them. I mean, this is how I would do it at my house. I wouldn't buy a new receiver until mine went to crap. The Customer seems to really appreciate trying to save them some money. The customers don't even notice any difference. I do however give them the option to just replace the receiver but they normally go with option 2. I feel fine about this option.

I think of this as if the Heat and air guy comes to my house and says, look, your unit is out. It is going to cost you 1200 dollars to replace but I could make it all work for 200 and it may last for another 5 years. I would ask him, will it change the performance of the system? He says nope. i say, here is your 200.

Am I wrong on this?

We are often in the same exact situation. I think for some clientele it works fine but there are others where it makes more sense to push them into a replacement/upgrade.

The biggest thing is that by removing HDMI from the equation, they are losing access to the lossless HDMI audio codecs. For any type of dedicated room where BD actually gets used, I consider this a pretty big deal.

Depending on how old the Onkyo is, it may not have had on-screen volume or status info. Just about any new AVR will have this so I often use it as a selling point. Some people put a huge value on this.

Finally, since we have been replacing with Marantz, the conversation of Airplay comes into consideration. It is a good selling point and many people get tons of satisfaction out of it.

Once we have empowered the client with this information, it seems like 4 out of 5 times they will go ahead and replace the unit.

How has there not been a class action suit against Onkyo for failed HDMI boards.

I think it is fine as long as the receiver if out of warranty which I assume it is. The other option is to put in some kind of HDMI switcher. If you have a programmable remote, this would probably my first solution. Might even be cheaper depending on what switch you use.

I am itching to try out the new DVDO Quick 6 switcher.

On a side note, I do not understand why on-screen volume feedback is good for anything. I guess if you were deaf, and someone told you that -25 was too loud for everyone else trying to watch TV, you would know to turn it down. :)

The equivalent is having a buzzer for your lights that got louder as the lights got brighter and quieter when the lights got dimmer. :)

So that I can turn on a DVD/DVR, and ensure the volume isn't cranked from being used with an ipod last night, BEFORE I hit play. 

At home I actually have my power on macro do a single tap volume down to show the volume before the power amp circuit clicks in, so I can catch it if it's up high. 

I could file one myself.  I had 3 more go bad this week....everyone of them just over the warranty period.  It'll be a cold day in hell before I ever use one of these things again.  I'm dropping Integra for 2013 because of it.  I'm not risking anymore of my money.   

These a**holes have cost me thousands of dollars.

Ahhhh.....you just need to set the default turn on volume to a reasonable level. Unless you are using an old school avr, it should have this feature. :)

You could end up with a lip sync issue.

What audio format are you sending from the blu ray player?

Integra fixed an out of warranty unit for us with that had issues with HDMI. They said "its a known issue". Made me happy.

Just had one repaired that was just out of warranty but was covered. Shop said it's a known issue with the HDMI board and that it's used in a few different brands, not just models. If you bring this to the shop's or Onkyo's attention in a nice way, they may do the right thing for you... :-/

+1000

Those were .2 models, two models ago. No issues sense but I understand your pain.

I have not had any luck with out of warranty units. And yes, these units I am referring to are out of warranty. I offer to replace the units. We have stopped selling Onkyo. I still have many out in the field. Onkyo has cost me thousands as well. So far, not a single issue with Yamaha. My thought is, If I can use the AVR for audio, and not change performance. It is worth it to save my customer a large amount of money. They seem to appreciate it.