Customer Reviews

Onkyo HT-S5300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker Package with iPod Dock (Black)

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I purchased this HTIB system to replace my Sony STR-Se501 that I have had for over 10 years. That system has served me well, but recently the center speaker would occasionally cut out requiring me to tap on the top of the receiver to get the sound to come back. When working that system sounded pretty good, but I knew I had a problem when I played God of War 3 and I had a very hard time hearing the speech of some characters, even when my center speaker was working. I was all set to get the HT-S5200, but decided to hold off when I saw the HT-S5300 was coming out with better features. After getting the system setting up, I am glad I was patient.

The HT-S5300 is an excellent system for the price, even a much better deal when purchasing from online sites that give you a pretty hefty discount as opposed to the regular retail price. Everything comes packed neatly and securely in one large box and the basic instructions of hooking everything up is explained clearly on a full color poster which should have you up and running in no time. Even the speaker wires and inputs on the back of the receiver or color coded adding more the simplicity.

In addition to looking great with a black wood finish, the speakers are larger than I expected them to be; especially the front speakers and subwoofer, the fronts are so big in fact, instead of standing them up in a cubby hole of my entertainment center were I had my old speakers, I had to lay them down to get them to fit. I may look into getting some wall mounts for them, but my living room is an open area that isn't really set up for wall mounting. I have only hooked up speakers required for a 5.1 system because I really don't have the type of floor plan to accommodate the 2 extra included speakers without it looking tacky so I left the two extra speakers in their original packaging for future use. You may be wondering why I didn't op for the HT-S3300 instead of the 7.1 HT-S5300. The reason is that coming from an HTIB that has an active subwoofer (i.e. has its own power source, as opposed to a subwoofer that is powered by the receiver itself), I didn't want to "downgrade" to a passive sub. This is the main reason I opted for the HT-S5300 and had the HT-S3300 had an active sub as well, I more than likely would have gotten that instead.

After getting every thing setup, I admit I was unimpressed with the sound it put out. The bass from the massive subwoofer seemed weak and the other speakers did not seem to be as good as I expected, however after fiddling around with the sound settings I got them to sound excellent. The speakers required tweaking of their output level settings and I had to adjust the bass and treble settings to get the clear put powerful sound I was looking for. After getting my settings correct, I popped in God of War 3, and the sound is 100% better I can clearly hear characters speech and I now I want to play ALL my games again to hear them as they were supposed to sound. I have also tried my DVD's and my one Blu-Ray movie, The Dark Knight, and it sounds much better than my old receiver did. The subwoofer is quite powerful, and if you put your hand anywhere near the opening, you will feel strong puffs of air coming out. Sometimes the bass is a little overwhelming, but you can adjust the output on the back of it as well as through the receiver's menu.

An excellent feature is that you can adjust receiver settings directly on your TV screen without having to look at the small display on the receiver itself. This makes it easy to adjust settings from your couch using the remote using the well designed menu screen. Keep in mind this only works if you have HDMI on your TV, if you don't have HDMI, then unfortunately this feature won't work.

Speaking of HDMI, unlike many receivers in this price range, the HDMI carries both video and sound meaning no need for an optical or coaxial cable to get sound. This is another reason I waited to get a new receiver. The fact that this receiver carries both Video and sound also makes hooking up components much easier. I had been using a digital selector to get sound from my various devices, but after setting up my devices I discovered I didn't even need the selector anymore so it has been removed completely from my setup. My older components like my DVD and VCR/DVD Recorder don't have HDMI, but no worries; the receiver accommodates those devices as well using traditional connections. I applaud Onkyo tremendously for deciding to allow both audio and video over the HDMI connections on their newer receivers; it is a huge plus. Finally, the HDMI connections will support the new 1.4 versions, but works just fine with 1.3 cables as well. So don't think you have to get the new version of cables to get your stuff to work properly because you don't.

One small complaint I have is that sometimes the settings seem to not save or undo themselves and other times I cannot adjust the speaker level settings because they sometime get disabled for some reason. The full manual does not do a very good job in explaining why this happens, so that leaves me to trying different things to get it to work. But when I do get it working, I am very pleased with the sound. Also I ran into a situation last night in which I wasn't getting any sound from my PS3 to the receiver, but simply turning off the receiver and turning it back on resolved that hiccup.

One final thing I must mention is that this receiver is in the Harmony's database of devices so it works with my Harmony One really well. However keep in mind; instead of using "HT-S5300" as the model number you should use "TX-SR508". I believe that is the actual model number of the receiver (or very similar receiver) if you were to buy it separately. There is a model number on the receiver itself, but that model number listed is not in the database which I why I used "TX-SR508" instead. I haven't quite completed getting my button configurations done, but once I am finished, I suspect I won't need the included Onko remote anymore.

I debated for a while before deciding on this receiver and after getting the settings how I wanted, I could not be happier with my purchase. If I had some complaints then it has to do with the manual, even though its neatly laid out, it does not does a very good job in explaining why certain things happen (i.e. unable to configure various speaker settings at times), but the system itself is excellent for the price with good speakers and a powerful subwoofer that should satisfy most of us. You can always opt for better speakers, but for most, I suspect the included speakers would be enough for a while. If you are looking for a great Home Theater system that won't break the bank, you can't go wrong with the HT-S5300 which can function as 7.1 system and also a 5.1 system if you don't have the room setup for a 7.1 one. There are also option inputs for Front High speakers as well as a "Zone 2" setup that allows you to send sound to speakers in another room. If you don't really care about the active subwoofer, then take a look at the HT-S3300, a 5.1 system with much of the same features as this, but with one less HDMI port and a passive subwoofer and a little less power.

This product has great promise - if they release fixes to the issues below. We even got a replacement receiver and subwoofer to see if we had a lemon, but (with the exception of one issue), all the problems were there in the replacements as well. We will be returning this product. Here's why...



1) S5300 doesn't "up-convert" composite/component formats to HDMI
I didn't learn this until I bought it (my fault), but I wanted to pass it along so you don't make the same mistake. I confirmed this in their manual and with a call to Onkyo. If you connect any non-HDMI device to the Onkyo, it will only send it out the same way. It will not up-convert it to HDMI.

If you connect a composite device (say, a kid's Leap Frog video game), you need a composite cable out from the Onkyo to your TV. Same for component. So if you use all 3 input types, that means you need 3 outputs from the Onkyo to the TV - HDMI, composite, and component. This also means you have to change the TV input alongside changing the Onkyo input. This might be par for the course for some, but the whole point of buying a new central HTIB device like this was to act as a hub for all inputs (regardless of type) and have a single HDMI out to the TV, so you never have to touch TV inputs again. Supposedly the next step up in receivers (6000 series) has up-converting.

Most of our devices are HDMI, and I'm sure eventually everything will be. But if you even have a single non-HDMI device... well, I'd rather have an up-converting receiver to avoid the unnecessary extra steps.


2) HDMI drop out
I saw HDMI signal cut out a couple times on the initial receiver unit, but it was brief. I see it more pronounced on the replacement receiver. I looked online and found others have experienced this, where HDMI signal will periodically cut out. For some people, it was very frequent (every 3 minutes). Sometimes just sound, sometimes just picture, sometimes both leaving you with a blue screen or "no signal" message. Personally, I only saw brief blank screens or missing audio for 10 seconds or so. It's very unpredictable.

I was reading some posts of people that troubleshooted it to the receiver overheating. After about 2-3 hours of running they'd see problems start up, even with 4 inches of clearance above the receiver (which is how much clearance I had). For those people experiencing it really bad, they could make the issue go away by having a 140mm PC fan blow as an "exhaust" fan on top of it for 2 minutes (or even blowing a fan directly on the front of it). I don't think we should need an external 3rd party fan to keep this receiver working properly.

I found the initial receiver was doing dropouts after about 2 hours of being on, but the replacement receiver can do it within a few moments of being turned on. So it doesn't seem like an overheating thing. Long forum thread on the various issues: google "avs 1235651" to get the thread.


3) Picture suddenly washed out in a single color
You can be watching cable/DVR source in the DVR HDMI input and suddenly the picture is washed out in blue, green or purple. It happens on both the initial and replacement receivers, and with different DVR boxes - and it is not subtle. The only thing that reliably gets rid of the washed out color is to change the input source to something else and back. Then the picture is fine. I can't reproduce this problem on demand, but we've seen it on both receivers about a total of 5 times in the span of two weeks. I called Onkyo, and they had no solution. I've never seen this happen with the DVR plugged directly into the TV. We're currently about to test other devices (Blu-Ray, HDMI video camera, etc.) and using different HDMI ports to see if we can reproduce it in any combination.


4) HDMI motherboard wiggles
This happens with both the initial and replacement receivers. When you plug an HDMI cable into the back and gently move it up/down, you can view (through the ventilation holes on top of the S5300) the internal motherboard for the HDMI ports wiggling a decent amount. It's not firmly attached. This can't be a good thing. In my call to Onkyo, the tech said it might be a bad batch of poorly constructed units. Yummy.


5) Speaker switching/inverting
Onkyo posted a press release admitting to another issue; something about speaker switching during PCM playback. I haven't experienced that one, because I haven't played a Blu-Ray yet. I don't believe there is a fix for it yet. It looks like its specific to the surround (back) speakers we're not using right now, but since we might want to use them some day, it's kind of lame that it's there. Google "onkyo press releases 185" to get their post.


6) Audyssey / Sound Phasing
I've noticed (on both receivers) that music lacks fullness and energy. I poked around online and found others are reporting that this particular receiver has a deficiency in the 800-1,000 frequency range, which causes this issue. If you turn on the audyssey (which we'll be using all the time, since we have kids and have to listen at low levels at night), it ignores your manual speaker calibrations (as intended) to do it's own adjustments. But audyssey on this unit causes phasing, where lower frequencies start drowning out similar (and polar) frequencies before they even get to your ear. The result is that this receiver's audyssey feature often drowns out the 1k-2k frequencies making it hard to hear dialogue articulation of syllables like "ss st puh kuh." You end up with the bass distorted and unnatural sound. I have noticed this, but to be fair, it isn't horrible. Just mildly annoying.

There was other strange stuff I noticed with the audyssey when it curtails the sudden loud stuff. It's pretty noticeable. Sometimes it feels like it's struggling to keep up with the processing rather than doing it in real time.


7) Subwoofer buzz
This happens with both the initial and replacement subwoofer. The subwoofer produces a buzz or humming sound, even when it was not in use, has the gain turned all the way down and has no input cable connected. Simply plugging it into an A/C outlet to get power was enough to create the buzz. When you put your ear to it, the buzz comes from the bottom. We just had our electrical upgraded/redone within the last year and our previous powered Onkyo subwoofer does not make the sound. I can plug the subwoofer into any outlet in the house and reproduce the issue (so it rules out interference from nearby electronics or problematic power strips, etc.).


8) Subwoofer on/off
I saw this issue all the time on our initial subwoofer, and almost not at all on the replacement subwoofer. So I'm guessing it was a defective initial sub unit. But figured it was worth mentioning in case you got a lemon sub. I can set the receiver volume at (say) 30, and the sub is off, which is suppose to mean that the sub has no input signal to play. I can increase volume to 35, and the sub turns on. I can then decrease the volume back to 30 or even lower (now that I have forced the sub to turn on)... and can hear the sub producing bass sounds. So clearly there was signal being sent to the sub at that 30 volume, but the sub was (initially) ignoring it and staying off. I called Onkyo, and they said it was a defective subwoofer.

And by the way, Onkyo also confirmed there is no receiver setting to force the sub to stay on regardless of signal coming in. You know, like, "If the receiver is on, keep the sub on" type thing. There is only the "double bass" setting (which I already had on) and increasing signal sent to the sub (which I believe gets defeated when you turn on audyssey).


9) Clicking iPod Dock
Others have reported clicking sound when an iPod/iPhone is seated in the cradle (and during operation). I didn't have this issue, but we have a very old iPod Nano, so it might be an issue only for newer iPods or the iPhone. Just be aware of the possibility.


10) Onscreen volume/muting display
When you adjust the volume up or down, a thin horizontal bar appears on your TV screen for a moment. If you mute the Onkyo, this bar sticks on the TV screen with a blinking muted text. It is very long/wide, and unfortunately, happens to cover up our Time Warner guide and interface in a bad location. Turns out this receiver cannot disable that display/overlay, so you're stuck with it. This is an incredibly minor point as most people likely would prefer it on. But I wanted to point it out to those of you who prefer it off (we don't mind the overlay when you are fiddling with the "settings," for example, but the volume/muting get used a great deal, so we find it annoying).


Conclusion
This is a really promising product, especially in the price range. We tried some soundbar+sub products (Yamaha YHT-S400, Sony HT-CT150) as well as several other HTIB receiver/speaker products (Samsung HT-C6500, LG LHB335, LG LHB535, Sony E570), and the Onkyo S5300 had the best sound and sound options (sound fields), hands down. But the reality is, if the Onkyo can't perform the basic functions flawlessly (i.e., watching without video/sound dropouts or washed out video, etc.), then it isn't worth it. We hope this helps you make an informed decision.

I ordered the system on Thursday morning and got it delivered on Friday by 1pm thru Prime members 2Day shipping. Definitely amazed by the delivery service earlier than expected date.

Easy to setup the system in my home which took less than an hour to set it up. Comes with very easy to understand setup guide.

Watched The Dark Night on it and I must say the I was surprised (even sounds great with onkyo's crappy speaker cables) with the surround sound quality. Subwoofer is a monster. I was doing research on Onkyo's HTIB systems for last few months and I must say that this system serves all my purpose blu ray, digital video to upscaled HDMI videos.

Cons: None so far for this product.

This comes with iPod dock so that's also a plus for my need. The system comes with a crappy speaker cables same as Onkyo's other HTIBs. You must buy a good quality speaker cables 14 or 16Gauge depends upon your room setup.

Onkyo's HTIB for this price range STANDS OUT among any other HTIB. It includes 4 HDMI input with video and audio over HDMI, and a new HDMI 1.4 3D video, audio channel return support.

This system sounds great. I will be returning a Samsung HW-C560S system and keeping the Onkyo. The extra power of the sub and the size and quality of the speakers make it worth the extra cost.

There was an error on the Amazon listing when I purchased the Onkyo HT-S5300. It has a picture of an Audyssey microphone. This package does NOT include a microphone and hopefully Amazon will update the listing soon.

I highly recommend this system.

I typically read, but do not write, reviews for products I buy; however, in this case, with all the negative reviews I've seen on this system, I feel I should chime in. I have had this system for about 2 weeks now, and have loved it. The sound is great, the hdmi switching is great, the hdmi-cec compatibility is great, etc. Other than the 3D capability, which I have not used, I have experienced every major selling point/feature for this system, and loved it.

My setup includes:
50" Samsung Plasma (PN50B550)
Samsung Blu-Ray (BDP1590)- Refurb that works flawlessly, btw.
Xbox 360
HTPC

All components are wired through HDMI to the receiver, utilizing the single HDMI out from the receiver to the TV for video.

The speakers, for an HTIB setup, are clear and powerful. While the volume seems to follow an almost logarithmic scale, I have never had to crank past 60% before feeling like my ears were going to bleed. Dimension-wise, the room the system is set up in is about 12x15, and it fits perfectly. The subwoofer, set to mid-volume, is always enough. It is a decent sub that focuses on it's full, intended spectrum, as opposed to just punching. It rumbles when it should, and even at low volumes, it will carry a bass line audibly without waking up the people sleeping in the next room.

Issues I've experienced:

* The receiver itself would not fit in my component cabinet. The noted dimensions include a 6" height, which my cabinet would accommodate, however, the combination of the included legs/spacers and the "face"-overhang of the unit were about a quarter centimeter too much to slide into the allotted height. This was easily fixed by picking up some furniture coasters, predrilling them, and mounting them in-place of the original legs.

* I have experienced a timing/sync issue with the audio dropping every 30 seconds or so for a split second, while the unit was decoding dts. Power-cycling the unit, which took all of 5 seconds, solved the issue, and I have not experienced this problem since. I run both bitstream and PCM and the receiver has produced/passed sound perfectly with both, minus this one instance.

With the low number of reviews on this product, keep in mind that a fair number of negative reviews stem from unrealistic expectation, lack of electronic literacy, etc. I'm not saying that they are all this way, or even that the system is perfect, but for the price, Onkyo has built something pretty great. Good luck.

You know how it goes, you buy a hi-def tv and now you've got to update all your equipment. I was happy with my Sony 36" and dvd player but after getting a great deal on a 61" 1080p Hi-def tv i knew i might as well upgrade my surround sound and go with blu-ray.

My girlfriend who knows or cares nothing about these things rolled her eyes and laughed. She's just there to enjoy it.

So off i went to Best Buy and laughed at the Sony home-theater-in-a-box systems. Cheap looking plasticky components for high prices. The Samsung HTC-6500 with integrated blu-ray player and 5.1 surround sound enticed me. I bought it cause it looked super sleek and sexy with its touch front panel controls and glossy black finish. Plus it claimed to be incredibly powerful with 1000 watts of sound power.

I already owned the Onkyo LS-V900 5.1 dvd surround system and i loved the quality of its sound and its sleek brushed aluminum look. You know with us guys though, we're looking for a reason to upgrade our electronics.

I took the Samsung home and i put it head to head with my Onkyo LN-V900 and the Onkyo won hands down. In comparison the Samsung sounded good and strong but weak when the volume went up. It sounded muddled and the bass not strong and is not adjustable. There also was not a lot of volume to play with either. In both movies and music it was just ok. I wanted to love it but it's performance was lacking. the Samsung went back in the box and back to the big-box-store.

I looked to Onkyo and found the HT-s5300. Wow, what a HUGE difference! I am totally impressed. The sound is clear and powerful. The sub-woofer rocks the room and the sound is deep. It is just a huge difference and sounds better than my Ls-V900.
Without a doubt leaves the sexy Samsung HTC-6500 in the dust. Even the dvd movies which are upconverted from the ht-s5300 look more hi-def than coming direct from the blu-ray player.

I love the Onkyo's included ipod/iphone dock that charges my iphone while im watching tv. The included speakers sound great and the powered sub-woofer rocks the house with deep, rumbling bass and is adjustable. For the money this is a great sounding system with all the latest features like HDMI 3-D ready inputs.

The price won't break the bank. The quality is there, the features are there. Unless you're rich and want to spend upwards of $2000 for a receiver then this component is awesome.

Yeah, the Onkyo HT-s5300 is not a slim, glossy, touch control machine. But it's a sexy powerhouse of a beast that i had to remove the glass shelf from the tv stand so it would fit and be adequately ventilated. Yeah i had to buy a separate blu-ray player instead of having it integrated like the Samsung but i think it's worth it and have raved about it to all who are near me at work! I'm glad i kept it with Onkyo and for the money, is a great quality and value.

This is the most versatile and easy to use HTIB that I have ever used. Hooking it up was easier than I expected. All the steps are easily explained in the instruction manual. Calibrating the surround experience to my personal tastes took a few days to figure out. Once everything was up and running, the difference in the sound quality was unbelievable! The subwoofer fills the room, and every nuance is exposed. I love this surround sound system. As I have only had it for a couple of months now, I cannot yet speak to its long term use, but if it holds up over time, I can't see it being replaced for years! It's already a couple steps ahead of the times. It is capable of surround sound with 3-D TVS, and it produces surround sound in 7.1, when I believe industry standard is still 5.1.

I have learned a couple of things that might save someone else a little time - First, even though this system is a 7.1 dolby surround sound system, most Blu-rays and DVDs, and practically all cable programming, are in 5.1 or less. I fretted for days trying to find something in 7.1 to properly calibrate everything. However, 5.1 programming is upscaled to 7.1 through the receiver. Secondly, I wasn't sure which setting I should be using when watching something, and constantly flipped through the presets (dolby D, EX, Stereo, and etc.). Recently I found out that the signal "tells" the receiver the intended preset to use. Sometimes I still flip through the other presets, but for the most part, now that I know this, I feel better about sitting back and enjoying, as opposed to micromanaging the thing!

Two other tips - if your room is longer than about 15ft and you are running the speaker wire through the floor, you may need more cable. The system comes with 30 ft for the back surround speakers, but I needed about 2 ft more per speaker. Another thing, when using the Ipod dock, you may have to take the Ipod out of the protective case. My Ipod is in an Iskin, and it won't fit in the dock, in the case.

All in all, I am surprised that this system sounds as good as it does for the price. It far exceeded my expectations. It sounds like it could easily be a $1,000 system!

I did a tremendous amount of research before buying this receiver on various audio websites and forums. I jumped between Pioneer and Onkyo for a while and then once I decided on Onkyo it was between the 3300, 5300 and the 7200 series HTIB. I finally decided on the 5300 for many of the reason that another reviewer "C.Johnson" did so read their review for good details. I have currently owned and operated this audio receiver for about a week at the time of this review.

The biggest reasons I went with the 5300 were the 4 HDMI inputs on the back, the powered sub-woofer, the nice amount of inputs and outputs it had and the Ipod Docking station. Much like C.Johnson I wanted to set up a 5.1 system in my living room because a 7.1 would have been too difficult to run wires for due to my layout. The 3300 was just too weak on many of the features that I was looking for and the 7200 had everything I wanted but was just too expensive for the few things it did over the 5300. So the 5300 was the perfect middle of the road purchase for a nice price as well.

The box was massive and was delivered with Amazon Prime shipping in 3 days over the weekend (Bought on Fri and Delivered on Mon). It arrived in good shape and the receiver and speakers were very well packaged in custom shaped styrofoam and each piece individually wrapped in a protective wrap and then plastic bags.

After reading plenty of forums on audio receivers I didn't even bother hooking up the speakers with the packaged wired which really are small and wimpy looking with the exception of the sub-woofer wire which was fine. Instead I ordered these at the same time as the receiver RCA AH16100N 16-Gauge Speaker Wire (100 Feet) and also got three of these Mediabridge Ultra Series - 6ft High Speed HDMI Cable - Category 2 Certified - Supports 3D - Audio Return Channel - 4Kx2K - 1440p - 1080p - Blu-Ray - PS3 - XBox 360 to hook together my DVR, PS3 and HDTV through the Audio Receiver. By the way it all works correctly looks great and sounds great. Some advice on Speaker Wire length needs in a new setup. Measure out where the receiver is and get some twine and actually lay out your speaker wire to where you intend to put speakers. Then add up all the lengths and buy the appropriate length wire. Remember to buy more than you need because you will always need slack in places that you may not have realized you needed slack. Better to have too much wire than not enough.

Now there are a whole lot of settings on this audio receiver which is about par for the course on modern ARs so I wasn't surprised. However fine tuning things just right did take a couple of hours and also learning what all the settings were took some time. As another reviewer suggested the owners manual has much to be desired. While it does explain generally what things are, it doesn't give much detail on why certain settings are used or how they need to be tweaked. It would be nice if there were more details perhaps on the Onkyo website. They do have an FAQ and they also have Tech Support online but I figure a nice detailed description and function use for each setting might be nice. I didn't even find the "Night Time Sound" until I happen to stumble across it.

Over all the speakers that came with the HTIB are excellent and sound great. Playing music, watching movies and HD TV channels is a new experience with this HTIB. The receive does run a little hot so make sure it's in an open ventilated area and not enclosed in some cabinet someplace.

I say for someone wanting a middle of the road HTIB that has some bells and whistles and won't break the bank, that this is an excellent choice. If you want just a little bit more and are willing to spend $250-300 more I'd personally say that the 7200 would be better or wait for the 7300 which I'm sure will come out soon enough. Onkyo for the win.

The receiver is shoddy and never worked correctly.

Here's the issues I have had with this product:

- I had trouble getting a 1080p source to work through the unit. Neither my PS3 or my XBox 360 would initially work through the receiver when the PS3 and 360 were set to output 1080P using HDMI. Tried several HDMI cables with no luck. It wasn't until I did a hard reset on the receiver (Which erased all my custom settings) that solved the problem. I suspect it would happen again. My other devices, such as my HD DVD player and my DVR worked fine because they output 1080i.

- Random sound drops. Very irritating. I've had it happen with surround and stereo sources.

- Surround speakers are reversed only when the receiver is set to multichannel PCM. If you are able to bitstream the new sound formats, you should be ok. However, if you're using the older model PS3, or a Blu-Ray player that does not support bitstreaming like myself, your only option is allow your PS3/Blu-Ray player to internally decode the new HD sound formats and send them to the receiver. For some reason, the receiver sends left surround sources to the right side and visa versa. Onkyo even acknowledges this issue.

I thought the onscreen menu options were awesome. Makes it a whole lot easier to setup your receiver. I also thought it sounded very well for the price. However, the problems I mentioned above totally ruined what could have been an amazing deal. Can't believe Onkyo dropped the ball.

Well I'll get this out of the way first, I recieved my Onkyo5300 in early Sept/2010 and have none of the problems some of the other reviewers have stated. I use A PS3 for my blue-ray player and have no rear speaker switching, nor do I need a firmware update. And as far as problems when switching between components- hasn't happened. I checked the manufacture date for my system and it was July 2010 so I'm guessing Onkyo has listened to the early feedback and corrected the problems in the newer build models. On to the review->

Prior to the HTS5300 I owned a 2004 model samsung 5.1 htib and a 2006 model Onkyo 5.1 htib. The 2006 Onkyo was what I used prior to the 5300s arrival and it was a similar version of the onkyo hts3300 that came out earlier this year. The Samsung I had was terrible, the Onkyo on the other hand was a great value with above average quality- it just couldn't push it and give me the room shaking sound that i was looking for. Enter the 5300, after setting it up and about an hour of sound calibration... WOW.
This system can pound plain and simple, but with 1200 watts tied to a THD rating of .08% it's easy to see why. I can agree that sometimes the sub can be over powering but it's nothing that can't be fixed by a simple turn of the gain knob on the back of the sub box. This is not to say the fronts- center- surrounds- and rear surrounds can't belt it out, because they can. It's simply a matter of calibrating the system to your room and more importantly- your liking. The 5300 boasts a full suite of Audessey features as well as the ability to adjust every sound option in the book to your own specifications for the audio purists, which makes it easy to make the 5300 one of the best sounding HTIB systems on the market- hands down.

As far as video connections go, if you've got newer equiptment then this system has everything you'll need- hdmi 1.4 for 3d-1080p-deep color- x.v.color- and it can carry the 600hz refresh rate on my plasma. As far as audio it does the whole way up to 7.1 linear pcm- dolby digital hd-and dts hd master, so in short- you're covered. On the other hand I can't truthfully recommend this system to someone who is going to be hooking up dated components to it- even a nintendo wii. Reason being - there is no upscaling to hdmi. That means if you make a connection for say, an older dvd player, the connection will probably be RCA "yellow-white-red wires" or component "blue-green-red-white-red wires" you will have to run another set of rca's or component's back out from the reciever to your tv. It will also not upscale the image to HDMI or upscale its resolution for that matter to make the picture look cleaner. This isn't to say the 5300 doesn't have all the connections you would need to hook up older components because it has plenty, you just might end up with a tangled mess after hooking them all up AND running them to the tv.

When it comes to the looks of the system, I can't say enough about the build quality of the reciever and speakers. The speakers are a slick black wood grain with accents of glossy black parts, the subwoofer is huge- but sleek with the same combination of black wood grain and gloss. The reciever on the other hand is not going to win any beauty contest- most of the sony-pioneer-samsung htib systems will go for style over performance with touch screen displays- led lighting, ect. where as the Onkyo is a solid boxy chunk of power, just pick it up once and you'll feel the build quality over its competition.

All in all i can't recommend this system enough for performance and value if you've got the right equiptment to pair it with and a basic knowledge of how to calibrate a home theater. If you're just looking for something that sounds decent and is ready to go out of the box, stick to the dept stores and pick up a simple sony or a samsung. It you don't mind a little calibration and want an authentic- powerful theater experience- the HTS5300 is your weapon of choice.