Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Flagship Onk at half price

Open box.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/onkyo-tx-rz1100-av-receiver-review-test-bench

https://www.onkyousa.com/product/web-only/tx-rz3100-2/

Now that's tempting.
I'm inching closer to a multitude of electronics replacement. More likely waiting until after next March to finally make the big change.
Anything in the HT room is going to 4k, wifi and if necessary other connectivity.
TV, AVR and Bluray all being changed out with an eye to adding an amp as well to run the centre and mains. Might hold off on the bluray though as we haven't been collecting discs and at this point, will probably move to online subscriptions for movies.

If this was happening in about 7 months, i'd be all over it.

This makes it one of the least expensive 11.2 (or 5.4.2) processors out there with pre-outs. I've been thinking of making the move to 5.4.2 or 7.4.2 (current Onk is 9.2 or 5.2.2) to expand my ATMOS experience. This is indeed tempting.

However, I have a very minor beef with Onkyo... there is no easy way to determine what codec is actually playing. CBL/SAT or BD/DVD on the display irritates me. I want to know if it really is playing ATMOS or Dolby True HD, etc... if only for peace of mind. Yamaha does this and so does Marantz. I know the Onkyo is playing the right codec but I just wish I had reassurance. My wife, on the other hand, could care less and it is more important to her to know she is on the right source setting *ack*

On my 7 year old Onk, I can find that info out for both audio and video through the menu.

Our 17 YEAR OLD Onkyo (yes, that's not a typo), displays the Dolby D on the menu once the audio connection is made but then reverts back to the input type (DVD, SAT). I don't recall if there was a way to check this in the menu.
If i were to change the audio DSP in real time, moving from the range of Direct, Stereo, Theatre, Stadium, ...etc. eventually you come back around to the Dolby D again before it again reverts to the input type on the OSD.

I'm wondering if Onkyo has made a change over time and removed this quick show of the codec display.

This is the key thing for me, finding an AVR with pre-outs anymore means having little choice but going 'high' end. There's tons of AVR under $700 that have all the features you need even 7.2 or more and Atmos functions, but to get those pre-outs you need to pay even more.
I would say i'm tempted to get just a processor and amps to split apart the cost i'm paying for an AVR as a whole unit, but there really isn't any cost savings as separate processors are usually more expensive than some flagship AVR.

I just noticed my Onk does the same although that info is also accessible from the on-screen display. I don't use the LED display because I sit 14 feet away.

You really have me intrigued now. It never occurred to me to press the "i" button on the remote to see what would pop up on screen. I mostly use the Onkyo App and it simply says "Dolby Digital" which could be one of many codecs. If it does what I think you say it does which is to display "Dolby Digital: ATMOS" in the bottom right like it does when I adjust volume, then my annoyance with Onkyo will be a thing of the past. All I need is a 1 second visual assurance it is playing what I think it is playing.

I suppose you can look up the manual for that model and read up on what it says. I on the other hand, trust the Onk decoding. The Onk engineers know their stuff.

When I was still a 3 set up HTIB/TX-NR525/Tascam PA-R200 {Integra 30.4} Onkyo guy the processing was great even ATMOS content on those systems was something else. It would push a whole lot more to the surrounds.
Have you gone through your inputs menu's to select the codec? {Blue ray/Netflix etc.} I seem to remember all would typically show the volume as standard and needing to use the info to see input and so on.