The STR-DG800 features a wealth of connectivity options, including HDMI passthrough and component video up-conversion. View larger.

Digital Cinema Sound
Sony's original Digital Cinema Sound technology uses exclusive DSP technology to recreate the precise environment of three Hollywood Dubbing Stages where your movies are created. The result is true theater sound in the home from the source. You also get a huge range of other decoding technologies, including Dolby Digital Decoding, Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Pro Logic IIX, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital EX, dts 96/24, dts NEO:6, and dts-ES. All of these options give you great compatibility with the digital sound encodings in the latest DVDs and other media.

Digital Cinema Auto Calibration
Now the optimal speaker for your living room is only a press of button away. Simply place the included microphone in your listening position and allow the strength of Sony's Digital Signal Processing to take over. Speaker placement, distance, and delays are all adjusted automatically to ensure a worry free listening experience. Once you have your system optimized you can select from a variety of sound fields to suit the entertainment you're experiencing. Choose from three sound fields designed to optimize cinema, three for music, 11 for automatic format decoding, and one for two-channel stereo listening. The STR-DG800 also lets you to set up listening profiles for two rooms in your house, allowing you to route speakers to another room beyond your home theater and provide a unique listening experience there.

A/V Sync
The STR-DG800's special digital signal processing allows for lip sync delay to adjust to match the refresh rates of today's advanced flat panel televisions.

Input/Output Options
With an impressive array of I/O options, the STR-DG800 is sure to fit right into your home theater system. In addition to composite video and analog RCA inputs and outputs galore, you get optical and coaxial digital audio inputs and outputs. Multichannel inputs are of course provided, as is a subwoofer output. For complete integration with your HD video system, you get two rear component video inputs and one component video output. Other connections are provided for antennae, speaker terminals, and headphones.

As mentioned, the STR-DG800 also features HDMI passthrough. Powerful HDMI connectivity allows for uncompressed audio and video to pass through directly to your television. Additionally, there are three rear S-Video inputs and one rear S-Video output. These connections, combined with component up-conversion, allow for S-Video sources to be converted to the component output, minimizing the number of connections needed from the receiver to your television set.

XM Connect-and-Play
Because the STR-DG800 is XM-ready, a world of digital radio is at your fingertips. Connect the optional XM Connect-and-Play antenna, sign up for XM service, and enjoy a huge diversity of digital satellite radio with the superior sound quality of an A/V receiver.

Tuning and Extras
What receiver would be complete without an AM/FM tuner? The STR-DG800 provides auto tuning, direct tuning, and station name tuning options, and there's a preset memory for 30 FM and 30 AM stations. Meanwhile, the STR-DG800's portable audio enhancer provides simplified front audio and video connections plus a digital signal processor that is used to expand the quality from any portable device that is connected. And last but not least, the unit ships with a handy remote control that can be programmed to execute a series of commands with a single button push.

What's in the Box
STR-DG600 receiver, FM wire antenna, AM loop antenna, 2 AA batteries, remote control, and instruction manual.

I saved $400 on the receiver and JBL speakers over the Best Buy prices. Although, if I had to buy another I wouldn't spend the extra money to get the HDMI options. I ended up having to plug PS3 directly into the TV and digital audio into the receiver. Outside of that I still got a great deal. Works great. The receiver does not pull the audio out of the HDMI stream, so it doesn't pay to spend the money.

Took quite a long time for set up but was very easy to set up by following the instructions. Great sound for the price. Couldn't beat the price through any of the local retailers.

I Think for the price this is the best Receiver on the market to date and Amazon offers it at a great price 2 HDMI in puts 1 HDMI out put with all the others bells and whistles.