Onkyo TX-NR656 Owners Thread

Hi all, new member here.

I have a problem with my Onkyo TX-NR656 when connected to PC (GTX 1060) and a 4K TV. Everything is fine, but Windows 10 reports 1080p as being native. It lets me select 2160p and it looks good. But I'm not really sure if it's just 1080p being upscaled or not.
My cables are OK, since if I connect the PC directly to the TV, it suddenly shows 2160p as native.
I have the latest firmware on both Onkyo and TV and latest drivers for the GPU.

I realise that a workaround would be to send just audio to the Onkyo, but then I lose the OSD functionality which I like very much.
This Onkyo model is supposed to be able to passthrough 4K@60Hz. So what am I missing?

edit
The output is set to MAIN only.
 
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It lets me select 2160p and it looks good. But I'm not really sure if it's just 1080p being upscaled or not.

Get yourself an UHD test image file with resolution gratings and display that, you'll soon see if it's getting dropped down to 1080p anywhere in the chain. Set the amp to allow pass-through.

Andre
 
Thank you for the advice.
Today I had more time and tested all my cables in a direct PC-TV connection. All of them were capable of 4k/60Hz/4:2:2/10-bit by themselves. And half of them are old cheap no name cables. When did people, who must buy new cables, buy theirs, lol :D
Anyway, I then went through one of the first 3 HDMI inputs on Onkyo, since they support HDCP 2.2. I was sure that has nothing to do with the bandwith capabilities, but was proven wrong. The BD/DVD port works like a charm and 2160p is now shown as native. I still can't get 4:4:4 with 12-bit though...but that completely coincides with the Onkyo specs which I found here (click on "Supported resolutions);

TX-NR656

All in all, I am happy. Oh, I also had to enable the UHD function on the TV itself (you choose which ports should support it). And guess what, I can now suddenly change my Windows 10 to UHD in Display settings. Was unavailable to do it before. But I've tried it and it makes Windows look too horrible to warrant a change. Maybe I will change it on the fly when watching HDR content. It's not like I plan on having the latter in great quantity anyhow. The files are like 60GB-80GB, haha. Besides, 1080p looks just fine.

Now to figure out if changing to 23Hz really makes movies move better....derp..
 
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Now to figure out if changing to 23Hz really makes movies move better....derp..

It does. If the encode was at 24fps (most BluRay movies for example, and US TV shows as native downloads rather than interlaced broadcasts) then that's how you should play it back.

Andre
 
I can now suddenly change my Windows 10 to UHD in Display settings. Was unavailable to do it before. But I've tried it and it makes Windows look too horrible to warrant a change.

Having owned a 656 (I've recently upgraded to a 686) I can only say that the windows 10 desktop and applications looked amazing at 4k 60hz on my tv. I have a kabylake i7-7700K cpu (which, incidentally, is the entry level cpu for 4k netflix on windows) and 24gb of DDR4 ram, and an Nvidia gtx950 graphics card and its a struggle to play any games in 4k, or watch 4k material in PowerDVD 18. And I daren't even attempt hdr unless I want to lock my machine up. Kodi and MPC can play 4K files ok, but not hdr. I'll try switching from my graphics card to onboard graphics tomorrow to see if it is any better. But honestly, I can only think that it may be your graphics card or chipset letting the side down.
 
Having owned a 656 (I've recently upgraded to a 686) I can only say that the windows 10 desktop and applications looked amazing at 4k 60hz on my tv. I have a kabylake i7-7700K cpu (which, incidentally, is the entry level cpu for 4k netflix on windows) and 24gb of DDR4 ram, and an Nvidia gtx950 graphics card and its a struggle to play any games in 4k, or watch 4k material in PowerDVD 18. And I daren't even attempt hdr unless I want to lock my machine up. Kodi and MPC can play 4K files ok, but not hdr. I'll try switching from my graphics card to onboard graphics tomorrow to see if it is any better. But honestly, I can only think that it may be your graphics card or chipset letting the side down.


i5-9600K with GTX 1070, there is no bottleneck there.
I did some research and nobody suggests leaving HDR on for Windows since it makes them look horrible.
However, I've ran into a different problem. Every UHD 2160p video that I download is also hard coded with HDR. Which makes it look very dim and washed-out on a non-HDR Windows setup (tone mapping and stuff). So I can't watch 4K movies on my 4K display. The moment I switch to HDR in Windows, the screen goes berserk and just shows static. It works when I connect PC <--> TV directly, but Onkyo simply refuses to cooperate...
 
Use kodi, mpc, plex, vlc. Any of these will play 4k natively and will not try to turn on hdr, like powerdvd does. In fact, powerdvd is one of the worst mediaplayers I've ever used. It was the main reason I decided not to buy a 4K drive for my pc and just use an Xbox One for discs again instead.
 
Use kodi, mpc, plex, vlc. Any of these will play 4k natively and will not try to turn on hdr, like powerdvd does. In fact, powerdvd is one of the worst mediaplayers I've ever used. It was the main reason I decided not to buy a 4K drive for my pc and just use an Xbox One for discs again instead.

I have tried VLC, MPC+madVR, MPV, Potplayer and Kodi. None of them are able to downsample an UHD video in real-time and display correct colours on a non-UHD setup. Videos are still dim and washed out. Don't know what else to try, except setting my GPU to RGB/8-bit to at least be able to watch a 4K video albeit without HDR colours...

So to summarize.
I can't set my Windows 10 to HDR, because Onkyo won't cooperate.
I can't watch 4K videos on SDR Windows.
Stuck with 1080p videos and 4K feature is useless to me.
 
I can't set my Windows 10 to HDR, because Onkyo won't cooperate.
I can't watch 4K videos on SDR Windows.
Stuck with 1080p videos and 4K feature is useless to me.
I'm not saying this applies to you, but whenever I would switch the Onkyo to pc input before firing the pc up, the desktop would always be in 1080p with tiny icons. Display settings would not allow setting the screen to 4k. I would then have to reboot the pc for it to natively switch to 4k. Still no hdr though.
 
Hi All,

I’ve just ordered a LG OLED 65” B9 TV to replace my current Panasonic TX50CX802B.

I have my Onkyo NR656 set up but realised I hadn’t done any firmware updates in about 3 years as had the WiFi switched off! (My bad). I currently have a PS4 Pro and A Sky Q 2TB box connected into the AV and these are my only external devices.

few questions:

1. I have just installed the latest firmware update via the net (the one that starts with 2119 and ends with 0010) but I did read that the update with Dolby vision (a year or so ago) said you must install this by usb and not the net......so my question is....does the latest firmware update I have installed includethe Dolby vision pass through OR do I need to download and install something else/a previous update via usb?

2. do any of the updates so far include the HLG support as it’s not clear? If not, does anyone know if it’s planned for this model as I think Sky are planning to use it right? Any other limitations in this set up for Sky Q?

3. I had to switch my PS4 pro from HDMI port 4 (as it wasn’t enabling HDR) and connect it to HDMI port 3 which was HDCP 2.2 enabled which seemed to work and the PS4 now says HDR is supported. My question is whether there are any other limitations with my new setup (new TV connected to AV with PS4 pro connected)?

cheers
Dan
 
Hi All,

I’ve just ordered a LG OLED 65” B9 TV to replace my current Panasonic TX50CX802B.

I have my Onkyo NR656 set up but realised I hadn’t done any firmware updates in about 3 years as had the WiFi switched off! (My bad). I currently have a PS4 Pro and A Sky Q 2TB box connected into the AV and these are my only external devices.

few questions:

1. I have just installed the latest firmware update via the net (the one that starts with 2119 and ends with 0010) but I did read that the update with Dolby vision (a year or so ago) said you must install this by usb and not the net......so my question is....does the latest firmware update I have installed includethe Dolby vision pass through OR do I need to download and install something else/a previous update via usb?

2. do any of the updates so far include the HLG support as it’s not clear? If not, does anyone know if it’s planned for this model as I think Sky are planning to use it right? Any other limitations in this set up for Sky Q?

3. I had to switch my PS4 pro from HDMI port 4 (as it wasn’t enabling HDR) and connect it to HDMI port 3 which was HDCP 2.2 enabled which seemed to work and the PS4 now says HDR is supported. My question is whether there are any other limitations with my new setup (new TV connected to AV with PS4 pro connected)?

cheers
Dan
Sorry I should say the latest firmware update I have is 2140-1050-7090-0010
 
I have just installed the latest firmware update via the net (the one that starts with 2119 and ends with 0010) but I did read that the update with Dolby vision (a year or so ago) said you must install this by usb and not the net......

I don't know why update instructions say not to use wifi install. Every update I've done to my receivers has been by wifi.
 
Hi guys!
Just been given one of these, and I'm going to use it to build my first 5.1 system :)

It was missing the calibration microphone though, anyone know where I can get a replacement? I see some on ebay, but not sure if it has to be a specific model?

Thanks
 
I have had the 555, 656, and the Pioneer SC LX501 and SC LX-801 and they all use the same mic. My onkyo 494 had a cheaper one but it didn't change anything when I tried the nicer mic from my other units
 
I have had the 555, 656, and the Pioneer SC LX501 and SC LX-801 and they all use the same mic. My onkyo 494 had a cheaper one but it didn't change anything when I tried the nicer mic from my other units

That's great, thanks!

I'll only be using my avr in a 3.0 setup for the time being (left, right & Center), so will it stillneed the calibration microphone?

I got a pair of Q Acoustics 3020i's and the 3090Ci for the centre, so home they are ok with the Onkyo lol
 
I didn't like how mine calibrated so I set my own distance, and used my phone to measure the db to my sitting position. It had a fuller and cleaner sound that way. For some reason the onkyo setup destroyed the subs ability to do anything and very much collapsed the sound stage. So it's not a must have. If you want one ebay does have them for sale
 
I didn't like how mine calibrated so I set my own distance, and used my phone to measure the db to my sitting position. It had a fuller and cleaner sound that way. For some reason the onkyo setup destroyed the subs ability to do anything and very much collapsed the sound stage. So it's not a must have. If you want one ebay does have them for sale

Ok thanks, dont think I will bother than for the moment, especially as only a 3.0 setup!
 
Right, finally got all the bits I need to set up my system.

I'm pretty new to all this, so have another question!

Will this AV receiver degrade picture quality at all? I don't want it to do any picture processing at all!

Cheers
 
Right, finally got all the bits I need to set up my system.

I'm pretty new to all this, so have another question!

Will this AV receiver degrade picture quality at all? I don't want it to do any picture processing at all!

Cheers

You can turn any processing/upscaling off in the settings irc
 
I'm in the UK and am on version 2079-2040-5050-0008.

With update notice enabled or disabled, both the update via net and USB are disabled, so can't get the current version.
Hi Derek, I know this message is quite old, but did you solve this problem? I am having the same problem with an TX-NR656 stuck in firmware 2079-2040-5050-0008. I've tested 3 different usb sticks with FAT32, NTSC, unzipping files on the same folder, on root, nothing enables the "Update via USB" option.
 

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