ERGONOMICS
The TX-NR1008?s long list of user-enhancing features necessarily begins with its new-generation onscreen interface. This proved satisfyingly simple, clean, and quick (the first virtue in my book), springing up and down almost instantly. With this edition, Onkyo introduces a Home key on the supplied remote that calls up a translucent half-screen sub-menu providing quick and convenient access to such necessities as audio channel-level, tone, and surround-mode options, along with video aspect ratio and brightness and contrast settings, without forcing you to make the much lengthier and more disruptive trip to the main setup display.

Also new is a worthy advance in multi-component-remote programming. Using the onscreen setup menu, you can search for each of your source components' make and model; the receiver downloads the required infrared code set from the Onkyo "cloud" (its Ethernet connection must be active), and then beams to the supplied remote via IR - no more searching for that long-lost code booklet whenever you add or change equipment. It worked perfectly for all my gear. Cool!

Bottom Line
Powerful, capable, flexible, and (for all it does) quite fairly priced - Onkyo's new TX-NR1008 A/V receiver is an easy recommendation to make. Sure, the company's receiver lineup still includes five higher-end models, with a pinch more power and a few more features (hard as that may be to imagine). But the performance/value sweet spot here looks to be just about right.