Amazon FSSS Onkyo HT-S3500 5.1 Surround Sound $248 has real receiver & 4 HDMI inputs

[Blaster man]

I've been watching the home theater in a box prices for a couple of years now and waiting for JUST the right one to come along. I picked this one up, it's last year's model that I believe Amazon is trying to clear out. 5.1 surround sound is good enough for me as I don't know what I would do with 7 speakers. Anyone looking for a home theater should take a serious look at this. There is NO built in blu ray player which is something that I was specifically looking for. I had a home theater in a box about 10 years ago, the DVD player went out and there were no REAL inputs for another DVD player so the setup was essentially trash. Given that this costs about what most HTIB's do I'd recommend it. It has great reviews and all the components use standard connections and can be replaced.
www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3500-5-1-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B0077V88V8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361573851&sr=8-1&keywords=ht+s-3500

The first picture is the Onkyo HT-S3500 receiver. The second picture is a typical home theater in a box (Panasonic SC-BTT190) receiver. Compare them and you'll see that the typical HTIB has a shitty receiver. The Onkyo is the way to go. Not to mention it has FOUR HDMI inputs...so you can plug all your game systems in.

 

[Blaster man]

Since this doesn't have a built in blu ray player, if you're looking to upgrade to a 3D blu ray player, this one is only $89 and it's one (if not the) best blu ray player that came out last year.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00752R4PK/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

cnet review:
http://reviews.cnet.com/blu-ray-players/panasonic-dmp-bdt220/4505-9991_7-35120314.html

Together the Onkyo 5.1 setup + this blu ray player, you're only paying about $40 more than the panasonic HTIB but you're getting a real receiver and a real blu ray player and the player is the best one on the market from last year. If your player breaks you can replace it. If your receiver breaks you can replace it.