Even I was hunting for the same answer. Have gone through lots of discussions and threads in this forum. There are aptly pointed responses favoring onkyo hts3300 for the future technology it supports but some reading on the net and I seem to have found a favorable feature (present tech) which for me is important and is missing in Onkyo hts 3300 - Dolby Prologic II. Seems this processing ability allows a receiver to convert (or maybe simulate) stereo sound into 5.1 sound. With most of the audio resources I will play - DVD and DVD rips, FM radio, Audio and MP3 CDs, standard TV output, I would love to have them played on 5.1. So looks like Onkyo may get a thumbs down from me. I would love to hear from friends in the forum on my point of view.