Hi. So as a newbie I can tell you that the Denon 889 receiver is a snap to setup. Sound wise it is pushing my HTD level 2 7.1 speaker system very well.
I was also confused on which to purchase between the two but opted for the 889 more for the convenience of it being available at my local Best Buy store.
As for the video quality, I am running an epson 720 projector via HDMI and have a perfect (as far as I can tell) image. Unlike sone I have read about with other types of equipment complaints of bars and lines in image.
The Audessy mic setup program is very easy and can honestly say that no tweaking is necessary after calibration.
Sweet is the juice.
