The 1050 sold for $599 when it was first released, but dropped to $499 a year or so later. I've seen them on eBay and such sites for around $400. The transferrable warranty ends at two years, which may be an issue for some buyers, but the box isn't too big a deal.
Processing options with the 1050 are fairly complete -- Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, DTS, and even a proprietary approach to Dolby EX. It does lack true Dolby EX, DTS ES, and Pro Logic II, but it is still a very good piece of equipment. The 65W/channel rating has been widely regarded as a very conservative number -- the 1050 will drive a wide range of speakers very comfortably. The pre-amp outputs also allow for a separate power amp, allowing you to start your upgrade to separates slowly. There are a good assortment of inputs, and the universal remote is pretty good (when I had my 1050, I used the included remote to control the 1050, the TV, VCR, DVD player, and CD changer).
The one issue concerning the 1050 (which I believe also affects a fair number of Onkyo receivers from 2000) is caused by a handful of recent titles using a Dolby Digital EX decoding flag that forces the 1050 to engage its 6.1 Surround mode (the 1050's 6.1 Surround pre-dates the availability of Dolby Digital EX decoding by almost two years). When that happens, data from the surrounds is shifted to the surround back channel. If you don't have a surround back speaker, you could lose some of the surround audio on those discs.
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