I recently obtained a Roku Netflix box, and was wondering if it can be set up to output native resolution via HDMI. I am planning on buying a receiver that does upconversion to 1080p, and ideally I could output SD Netflix movies as 480i and high def Netflix as 720p and let the receiver do the upconversion. I currently am using component video out as my current TV has only one hdmi input already used and my processor doesn't accept HDMI. When I go into Roku setup, it seems to only let me choose between a 720p high def output (with Roku upconverting even SD to 720P) or choosing SD so nothing comes out high def. Will this be different when I hook it up via HDMI?

nope, not automatically.

you have to go in and physically change it in the player (which will cause a reboot)...

i do it that way... the reboot doesn't take long...

edit: although there's no guarantee that the avr you will purchase will do any better a job of deinterlacing/scaling than the roku box will, and dependent on your display, the same holds true for that...

I'm not sure that you are going to see much improvement over just keeping the resolution at 720p. If you are talking about scaling a pristine 480p image that is one thing, but the SD sources aren't that good to begin with. The other thing is that you probably want the navigation to bet set at 720p anyway to get the best navigation screen images.

probably true...

it certainly isn't unacceptable to leave it at 720p all the time... however, i experimented (because i was bored one day :), and allowing the edge to process the sd video gave me a somewhat better picture... also doing it this way gives better control over aspect ratios when netflix wants to send me something windowboxed...

ymmv... as always...

probably true...

it certainly isn't unacceptable to leave it at 720p all the time... however, i experimented (because i was bored one day :), and allowing the edge to process the sd video gave me a somewhat better picture... also doing it this way gives better control over aspect ratios when netflix wants to send me something windowboxed...

ymmv... as always...
Interesting. Are you outputting SD at 480i or 480p? It sounds like the edge is doing some nice image processing and of course, it's scaling video will be really good.

i use the 16/9 anamorphic option which is 480p... which i should have been clearer on... :o i also have tried the 4:3 option with academy ratio films, but for the most part, the transfers aren't pretty to begin with, so there's a limited amount of "improvement" that can be had...

apply prep in the edge to have it clean up any funny deinterlacing errors... then scale to 1080p for output to the display... depending on what the aspect ratio is, possibly apply a different output setting in the edge...

like i said, it wouldn't be unacceptable to leave it at 720p all the time and forget it... my particular method works in my particular setup (roku ---> edge ---> 150fd)... depending on the individual's setup (and their patience level ;) ), there may or may not be an advantage to doing it this way...

ymmv. and as always, a lot of it is transfer dependent. the quality of transfer varies wildly with netflix streaming, although they make every effort to clean out "bad" ones when you let them know about it...

Thanks, that answers my question. I'll have to experiment to see if it is worth it to manually change or to just leave it at 720p. I am planning on getting an Onkyo TX-SR876 which has the HQV Reon-VX video processing chip. Although I haven't seen this chip in action, all the reviews are that it does an excellent job scaling and deinterlacing, and might help improve the picture a little. I'm not complaining though, the picture on the Roku has been good so far and it is amazingly convenient.