New DVDO EDGE !! - Page 203

Then put the AVR in the video chain and get a universal remote to handle switching and (AVR or TV sound). Lack of demand together with other good options is probably why you can't find what you want.

Yup, I was just going to say, a programmable universal remote combimed with an AVR sounds like the answer.

If having an HDMI-converter/switcher always on with the tv, then I don't see why not have the AVR on instead.
As they say, 6 of 1, half dozen of another.

The interesting thing for me is that the Edge will pass through the 3D signal. There are times when I wish I could tell it to pass through all signals from an input source.

I understand it's easier to give someone a solution that has already been recommended to them.. but please guys-- a different AVR is not a solution for everyone! For those whose AVR is an end-all solution, great! Not so for me..

We have a single family room with one nice TV and my sound system and the bluray system, etc, etc. There's only one other TV in the entire house, and it's in our bedroom. Therefore I want to have all the 'features' at my disposal, but all the 'convenience' of a simple system for the rest of my family. The Edge does this now because nothing else will-- video is handled out-of-band from the AVR, and when the AVR is off, Edge passes 2ch stereo to the TV. Great! When AVR is on, passes multichannel audio to the AVR. Great! It also does a bunch of video processing I'm told... The Edge also automatically activates to a new signal when necessary-- game system, bluray, tivo, etc. all handled just fine. Great! As I said-- The Edge is working fine -- don't need the video processing, but oh well, I get it "for free." I've basically just got myself a really expensive A/V smart-switch.

I'm not going to ditch a high end AVR (Marantz SR8001) for something else just to get auto-input-switching. Even if there were an AVR with smart switching, could I turn off the speakers and have the AVR pass 2ch stereo to the TV automatically? Probably not. And it would also require the entire AVR (a bit more power hungry than the Edge I would imagine) to be on all the time too, which isn't really what I'm looking for either.

Again though-- for those who that solution works, count your blessings! Not a (good) solution for me though.


Yes-- with auto switching, and no video "processing" just format conversion (any input to single HDMI output with 2ch audio embedding)... that's pretty much what I'd be interested in finding also..


You're probably right about lack of demand. Most folks aren't looking for this level of integration and simplification, unfortunately.


...Because the AVR drives the full surround sound speaker system. And honestly I don't want that on all day wasting that much power watching Dora the Explorer.



Oh nevermind.. ... Somebody said I hadn't been looking hard enough at what's available out there-- I simply asked for a single example because I think I've been looking pretty well!


cheers,
..dane

Presumably you are not getting this part wrt a universal remote like one of the Harmonys. You can have an Activity labeled something like -

Watch TV (sound through the TV speakers)

and an Activity labeled Watch TV AVR (sound through AVR)

and even switch between them with components turning on and off as needed automatically.

I don't understand why one might want a TV on w/o the AVR. Obviously not buying an AVR at all has cost benefits, but if you already have it, there's no downside.

Well actually I have it set up both ways on a bedroom system where both TV and cable box have sleep timers.

I have that type of setup on my family room tv too.
BUT: I use it for my 5 yr old son when he wakes in the morning.
Many time he's up very early, and there no reason for me to get up that early unless he NEEDS something.
So, I have my tv (with auto on/off timer), and my cable stb (with auto on/off timer) both set to turn on at 7AM.
This is where the auto on/off feature of the Edge comes in very nicely since it turns on when it detects an incoming signal.
I like that feature better than the auto hdmi switching.

Now that we understand where you are coming from, it's easier to know exactly what you want, and as far as that is concerned, the Edge is probably the best bet for what you are trying to accomplish.

Please don't misunderstand my (our) intentions.
I think all comments are an attempt to help you, and nothing else.

Not to be a pest, but just quickly I'd like to reiterate what an HDMI switching AVR and quality universal remote can do.
It really is a solution that would accomplish what you need to do.
Of course you would need to have the AVR on during all viewing sessions, but in reality, we really aren't going to see too much more wattage used with the AVR than with the Edge.
Maybe, at the most, $5 more a month on the electric bill.
I also understand that it seems a waste to use all that gear for something like the kids watching Nickelodeon, but in reality it's really not much different using the AVR compared to the Edge.

Of course you do not like that idea it seems, and of course you are entitled to do whatever you want to do with your system and your money. Again, just trying to help.
In these situations I always find that I usually prefer the most feedback and suggestions from everyone I can get opinions from, as that helps me cover all options and have the best solution possible for my situation.

Good luck Dane.

yes, I can see how that would be useful. Not an auto-switching solution, but a good close 2nd nevertheless..


at last two good reasons-

First, it's easier for the kids to leave my speakers alone when they're just tall obelisks not doing anything. Sound starts coming out and they start poking at them our of curiosity.. (they're 6, 4, and 3 yrs)

Second, the center channel is in the credenza with solid wood doors, closed 90% of the time for WAF standards. They open when I watch a movie and need the center channel. So with the AVR on all the time, either it would sound even worse than TV speakers (with the credenza doors closed), or would be a hassle to open and close the doors all the time (bad WAF too). Theoretically a Harmony could go through the sequence of setting the AVR to bypass mode (passing sound through) for non-AVR viewing , but that still doesn't fix the lack of auto-switching in the AVR...

I would rather my kids not have to mess with any remotes just yet...


Thanks Dave.. Yes, I appreciate all the comments... I just got frustrated that everybody wanted me to get a better remote when that's not the approach I wanted to take.

If I had an easy, affordable, quality way to convert composite to HDMI, then it would be real easy to do that and incorporate it with a $30 HDMI auto-switcher.. No remotes necessary-- when the kids come in and want to play a video game, they turn on the TV and game system (the big buttons on the front of each), and they're off to the races...

yes, the Edge is working perfectly fine.. great, in fact. Just cost more than I originally budgeted. HDMI-only auto switches are dirt cheap. composite->hdmi converters (that are worth anything) aren't it seems... but I wanted a quality system with an auto-switching, multi-format input, and the Edge (so far) seems to be the lowest cost (and best performing) solution out there..

I am just continually surprised that there isn't a quality CompositeNTSC->HDMI format converter out there for $30-50.. I guess since most TV's still have composite inputs (and most people don't mind using their remotes), as mentioned-- the demand is not there for affordable but quality composite->hdmi conversion...

Anyway, until a much less expensive approach comes along, I'll stick with the Edge...

..dane

It's really not as simple as you make it sound. Say you have multiple inputs to the TV (DVD, regular TV) and the same multiple inputs to the AVR. Then you have four choices instead of two. Multiply that by another few choices (PVR, Bluray), and now you have eight choices instead of four. And switching between those, even with RF, is not without its problems. Personally, using both a Pronto and URC Mx-810 (like the Harmony), I gave up doing this. It wasn't worth the time to program the remote and the minimal cost to run the speakers. I just turn on the AVR (well, I use a preamp and amplifier) and speakers and make the remote programming much simpler, along with making the system itself easier to use.

Well sure you can make it as simple or complex as you like. In my case I made the bedroom system with TV, and TV with Amp. Actually I also have DVD with Amp. (no DVD with just TV speakers). As for time to program and cost of running speakers that's kind of a personal judgement type thing wouldn't you say?

I'm having issues with my Edge that I think are HDMI/HDCP problems.

In my setup, I have the Edge connected via HDMI to a Pioneer 519V receiver, which is then connected via HDMI to a Sony 40EX500 TV. I have a Pioneer 51fd and Allure Bluray player connected via HDMI and two PVRs connected via component, as inputs to the Edge.

When watching any disc from the Pioneer 51fd, the screen will occasionally (say twice per movie) go black for a couple of seconds and then return, although the audio continues. Very rarely, the screen will go black with thin vertical magenta stripes.

When watching a disc on the cheap Allure Bluray player (Momitsu clone? used for its region switching ability), the screen goes blank for about 10 seconds, roughly every 10 minutes. When it does this, the Edge blue indicator light flashes until the picture returns.

When watching a PVR input to the Edge, there are no video dropouts whatsoever.

I've connected the Allure directly to the Pioneer 519V, taking the Edge out of the chain and not had one video dropout whilst watching 2 entire Bluray movies.

The Edge definitely seems to be the problem component here.

I'm running firmware v1.4a

Without wading back through 200 odd pages, is this a known flaw with the Edge and is there a fix?

Has your Edge been rebooted lately? That may sound crazy, but I recall with my old VP30 that it just needed to be unplugged for 10 seconds and restarted from time to time. Not too often, but it did help when 'weird' problems occured... The Edge may be the same.

Just a thought...

..dane

Thought I'd share a (gigantic) bug I found in the 1.5 firmware (sorry if it has been posted).

The S-Video input of the DVDO Edge stops working correctly with this firmware. You do not get sound not to mention a good 1/4th of the top of the screen is severely distorted. I thought my DVDO Edge was crapping out on me (or my SNES, Saturn, etc.) but I went down to the 1.4 firmware and the problem went away.

Just thought I'd post this for anyone who uses S-Video and was wondering what was going on. I also want to give massive accolade to Anchor Bay because my DVDO Edge stopped going to sleep for some reason and they repaired it no questions asked.

How did you do RGB with a Sega Genesis? I'd assume you used SCART to some convertor but you said "Genesis" and not "Mega Drive" so you might be in the USA...so I'm confused. I'd love to have RGB coming from my SNES somehow but Google isn't giving me many options.

I don't think it is a reboot issue, because the severity of the problem is different
for the 2 different players: if it was a reboot, then I think it would react the same.

It seems like the Edge loses HDCP verification from time to time. Not sure if HDMI devices perform periodic checks of HDCP integrity (with periodicity depending on manufacturer) and the Edge is failing to respond and then has to perform a complete handshaking sequence, which then dominos up the chain to the AVR and then TV forcing each to do a complete handshake in turn.

This HDCP crap is a real pain.

I just bought a SCART cable and made a SCART -> RGBS adapter myself. It works with my US Genesis 2 and my JVC X'Eye. I use the JVC.

Wow. Can you make SCART to RGBS for SNES? I'll gladly pay you.

I've been using the Svideo input for my Tivo (S2) for a week or so now with no problems (v1.5 here also)...

?

..dane

That's strange. I tried multiple systems (SNES, Gamecube, Genesis) so it's obviously not the device or the video cable. Maybe it's only game systems using s-video? I don't know how that makes sense but I can assure you going back down to 1.4 was the only thing that fixed the problem for me.

Could be that 240p over SVideo doesn't work-- the Tivo of course spits out 480i. Hit INFO with the input active and see if they're all 240p sources. If that's the case, an email to DVDO with such specific details could harbor a quick-fix (fingers crossed) for you...

keep us posted,
..dane

I have a B&K 505. Cant afford to upgrde anything big at this time. Looking for the scaling and simplicity as I currently run through a basic HDMI switcher that requires you to to push to many buttons. My big question is that since I use my Blu ray to the B&K through its Multi channel analogs. Can you run the video through through the Edge and still get the lossless sound throough the avr via multi channel. Everything esle is not an issue as it is Directv box, X box, roku and Wii. Thanks in advance for any help

Oh do you think the scaling will make an improvement on a 67" smsung DLP. It was one of the firsts that only takes 1080i inputs

^^^^^^^

You can run the analog audio from the player to the avr, then route the video through the Edge.
Depending on your particular setup, there is the potential for lip sync issue, just as an fyi.

Whether the scaling will be an improvement depends on what you are comparing it to. If you mean compared to using the scaling in your tv, then it will probably look better through the Edge.

Based on all the equipment and requirements you list, the Edge sounds like a good fit.

what would cause lip sync more than another. I have flexability. I have a panasonic BD50 Blu ray. I would assume the HDMI would go to the edge and then to the TV and multi channel analogs to avr. The Directv box would go HDMI to Edge and optical to avr. Can you set it so it knows not to use the optical for Blu ray?

I'm interested in picking up an edge. Will I benefit?

Setup:

TV: Pioneer PDP-6020 FD

AVR Pioneer Elite SC-05 (I've read the AVR doesn't do anything with HD, 720p up, except pass that info through to TV)

Blu-ray: Oppo BDP-83

Game consoles: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii

Apple TV

HTPC

DirectTV hr-21 series dvr

Thanks All

You don't say much anything about the video processing already in the display, AVR and Blu-ray player but you may find it is already pretty good. I would try it on an audition basis only.

Anytime you mix analog with digital, separate the video from audio, you have the potential for lip sync error.
Maybe there will be, maybe there won't be, but there COULD be.
If you have audio delay/lip sync functions in your equipment, this will usually resolve any problems.
Some people will have sync problems they can never fix, but it's rare.
A lot of people may have problems with sync, but just don't know how to fix it.

the bdp-83 has the same processing engine as the Edge, so it won't benefit your blurays or dvd's at all. Whether or not it would benefit the video quality of your other sources is highly subjective.

Personally I got an Edge for the multi-format auto-input-switching features along with it's automatic output detection (audio to TV or audio to AVR). I was already pleased with the performance (at my 14' seating location) of my panasonic 50" g10 plasma. But video performance is like audio performance-- highly subjective. What I think looks great, someone else might think looks like complete trash.

So again I ask-- what reason(s) are compelling you to consider an Edge? Then you might get more specific replies.

cheers,
..dane

Emailed with edgesupport they said the same think. Dont see how to fix it as the b&K does not have lip sync adjustment