Avr Faq - Page 4

Sorry for the poor wording. I am referring to custom video settings on a per input basis. Some TVs allow for this. I don't think of this as important in a digital world, but some videophiles may feel differently about it.

Ideally, a digital video source is not modifying the video in objectional ways. So if your colors, brightness or contrast are objectionable, it's an issue with the source. And your happiness could change for each channel, DVD or game you are viewing.

With analog sources, you may be able to deal with global source video issues such as a VCR with an objectionable video output. And make those settings on the input dedicate to the VCR.

I can totally understand reasons for switching video from the TV. I just recently want all HDMI for video sources. That is to say my DVD player, XBox and Tivo are all hooked up with HDMI into my receiver.

It's working perfectly, with cleaner wiring and very simple switching. My AVR offers no conversion on HDMI which I am 100% ok with. I just want it to switch the video along with the audio.

My remote control life is not quite as simple as I like. My receiver remote can control my DVD player, but for my Tivo, I use the Tivo remote as it's such a nice remote and has such specialized buttons. Maybe I will get another Harmony remote one day like in the bedroom. I think they make one that doubles as a Tivo remote.

I am going to assume your TV is 1080p. I did not look it up. If it's not, none of this makes sense.

I also want to state a very important fact. I don't know the answer to most of your questions because every 1080p upscaling receiver is not made alike. I have no way of knowing whether any given receiver can do a better job of video processing than your TV.

I think you may have missed that point in the FAQ, because I think I mentioned it a few times. You 1080p TV MUST convert to 1080p if it's not already getting a 1080p signal. That requires deinterlacing, and scaling. These are different tasks.

You could deinterlace at the source device (e.g. a DVD player,) the AVR, or let the TV do it. You can scale at the device (e.g. a so called upconverting DVD player), you could scale in the AVR, or let the TV scale to 1080p. Pick the option that looks best.

There are AVR reviews which cover their video processing quality. But they won't compare it to your TV. So you are living with imperfect information here. I believe I discuss this in the FAQ.

1. What is the best way to connect these components via AVR?

Connect your HDMI sources with HDMI if possible. It avoids a digital to analog conversion, and an analog to digital conversion. HDMI's main downside is potential lip synch issues.

2. Is the current AVR listed above sufficient to get the best possible outcome for these components?

I don't know. I am not familiar with that model.

3. Is an AVR with 1080p upconversion necessary to get best possible picture?

1080p conversion is no gaurantee of the best possible picture. See my introductory explanation.

4. If video source is already in 1080p (blu-ray), what role does the 1080p AVR play? If it's just pass through, isn't that a waste?

None.

5. If the video signal has already been upscaled or upconverted from the video source (i.e. playing a regular dvd on a blu-ray player), then is it necessary to still upconvert at the AVR level? If not, what would it do, pass through the video? If so how does it know what the quality of signal is?

There's no "necessary". See my introductory explanation.

6. Will a 1080p upconverting AVR upconvert my cable signal broadcasted in 1080i to 1080p? Does this mean that I can watch all my cable channels in 1080p? why or why not?

Depends on the AVR. If it can upscale you can watch in 1080p. But your TV will ALWAYS scale to 1080p no matter what you feed it.

7. What can a 1080p AVR do for vcr video? To what extent can it improve the video? All the way to 1080p? If not, is it worth it?

It MAY improve it. That's the best I can say. It could reduce noise. It could do a better job of deinterlacing to 480p than your TV. I don't know. You probably see a pattern here. I don't know, and no one else does either, because it depends on testing the specific AVR and your TV with your VCR to see if it makes a difference.

8. Is it better to send signal to 1080p AVR direct or via bitstream? What is the difference and why choose one over the other?

I am not sure what you mean. I suggest using HDMI where available, unless you run into issues. One issue would be unsolvable lip synch issues. My DVD player occasionally has the lips moving out of synch with the audio. I can correct this, sometimes by hitting stop and start. So HDMI is not perfect. In theory, it's the best option, especially for digital video sources; you would ideally not convert DVD into analog and feed it to an LCD TV, as that involves multiple conversion steps.

9. Why connect HDMI component via AVR when you can connect direct to HDTV? What are its benefits and drawbacks? Do you lose any signal quality going through the AVR?

Two reasons; audio and switching. If you don't hook your DVD/Blu-ray player into an AVR, you won't get surround sound, even if you run your TV audio back to your AVR. In general, you easily split audio and video if you choose to use HDMI. If you buy a receiver with HDMI upconversion, you can switch all audio/video using your AVR. The FAQ covers these. It also clarifies the use of the term upconverting and upconversion. They mean different things. The FAQ explains that upconversion is a confusing term because the term means something different when used for DVD players then when used for AVRs.

10. Based on my equipment, do you think I need a 1080p receiver? If yes, should I wait for the new Denon series (xx09) scheduled to release this summer? Someone recommended the Onkyo 705, but that only has a 720p upconversion, otherwise I like all other features on it including the Dolby HD, DTS Master and THX.

I don't think you need one. I do think, if you want the BEST video quality, and you have the cash, look at receivers using the Realta chip. But first you should find a review where the receiver was tested with a video benchmark, like HQV. Make sure it perform excellently in the review on a known benchmark.

VIDEO QUESTIONS
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11. Does an HDTV automatically upconvert or upscale all video signals it receives? If yes, then what's the point of having a 1080p AVR?

The FAQ goes into detail on this. I think I would give the same verbage as in the FAQ. So I am not sure what else to add. Short answer, because the TV may not have the BEST quality deinterlacer and/or scaler. Oppo's web sight also answers this question, you can look to see what they said.

12. Currently, on my regular TV (SDTV), some of my cable channels are not getting clear reception while others are perfect. The cable tech has been over my house 3 times and he can't improve the reception. I'v also switched boxes 3 times without success. The main cable drop is split 3 ways, with one of the lines going to my TV. Is there anything I can do to improve my signal so that all channels are clear, not just some? Could it be the splitter causing some channels to drop in quality? If yes, then how come other channels are crystal clear? I want to perfect my reception before connecting the cable to the new HDTV. Any ideas?

Blame the cable company. Not much else you can do. They are almost certainly feeding you a bad signal. My Fox used to look HORRIBLE. One big reason I replaced my Tivo with an HD model was because of that issue. The HD feed was excellent.

p.s. Did you read the whole FAQ. I know I tried to answer some of those questions, especially about deinterlacing/scaling. No offense intended. I just wondered if my explanations sucked, or you just missed some parts ?

In fact, one of the main points I wanted to cover in my FAQ were many of those exact questions.

Your feedback is welcome on why the FAQ did not address some of that sort of question. For example, the general question seemed to be "Why would I want deinterlacing/scaling on my AVR." My section on 'What is scaling', addresses that concern.

Maybe I will look at that section again, and rewrite the topic as 'Why would I want an AVR with scaling capability.'

I edited the section on connections/cables. Could still use some work I imagine, though. I barely get into cost vs. performance.

If I understand you correctly, you have to set your volume control higher for your multi-channel source than other sources to reach the same sound level ?

The readout of your volume is related to overall sound level AND the level of the input signal. Unfortuntately, there's no real standard for average input voltage. One device may require that you set your volume higher than another to get the same volume. It would be rare if your volume control did not let you turn your volume up until just below clipping, which would be the highest setting you would ever want.

Some receivers have input trim settings, which can help equalize these differences.

If I misunderstood your question, let me know.

I myself was confused about the these upconverting DVD players when I first encountered them. That got me interested in the whole topic of upscaling.

Most HDTVs use some sort of addressable pixels. That is in contrast to the venerable technology used in cathode ray tube televisions. Because each pixel is individually set, and there's no such thing as interlaced scanning, these addressable pixel display TVs must "map" each pixel in the incoming signal to it's own set of pixels.

An example; incoming signal is an analog interlaced signal, such as from a VCR (often referred to as 480i.) Analog is not helpful, so the TV first converts that signal to the digital domain. This gives the TV a set of pixels, but those pixels don't map into it's native 1920x1080 resolution. So the chips in the TV must use mathematical interpolation to "guess" what the best color values are for each of the 1920x1080 pixels addressable by the TV.

Research topics like deinterlacing and 3:2 pulldown, and you will find that many devices don't do a good job there. There's less talk of scaling errors, but there's a number of scaling "algorithms" with varying results.

Some devices in the signal chain can do some or all of these video processing steps. Some will do a better job than other devices at certain steps in this process.

Your TV may be better at deinterlacing and scaling than your other devices, including your upscaling AVR. In that case, turn off video processing in your other devices if possible. Or your DVD player may have a great deinterlacer that's known to pass the HQV benchmarks. But maybe it's scaler is not better than your TVs. In this case, switch on the DVD's deinterlacer (conversion from 480i to 420p.) You can probably independently turn that on while keeping any scaling setting off.

The point is that you can try out your various options to see what looks better to you.

I may be totally misunderstanding your question. My point here, is that the volume readout does not tell you how much power your receiver is consuming. But let me try another tack.

Set your receiver to a stereo only source. Measure the SPL from one speaker at a fixed distance, say 1 meter. Run your SPL up to 90 dB or so. Look at the volume readout.

Now connect up your multi-channel player, and play a two channel source, like a CD. Using the same measuring technique, once again run your sound up to 90 dB. Look at the volume readout.

Now, I can almost gaurantee you that your receiver is consuming the same amount of power from the wall outlet. Because it should take (roughly) the same amount of power to drive two channels at 90 dB no matter what the source is and no matter what the volume readout says.

I edited the section on HDMI for more detail. I need to improve the section on potential lip synch issues.

I have noticed them myself, on my DVD player. But it's unclear who the culprit is. It seems HDMI itself is not to blame for lip synch issues. It's most likely some video processing step in the chain.

Volume inconsistencies on a per input basis are common. Even with digital outputs, Nothing to worry about.

Dolby Digital is used for HD. It's a digital encoder. It can encode stereo or 5.1 (surround.) DVDs often use the same encoder.

Sounds like some of your channels are being output as two channel PCM rather than Dolby Digital. You have selected the Dolby Pro Logic II processor to play back two channel sources (DPL II can produce 5.1 channel sound from any two channel source.)

For whatever reason, your Dolby Digital sources are quiter than your two channel PCM sources, at least that's my best theory. Hard to say why. I know of no reference for average audio level in digital signals. You may have noticed this when playing one CD vs. another one.

Commercials can be very annoying when they are much louder than the program you are watching.

You may have a dynamics setting on Dolby Digital. Turning that to min or night, or whatever your minimum setting is may give you a louder sound with a reduction in dynamics.

I edited the section on output power for clarity. I added some more examples. Hopefully it now covers all the usual questions.

I took a brief look at the manual, and it the 445's HDMI inputs appear to be useful for video switching only. For audio, it looks like you need to run another connection.