[Steuart]

Will directv normal programing be inhenced on my pio503 if I install an hdtv dish and use a hdtv reciever or will that only give me hdnet but no improvement on anything else?

 

[CINERAMAX]

With the zenith I do see a little improvement.

 

[markrubin]

Steuart


with an HDTV receiver/oval dish connected to the component input of the 503 you will be able to see a few channels in HDTV-


I think the component video connection makes SDTV(normal programming)look a little better but some source material is of lower resolution and there is compression of the signal- you can try many things which make incremental improvements but SDTV over DirecTV will be of lesser quality


Mark

 

[Jim Boden]

Steuart:


I would say the answer depends on what satellite receiver you have now and how it’s connected to the 503, which you didn’t mention.


If you have a satellite receiver connected via S-Video, you should notice an improvement from a high definition receiver if you connect it to the 503’s input 2 from the receiver’s component outputs. Further, if you can get an HD receiver with the variable output feature, you can watch either SD or HD through input 2. The 503 will automatically switch from SD to HD or vice versa, depending on what it’s getting from the satellite receiver. I have this feature on a Sony SAT HD-100, and it works really well. The 503 also lets you set up separate adjustments for both SD and HD on input 2, which you might find useful. This means you can set different levels of brightness, contrast, etc. for SD and HD sources.

 

[jlm]

i have found that the zenith (and probably others) will not only output great HD but also de-interlace and output a very reasonable progressive SD from normal broadcast material if left in the HD mode. since the zenith requires a switch change, i get lazy and sometimes leave it in HD while tuning non-HD, thus observing the above.

 

[Steuart]

At this time #2 is used with my component connected DVD player, since that is my main viewing prefrence, while my sat. is connected by s-cable. Is there a solution to having two component connections or am I left with having to choose between the two?

 

[markrubin]

there are several solutions many of them get expensive:


Switchers


JVC sells a switcher that has component video connections for around $800.00 all the way up to a Lexicon MC-12 processor


Switcher/Scaler


check out the video processor section for processors with multiple component video inputs that also deinterlace and scale



or you could just connect one of your sources to the S Video input 3


Mark

 

[Steuart]

I guess my situation is I would love to justify buying a HDTV setup but if it is only to watch HDNET no thanks. What I was hoping for was a reason to purcase an HDTV receiver and dish because it would give me overall better pq on most Directv channels and still offer me HDNET. Obviously I can overide my DVD component connection on input 2 as an alternate option, but will I see any improvement in regular Directv programming if I just utilize the s-connector on input 3 rather than component on 2?