[pavlov70]

I have a first generation Samsung DLP set (HLM-437 I think?) that I bought through the powerbuy here a couple of years ago. Well today I just received my Denon AVR-2805 and I was all excited about being able to feed everything through the Denon and have just one set of component cables going to the set.


I have:


an HTPC outputting at 720p via component

a Dish Network PVR outputting via S-video

an Xbox outputting via S-video


Well my Samsung has 3 component inputs (1 480i/480p and 2 480p/720p/1020i). When the Denon is hooked up to a 480p/720p/1020i input I get video from my HTPC (yay!), but not from the Denon OSD (this I was expecting from my research), nor from my sat or Xbox (boo!). To make matters worse, I've just finished my basement home theater and I only ran a single set of component cables from the equipment room to where my TV is. Do all TV's have this limitation or do some have a single component input that will take everything from 480i and up?


Options:

- upgrade my TV to a larger set that doesn't have this limitation (if there is one). $$$$


- buy component adapter for the xbox (if it puts out 480p) and run my PVR through a Hauppage. Slight loss of quality and convienance. Can a Hauppage put out 480p?


- lower my HTPC to 480p (I really really don't want to do this)


- buy a Dishnetwork PVR 921 HDTV receiver. Less expensive than a new set plus HDTV to boot. Still almost a grand though.


Any other suggestions or recommendations? Your input will be valued!


Thanks

Rob

 

[rynberg]

It has nothing to do with your TV.


I would guess you either have something setup wrong in your receiver or you have the wrong physical cable connections. Did you plug each device into a different input on the receiver (not all plugged into the composite/s-video/component jacks for the same input)?

 

[pavlov70]

Thanks for the reply. Here's the way I currently have things hooked up:


-component out on htpc to DVD input (video 1) on receiver

-Svideo out on PVR to DBS input on receiver

- Svideo out on Xbox to VDP input on receiver


-component out from receiver to 480p/720p/1080i input on TV (note this input on TV does not support 480i)


This way I when I select the DVD input on the receiver I see video from the htpc. When I select DBS or VDP inputs on the receiver I get nothing.


Making no other changes other than connecting the receiver output to the 480i/480 input on the TV I can now see the PVR and Xbox . Selecting the DVD (htpc) input I get nothing.


I guess my receiver is simply passing the various signals through as is. As my TV doesn't have a component input that will accept everything from 480i through 1080i/720p I'm out of luck. I can't think of any other reason. I guess I could also get an external scaler to put between the reciever and TV. I haven't priced those out before.


Thanks

Rob

 

[bfdtv]

pavlov,


Most budget receivers with an OSD only output the OSD through s-video and composite. Many (most?) budget receivers do not convert s-video and composite to component.

Quote:

Do all TV's have this limitation or do some have a single component input that will take everything from 480i and up?

Most 2004 models (that I've seen) can accept everything from 480i through 1080i via component. A few like the Panasonic CRT RPTVS do not accept 720p, but require it to be converted to 1080i by your STB first.


I am surprised you did not get the $200 HLN upgrade back when it was offered. That added discrete inputs (a separate IR code for each input), which made input switching far, far easier.

 

[bfdtv]

You just need to get everything to 480p so you can use the 480p/720p/1080i input.

Quote:

buy component adapter for the xbox (if it puts out 480p) and run my PVR through a Hauppage. Slight loss of quality and convienance. Can a Hauppage put out 480p?

The PC cards can't accept 480p input. You should just buy the component adapter and set the X-box to output everything in 480p (I think).

Quote:

buy a Dishnetwork PVR 921 HDTV receiver. Less expensive than a new set plus HDTV to boot. Still almost a grand though.

You could just rent their HDTV box for $5/mo; it will convert all SD and HD channels to 720p for display. I am surprised you've gone this long without HDTV.


If you can't live without DVR and won't tolerate switching to s-video, then you could get something like an iScan line doubler on ebay for about $150. That said, I would consider it wasteful to invest anything more in a Dish SD product. I would much rather save and put my money toward the $899 HDTV DirecTivo, which is far superior (in both usability and functionality) to the Dish 921 product.


If you have Comcast, Time Warner, or COX...you could switch to cable and rent their HDTV DVR for about $10/mo.

 

[pavlov70]

bfdtv,


Thanks a bunch for the input. I didn't know Dish rented the 921 or I would have been all over that a long time ago. I'll certainly look into it. The $1000 price tag of HD PVR's (Dish or Directv) was what was keeping me away from HD. Well that and the fact most of what I watch on TV isn't in HD to begin with.


That being said, I came up with a solution that was free (always good) and actually improves TV quality. I remembered reading about Dscaler which is big with the HTPC folks. It is a free de-interlacer and scaler program. That coupled with an old ATI TV-Wonder I had laying around allows me to scale my TV picture up to 720p and run various filters on it. There's no compression being done, DScaler is processing the raw video. Pretty sweet picture, better than than the original after a bit of tweaking DScaler settings. As an added bonus, I've integrated it into my HTPC front end so I don't even have to switch inputs on the receiver.


Rob

 

[bfdtv]

Quote:

Thanks a bunch for the input. I didn't know Dish rented the 921 or I would have been all over that a long time ago.

They don't rent the 921. The 921 is their HDTV DVR, which you must buy at $999. They do rent their standard HDTV box, the 811, for $5/mo.

 

[mklaessy]

Quote:

Originally posted by pavlov70 I have a first generation Samsung DLP set (HLM-437 I think?) that I bought through the powerbuy here a couple of years ago. Well today I just received my Denon AVR-2805 and I was all excited about being able to feed everything through the Denon and have just one set of component cables going to the set. I have: an HTPC outputting at 720p via component a Dish Network PVR outputting via S-video an Xbox outputting via S-video Well my Samsung has 3 component inputs (1 480i/480p and 2 480p/720p/1020i). When the Denon is hooked up to a 480p/720p/1020i input I get video from my HTPC (yay!), but not from the Denon OSD (this I was expecting from my research), nor from my sat or Xbox (boo!). To make matters worse, I've just finished my basement home theater and I only ran a single set of component cables from the equipment room to where my TV is. Do all TV's have this limitation or do some have a single component input that will take everything from 480i and up? Options: - upgrade my TV to a larger set that doesn't have this limitation (if there is one). $$$$ - buy component adapter for the xbox (if it puts out 480p) and run my PVR through a Hauppage. Slight loss of quality and convienance. Can a Hauppage put out 480p? - lower my HTPC to 480p (I really really don't want to do this) - buy a Dishnetwork PVR 921 HDTV receiver. Less expensive than a new set plus HDTV to boot. Still almost a grand though. Any other suggestions or recommendations? Your input will be valued! Thanks Rob

pavlov70,


At first this had me stumped, because I have the same receiver (Dennon AVR 2805) and for me it's worked beautifully. At times I've run all my sources (VCR-480i, DVD-480i, DVD-720P, HDSTB-1080i, and Xbox-480i) through to my TV over component, so I wouldn't have to worry about switching TV inputs and it has worked beautifully. Plus the sound from this baby in DTS is kick-a$$!!


I thought it might be that was an issue with your receiver, but ten took a look at the component inputs on the (2) TVs I've tried this on. For both the Panny 50LC14 and the Sony 55GW655, the component inputs support 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i. And since the receiver doesn't actually do any de-interlacing or upconversion when it passes an input composite or s-video signal through the monitor-out components I guess that's the issue.


So, in answer to your question, NO it's not a limitation of all TVs, just those where the Component input's don't support 480i.


As for your options....


- upgrade my TV to a larger set that doesn't have this limitation (if there is one). $$$$


If you're looking for a reason to get a bigger/newer TV, what the hell! If not, this isn't probably the most fiscally sound idea


- buy component adapter for the xbox (if it puts out 480p) and run my PVR through a Hauppage. Slight loss of quality and convienance. Can a Hauppage put out 480p?


This is like $20, so a pretty good option.


- lower my HTPC to 480p (I really really don't want to do this)


Terrible idea You wouldn't want to sacrifice good source material to make up for the poorer.


- buy a Dishnetwork PVR 921 HDTV receiver. Less expensive than a new set plus HDTV to boot. Still almost a grand though.


Cheaper than the new TV, but still tough.


Good luck getting this all sorted out!

 

[ADGrant]

Quote:

Originally posted by rynberg It has nothing to do with your TV. I would guess you either have something setup wrong in your receiver or you have the wrong physical cable connections. Did you plug each device into a different input on the receiver (not all plugged into the composite/s-video/component jacks for the same input)?

Not true. That model of TV does not have component inputs that accept all resolutions/scanning frequencies (480i/480p/720p/1080i). That is at least part of his problem. Samsung removed that wierd limitation in later models.

 

[rynberg]

I was wrong. It is your TV. Even though the Denon is upconverting the PVR/Xbox to component video, they are still 480i. It seems pretty stupid for Samsung to have limited an input that way. It looks like you'll have to run 2 video connections to the TV and switch them.


As far as the OSD, it's probably 480i as well, which is why you can't see it on your current connection.

 

[Slordak]

So... The short answer is "No, this is not a limitation of all HDTV sets", rather, it is a limit of this specific HDTV. There are many sets out there which can handle 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i on all of their component and DVI inputs.

 

[pavlov70]

Wow thanks for the replies and confirming my suspicians about my problem! It's also nice to know that my set is an exception and not the rule regarding component inputs. I have my satellite running through my HTPC and DScaler now which works pretty sweet but a few audio and usability problems popped up that I won't bore you with. At least now I'll be able to switch between HTPC and satellite w/o physically swapping connections.


I started looking at projectors online and am amazed at how cheap they are these days. I'm almost considering selling my Sammy and for a few hundred dollars more getting a DLP projector. Methinks I'll head over to the projector forum and start boning up on what's hot in the projector world today.

 

[Jim Clark]

My Denon AVR-4800 will only OUTPUT component from the two component IN feeds. If it's S-Video or composite IN to the receiver, they cannot go out on the component output.


Jim

 

[rynberg]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim Clark My Denon AVR-4800 will only OUTPUT component from the two component IN feeds. If it's S-Video or composite IN to the receiver, they cannot go out on the component output. Jim

The Denon 2805 that the thread starter has performs transcoding from composite and s-video to component video.