Video processing/scaling in modern HT recvs.
 

Hey all,

Normally I'd ask advice on a HT receiver over on AK, but in an odd twist of fate, I'm not really concerned as much about audio quality...the stuff I'm looking at will more than meet my standards for movies.

What I'm more concerned about is the video scaling engines I've seen in 7.1 recievers.

I got a HDTV couple weeks ago, and overall I'm happy with it. However, I might find myself needing more HDMI ports and Id like to increase the video quality a bit. My cable box outputs 1080i max. My TV, being a basic Dynex, has basic deinterlacing. Its not too offensive, but you do get the occasional artifact from it.

I looked in to video processors...but every single one I've seen is outrageously expensive. I'm seeing 7.1 units for less than half the cost that supposedly does this.

So, does anyone have any recommendations on a 7.1 reciever that has decent video scaling? Furthermore, will any of them allow me to turn the amp off while still using HDMI switching/video scaling? I thought I saw an Onkyo that does that.

Id also love one that has preamp out....but that's not a necessity.

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Are you looking for scaling, or deinterlacing? The phrase "increase the video quality" could mean different things. Cable and satellite TV are lower-quality sources than real over-the-air TV (with your own antenna), if you have a choice about that, and Blu-ray discs are the best of all.

Regarding receivers, I doubt the circuitry in most receivers will boost your picture quality enough to make a big difference compared to a source device itself, but the better circuits are the HQV, Reon, and maybe others.

Several newer receivers (Yamaha, for one) can pass through HDMI with their power off, but they pass the last source selected rather than allowing switching.

A great place to read about home-theater receivers is AVS Forum.

Well, my cable source is Verizon FiOS, which is better quality then most of the cable/sattelite sources. I can't actually get anything OTA due to the fact 8VSB *hates* trees, and I live amongst a ton of them.

By largest problem is while my cable box scales up from the 480I sources, and its deinterlacing is good...I only have 480p and 720p options...the box will not deinterlace and throw 1080p over HDMI...I abandoned HDMI on it because I needed the other HDMI port for the computer and there was 0 advantage to it.

I notice a lot on some channels that static bugs have interlacing lines from bad deinterlacing...and when something moves very fast...I get the blinds effect.

The TV is a basic panel...so its processing is basic. Any upsampling it does looks blocky and horrible.

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