best amp for upscaling under £500

[admin_exported]

hi folks , im soon going to be getting an amp and speakers , i was going to get a soundbar ,as my tv is in a corner , but i think ill probably end up wishing i had real 5.1 surround , so the tv will be moved in front of a window , to allow for speakers either side ..

i currently have a humax foxsat feeding my 46g10 , and a sony bd363 , the humax is doing the upscaling as its better than the tv , now i am aware of the various 5 star amps in budget , denon 1910 , etc , and as i dont require houseshaking sound , im sure the denon or something similar would be fine , coupled with a good speaker setup , which ill seek advice on when i have the money , im buying the amp first ..

what im hoping is that i can find an amp that can take the 576 signal from the humax , and do a better job of upscaling it than the humax can , before sending it to the tv , does anyone know of an amp that can do that ?? while also being good enough to power a decent speaker setup , which im aiming to spend around £700-£800 on ...

i may spend a little more if there is an amp that would really improve upon the humaxs upscaling , anyone ?? thanks ...

 

[Anonymous]

polite bump..

 

[Anonymous]

another polite bump....

 

[Anonymous]

I have the Yahama rxv 1065 which I paid £519 for a couple of months ago, now on offer for less than £500.

I also have a Panasonic TV and Foxsat the picture and sound is in my opinion brilliant.

HDMI to TV and Foxstat also Panasonic DVD recorder. Analog imports to Yahama from old SKY box and Panason VHS decK upscale to 1080p and are excelent. Played through Monitor Audio Radius R270/R90/225 more volume than can be used in my house at least. All from Peter Tyson who provided first class service.

Note HDMI inputs "pass through" so Foxstat is 1080i brilliant.

Hope this helps

John

 

[Anonymous]

GREENFROG93:
I have the Yahama rxv 1065 which I paid £519 for a couple of months ago, now on offer for less than £500.

I also have a Panasonic TV and Foxsat the picture and sound is in my opinion brilliant.

HDMI to TV and Foxstat also Panasonic DVD recorder. Analog imports to Yahama from old SKY box and Panason VHS decK upscale to 1080p and are excelent. Played through Monitor Audio Radius R270/R90/225 more volume than can be used in my house at least. All from Peter Tyson who provided first class service.

Note HDMI inputs "pass through" so Foxstat is 1080i brilliant.

Hope this helps

John
john thanks for replying , so does your amp upscale from the foxsat ?? is the amps upscaling better than the foxsats ??

 

[Anonymous]

Max, The Foxsat outputs 1080i through the HDMI to the Panasonic TV through the AMP. I dont think any AV amp upscales from any HDMI input but upscales from the HDMI OUT to 1080p if an anulog signal is fed in and the TV will accept 1080p. HDMI is "pass through".the amp, what goes into the HDMI comes out the same.

However if a non 1080p source is fed into the analog inputs the amp then upcales this if it outputed via the HDMI out, for example a VHS player or old Sky box without HDMI. So the amp only upscales analog inputs and I believe all AV amps only do this.

The Panasonic TX 37 upscales any signal fed into it's HDMI in which is less than 1080p up to 1080p. So check to see if your TV upscales any HDMI input.

However if a 1080p source like the Panasonic DVD player recorder is fed into the TV HDMI it just accepts this.

The bottom line for me is: Foxsat out HDMI brilliant sound and picture.

I hope this helps, I am not a tech freak just know what looks and sound good, someone else may be able to explain it better

Regards

John

Skybox or any unit with analog outs into Yahama is upscaled to 1080p and the picture is very much improved.

 

[Anonymous]

ah , i see , if something is input to an amp via hdmi , then it just transports the info , but doesnt upscale it ....

so even if i set the foxsat to 576i , when its input to the amp via hdmi , the amp wont upscale , but the tv will ...

but i wonder , if i used a scart from the foxsat , to the amp , would it upscale it before transporting to the tv via hdmi at 1080p, i could still access bbchd , itvhd via hdmi directly from foxsat to tv , and use an optical out for sound ????

all this is of course irrelevant if the amp doesnt upscale any better than the foxsat , which is what id like to find out , if there is an amp that has a significantly better upscaler than the foxsat ??

 

[Anonymous]

hey proffessor , happy new year , would you have a clue about this ???

 

[Anonymous]

Max, I think if you connect Foxstat to amp with RCA audio(or optical) and video cables as per the instruction book page GB11, It will upscale HDMI output to TV. But if your Panasonic TV upscaler is as good as on my TV there would be no point.

Just to say picture on TV from any source via the Yahama amp is first class and sound brilliant. HD transmission from Foxsat is just superb.

Just to let you know I have an Hungarian Viszla (Hugarian pointer) so we both appreciate the important things in life,

Regards

John

 

[professorhat]

Hi maxflinn, there are a few amps which will upscale an HDMI source - the Denon 1910 is one such amp and, as I remember, WHF rated the upscaling quite highly. I've seen it in my friend's setup and we couldn't tell the difference between the TV upscaling and the amp upscaling when using Sky HD (though an SD channel obviously!), but clearly how good the TV / Foxsat is at upscaling is going to be a factor in your setup so it's going to be hard to determine without a demo.

Are there any dealers around you willing to allow you a home demo?

 

[Anonymous]

cheers john , the one on the left is a friends , the other two nutters are mine

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:
Hi maxflinn, there are a few amps which will upscale an HDMI source - the Denon 1910 is one such amp and, as I remember, WHF rated the upscaling quite highly. I've seen it in my friend's setup and we couldn't tell the difference between the TV upscaling and the amp upscaling when using Sky HD (though an SD channel obviously!), but clearly how good the TV / Foxsat is at upscaling is going to be a factor in your setup so it's going to be hard to determine without a demo.

Are there any dealers around you willing to allow you a home demo?

hi prof , im not sure about a home demo , but what ill probably do is take a trip up to sevenoaks dublin , and have a chat , gander , they seem knowledgable enough having spoken to them on the phone , the 1910 is on my shortlist along with the equivalent yamaha , onkyo , ta...

 

[professorhat]

Sounds like a plan - make sure you stress you need it to upscale an HDMI source though - not all amps will do this, but the Denon definitely does.

Also worth asking on the home demo front - a number of years ago Sevenoaks in Sutton (now closed unfortunately) allowed me to home demo an entire surround system - paid for it on my credit card with a guarantee I could bring the whole lot back for a refund within 2 weeks if I wasn't happy.

 

[daveh75]

The foxsat's scaler is regarded as pretty mediocre(though better than Sky HD scalers) so i would be surprised if either your TV or an A/V amp doesn't do a better job than the Foxsat.

A demo is the way to go though.....

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:
Sounds like a plan - make sure you stress you need it to upscale an HDMI source though - not all amps will do this, but the Denon definitely does.

Also worth asking on the home demo front - a number of years ago Sevenoaks in Sutton (now closed unfortunately) allowed me to home demo an entire surround system - paid for it on my credit card with a guarantee I could bring the whole lot back for a refund within 2 weeks if I wasn't happy.

just checked out the whfi 1910 review , and as you say it does do hdmi-hdmi upscaling , thats what im looking for in an amp , it may be a month or more before im ready to buy , so ive plenty of time to read up , at least i know what im looking for now , cheers...

 

[Anonymous]

daveh75:
The foxsat's scaler is regarded as pretty mediocre(though better than Sky HD scalers) so i would be surprised if either your TV or an A/V amp doesn't do a better job than the Foxsat.

A demo is the way to go though.....

the foxsat is actually better than my tv at upscaling , however a samsung 46b650 i recently had for a week was better than both , thats what got me thinking that a good quality amp may improve my tv viewing , they do sell my tv at sevenoaks dublin , so i may bring along my foxsat when i go up there , hopefully they will have a sat feed and i can try a few amps vs the foxsat on a g10 , that will hopefully reveal the best one for me , upscaling wise , while hopefully also being able to check out the sound ... cheers guys...