Budget A/V Receivers with Video Upscaling

[admin_exported]

I'm looking for an A/V receiver around the £300 mark with video upscaling, and I was hoping someone could recommend me a suitable model. I will be connecting a Virgin HD box, Blu-Ray player, Xbox 360 and Wii. My main aim is to get the Wii up from 480p, but improved standard definition TV would also be desirable. I am looking to pair the receiver with something along the lines of the Boston Acoustics Soundware XS system.

All advice gratefully received,

J

 

[The_Lhc]

As far as RRP goes you're going to be struggling with that budget, WHF show the Denon 1910 as the cheapest model available with upscaling (look in the review section under Home cinema amplifiers, then click the advance search and click on Video scaling, it'll show you all amps with that feature, then sort price low-high) and that's at £450, however you'll get it for less than that, average price on the web seems to be £379 though. Plenty of inputs on it so it should do the job.

 

[Anonymous]

The amp dont need to upscale, your bluray/tv can upscale. MyYamaha amp has no upscale but the bluray does the job. The Wii only outputs 480p thats the best you'll get.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a 4 year old plasma, so I was thinking the same thing for SD picture with the SKY HD box as it cant upscale sd that well and I dont think my tv can either.

I have been looking to upgrade and the denon would have been my choice

 

[Anonymous]

rocky66 - are you saying I can't upscale the Wii at all? I know that 480p is the best the console can do; I was hoping to use a receiver to improve this. You are of course right that the Blu-Ray can upscale DVDs - but how will that help with the console? My TV can't do upscaling sadly

The Denon looks good, but I'd like something a shade cheaper if possible. Anything else out there?

 

[Anonymous]

get yourself a yamaha rxv-765 , £300 from richer sounds , it will upscale your wii and sd tv , its a powerful home cinema amp that sounds great ..

it only upscales from an analogue input though , not hdmi , which the denon does , if you can connect your wii and tv using component or coax , your in business ..

 

[lobby]

Beat me to it, Yamaha RXV range will upscale to 1080p,and is in your price range, the Onkyo 607 upscales to 1080i also £300, the cheapest ive seen the Denon 1910 at the moment is £349.But you could wait a couple of months hopefully some new models will be out and should be able to offer everything you will need, and could even lower the prices on some of the current models.RS has done the Denon 1910 for £299, maybe it will drop to that again.

 

[Liam19]

Burnage:
rocky66 - are you saying I can't upscale the Wii at all? I know that 480p is the best the console can do; I was hoping to use a receiver to improve this. You are of course right that the Blu-Ray can upscale DVDs - but how will that help with the console? My TV can't do upscaling sadly

The Denon looks good, but I'd like something a shade cheaper if possible. Anything else out there?

What makes you say your TV can't upscale? Any HD Ready or Full HD TV will be able to upscale a lower quality source signal (i.e. 480 or 576 lines) to fit its native resolution (either 720 or 1080 lines). Otherwise, these sources would occupy only a fraction of the screen.

The actual quality of the TV's upscaling, on the other hand, is another matter.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all for the help thus far - good point Liam19 re: TV upscaling. I guess I am assuming that using an A/V receiver will give me much better results than just letting the TV get on with it - is this the case?

Are there any disadvantages to using component video compared to HDMI? I.e. is upscaled component better than standard def via HDMI?

Cheers again.

 

[bigboss]

To be honest, my Yamaha receiver is not very good at upscaling.....I let my TV do it. Which TV have you got?

 

[Anonymous]

the denon is said to have better upscaling than the yamaha , and , it upscales from hdmi to hdmi , might be worth the extra £45 to the op ?

 

[Tom Moreno]

Maxflinn's on the right track here. The OP mentioned he's watching TV from a Virgin HD box so is probably using HDMI. I'm not directly familiar with the Virgin boxes but the built-in scaler in the Sky HD box is laughable. Using HDMI-HDMI scaling on my Denon AVR improves the picture on SD channels immensely.

 

[Anonymous]

bigboss:To be honest, my Yamaha receiver is not very good at upscaling.....I let my TV do it. Which TV have you got?the trouble with comparing scaling to a kuro , is nothing compares ..

 

[bigboss]

maxflinn:bigboss:To be honest, my Yamaha receiver is not very good at upscaling.....I let my TV do it. Which TV have you got?the trouble with comparing scaling to a kuro , is nothing compares ..

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like the Denon would be worth a view/listen. I am planning to head to Richer Sounds on the Bank Holiday for a jolly spending spree - I should clarify that I haven't got any kit yet so most things are up for grabs, although I have decided upon my TV. At the minute the setup is looking like:

• Philips 42PFL7404
• Sony BDP-S370
• Boston Acoustics Soundware XS
• Denon AVR-1910

Reckon I could squeeze all that out of them for ~£1500? As I said, bar the TV everything else is TBC.

 

[Anonymous]

i would have thought that the q accoustics 2020 system would be quite a bit better than those bostons ? the 1910 is a very good amp , a little too good for the bostons maybe ?

 

[Anonymous]

The Q system seems to be going for about £500 - sadly out of my reach. I was attracted to the Bostons due to their small size and also their colour - white will look much better in my lounge than black. Form over function I know! What would you recommend in place of the 1910? Can I do better than the Bostons for ~£350?