HDMI upscaling

[admin_exported]

Hello,

I'm about to make a purchase of new receiver. The thing confuse me is HDMI upscaling. Many of receivers are not capable of upscaling video, if input is HDMI - I guess.

So, how to get video to 1080p from my PVR (Topfield 5100PVRc HDMI), which will be connected to receiver with HDMI? Which receivers can do this from Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, Sony, H/K? My favourite is currently Pioneer 51/71/81 but as I understood, these are not capable of HDMI upscaling.

Now its connected straight from PVR to TV, but when a new receiver has arrived, I'd like to use only one HDMI to tv - that is, from receiver.

 

[professorhat]

From what I can see, both the Pioneer SC-LX71 and the SC-LX81 offer upscaling and upconversion, meaning the amp will take video into any of its video inputs, upscale it to 1080p if necessary and then output via the HDMI socket. Some budget amps offer no upscaling and no upconversion, whilst others offer upscaling from HDMI sources but not upconversion from analogue inputs.

Have a look through WHF's reviews of multichannel receivers here and look at the Tech Specs, you'll see entries for Video upconversion (i.e. taking analogue video inputs and outputting them via the HDMI out) and Video scaling which will tell you whether the amp upscales or not.

 

[Anonymous]

"(i.e. taking analogue video inputs and outputting them via the HDMI out) "

yes, i know many receivers can do this. But,

what i am interested is HDMI in->HDMI out upscaling. At least Marantz is a receiver (5003 and 6003), which can do upscaling from analogue inputs but not from HDMI. So, my question is: is this common or just marantz feature?

in any case, thanks for reply.

 

[nads]

Might just be a Marantz thing as the current upscaling Onks. can take any Input and resolution and output it as 1080p from composite input all the way up to HDMI input.

 

[Anonymous]

This feature is still pretty rare, even on higher end kit and even though you'd think it'd be easier and cheaper to scale from a digital input. The higher end Denon's do it, as do the Yamahas from about the 1900 up (although the Z11 might not as it's a bit older). I'm pretty sure those two Pioneer models don't do it. I don't know about the others.

BTW those Yamahas feature Anchor Bay's VRS processing which is better than the more commonly specced (presumably cheaper) Faroudja DCDi processing. PReP (progressive reprocessing) is one feature of VRS that you won't find anywhere else and works a treat with Sky HD and cheaper DVD players, which have pretty shabby internal SD deinterlacing but won't output 576i over HDMI, only 576p.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

...One other point before you drop a load of cash on a new receiver. If you go with a Faroudja equipped model, you might find that your TV actually does a better job of deinterlacing 1080i than the receiver does. Most TVs are pretty good at this. The Faroudja chips excel at deinterlacing and scaling standard def material. I'm not familiar with your Toppy but to get the best from it (or any other processor for that matter), set it to output video in its native format (typically 576i for SD) to bypass as much of its internal processing as possible.ÿ

 

[professorhat]

I've just gone through the manual of the Pioneer SC-LX71 and it's not particularly clear says "Specifies the output resolution of the video signal (when analog video input signals are output at the HDMI OUT connector, select this according to the resolution of your monitor and the images you wish to watch)" which suggests maybe it only upscales analogue inputs. Any one at WHF any the wiser? This surprises me, being an Onkyo owner, I took it for granted that all other AV amps did the same i.e. could upscale any input.

At any rate, isn't the upscaling in the Topfield really good on its own (got a 5 star review from WHF) so not sure if it would be necessary to get the amp to upscale?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, this has surprized me too. Any comments, WHF?

I'm afraid my toppy cant upscale at all. Have to check this.

 

[Anonymous]

I just called to Pioneer's technical support and the answer was: "please read the owner's manual in web. This is relatively (71) new receiver, so can't say or help you." WHAZ ?!?!? Support didn't know either !!! NOW I'm surprized.

 

[professorhat]

Mikey07:I'm afraid my toppy cant upscale at all. Have to check this.

Sorry, was the 5810 I was thinking of. At the end of the day, if all else fails, the TV will upscale. Which TV do you have? You may find it has a very good upscaling chip in it, negating the need for this in your receiver. Otherwise, take a look at the higher end Onkyos - my 905 upscales anything and everything very nicely.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Mikey07:
Yes, this has surprized me too. Any comments, WHF?

I'm afraid my toppy cant upscale at all. Have to check this.

You will have to pay around the £1k mark for a receiver to upscale a hdmi feed. The Pioneer LX71 and 81 both upscale hdmi. Unless I've read wrongly the Onk 706 and 876 do also as does the Yamaha 1900 upwards, so you could get what you want for around £700.

 

[aliEnRIK]

I think you also need to realise that not all upscaling hardware is the same. I have a PS3, 2 pioneer dvd players and a pioneer tv

The pioneer tv upscales better then all except the pioneer LX50 dvd player

 

[Anonymous]

Gerrardasnails:Mikey07:

Yes, this has surprized me too. Any comments, WHF?

I'm afraid my toppy cant upscale at all. Have to check this.

You will have to pay around the £1k mark for a receiver to upscale a hdmi feed. The Pioneer LX71 and 81 both upscale hdmi. Unless I've read wrongly the Onk 706 and 876 do also as does the Yamaha 1900 upwards, so you could get what you want for around £700.

The Yamaha RXV 1900 upscales analogue to HDMI only whereas the Yamaha RXV 3900, Z7 and Z11 upscales HDMI to HDMI.

 

[Anonymous]

I have an LX81 receiver,connected a Panasonic SVHS recorder via S-video input ,sound via RCA phono plugs and output through .HDMI-1, has an HDMI cable connected to Pioneer 5090 plasma INPUT-1 enabled for HDMI. Video converter set to on and upscaler set to auto. I get on and off video upscaled to 1080p, sound okay. Why cant I get constant output through HDMI to plasma screen.Please any comments what I am I doing wrong?