Home Cinema Amplifier - Video Upconversion or Upscaling **What Does It Mean?

[admin_exported]

Hi there,

I am a total novice and want to dip my toes in the waters of home cinema surround sound. I have decided on what speakers I would like but have waited for the review of the SOny STR DH800 which is now out and did very well.

I do have one query though which I hope someone can explain to me.

The review states that it does not support Video Upconversion or Upscaling. What does this mean and what does it do on amps that do support it.

I am aiming to link the amp I finally get to my Samsung 40" LCD tv, my SKy+ HD and Panasonic DMP 30 Blu Ray player by HDMI (unless that is not correct and some of them should be linked direct, can someone please advise?).

Many thanks for reading this, it is really heartening to know there is a community out there who can help novices like me!

Have a great day.

Stu

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Stubarney:
Hi there,

I am a total novice and want to dip my toes in the waters of home cinema surround sound. I have decided on what speakers I would like but have waited for the review of the SOny STR DH800 which is now out and did very well.

I do have one query though which I hope someone can explain to me.

The review states that it does not support Video Upconversion or Upscaling. What does this mean and what does it do on amps that do support it.

I am aiming to link the amp I finally get to my Samsung 40" LCD tv, my SKy+ HD and Panasonic DMP 30 Blu Ray player by HDMI (unless that is not correct and some of them should be linked direct, can someone please advise?).

Many thanks for reading this, it is really heartening to know there is a community out there who can help novices like me!

Have a great day.

Stu

If you use the products you mention, you won't need upconversion or upscaling. Basically upconversion means that you can run one hdmi from screen to amp and then whatever video cables you connect from your amp - say component from a PS3 or S-Video from a Sky box, the signal will be converted through the hdmi to your screen. Upscaling means that the receiver would upscale the non digital video feed (component, SVideo) to 1080p via the hdmi. As your other boxes will be connected via hdmi, you needn't worry.

 

[professorhat]

Upconversion is a process whereby the amp takes analogue inputs (such as component, S-Video and Composite) and converts them to digital to allow them to be output via the HDMI port. This allows you to connect all your sources into the amp and only have one HDMI cable going into the TV. Without it, if you connected up a source with a component cable to the amp, you would have to run a component cable from the amp to the TV, as well as an HDMI cable. Given all the sources you've listed are HDMI compatible, this doesn't look like an issue for you.

Upscaling is the process by which standard definition sources are processed to ensure they fit your HDTV. Standard PAL broadcasts (TV and DVD) are 576 lines in height, whereas an HD Ready TV may be 720 or 768 lines in height and a Full HD TV is 1080 lines in height. Without upscaling therefore, a standard PAL source would appear as a smaller box in the centre of the TV as it only has 576 lines. Upscaling processes that picture and effectively makes up information to fill out that picture so it fits your TV fullscreen. This will be generally to a 720p or 1080p picture, depending on what resolution your TV has.

Upscaling can be done at various points - at the source (e.g. a modern Blu-Ray or DVD player with an HDMI output generally has upscaling to 1080p included with it), by the amp or, if all else fails, the TV itself will do it. In that way, it isn't an essential feature in an amp and, from testing done by WHF a few months ago, at the budget level it's almost always the source (i.e. the DVD or Blu-Ray player) which produces the best results with upscaling. For that reason, again, I wouldn't worry about it in your setup.

 

[Andrew Everard]

And just to add, where receivers offer video upconversion this allows analogue video formats - such as component, composite and S-Video - to be converted by the onboard circuitry and output over the HDMI monitor feed, making it possible for you to run just one cable to the TV. Or indeed from composite and S-video to component in some cases, should your TV only have those inputs.

Bear in mind, too, that not all receivers offering upscaling will upscale a lower-resolution HDMI input to near-HD quality, but only do so with composite, component and S-Video.

As already mentioned, this is of no relevance to the OP's situation, but he did ask what these facilities would do if his chosen receiver did have them...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks very much for the reply (and also to those who replied too).

Would you be able to take the time and just advise me if I just need to connect my Sky+ HD and Blu Ray player to the Amp via HDMI and then the amp to my TV via HDMI.

Apologies if this sounds a stupid thing to ask!

Many thanks,

Stuart

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Stubarney:
Hi Andrew,

Thanks very much for the reply (and also to those who replied too).

Would you be able to take the time and just advise me if I just need to connect my Sky+ HD and Blu Ray player to the Amp via HDMI and then the amp to my TV via HDMI.

Apologies if this sounds a stupid thing to ask!

Many thanks,

Stuart

That is exactly how you should cable it all up. Additionally, you will need a digital audio cable from HD box to amp (optical or coaxial). On Sky HD, hdmi only carries stereo audio, so if you want surround sound for films, sport or any other channels that offer Dolby 5.1, you will need optical or coaxial (depending on which HD box you have).

 

[Sorreltiger]

Many folk like to run the HDMI from the Sky box direct to the TV so that they can watch and listen without switching on the AV system. Others (like me) use the whole system all the time enjoying simpler switching (via the amp) and enhanced sound, no matter what the programme.

If you go down this route, I would recommend you investigate one of the excellent Harmony remotes (I have a Harmony One) which can be very easily set up on your computer. All you then need to do is to touch the appropriate icon - "Watch TV" or "Watch DVD" - and away you go. It is one of my few gadgets that my other half is truly enthusiastic about!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone who have helped me.

Cannot wait to get going!

Stu

 

[Andrew Everard]

Stu

Sorry, been out at a press event in a bunker below Panasonic UK HQ. (And you think I'm kidding...!)

Nothing to add to the sage advice offered above.