Upscaling & Amp/5.1 Speaker choices

[admin_exported]

Hi I'm about to purchase my new Viera 58" Plasma and have aprox 1000 pounds left to spend on a 5.1 AV system.

I will be using a PS3, XBOX 360 Elite and standard digital TV signal, as there is no HD TV where i live, though maybe in a few yrs.

The room is approx 8m by 6m, with fairly high ceilings.

Is there a receiver that can upscale normal SD TV signals, it sounds like a stupid question but the extemely poor salesman told me the Onkyo 605 would do?

I have also looked at the Wharfdale Diamond 9 Kevlar speakers, they seem to have great write ups

My Budget is around 1000 quid currently.

Could anyone advise me regarding the Upscaluing and the best Amp/5.1 Speaker set available for my budget?

Also, regarding future proofing my AV setup is it worth forking out a lot more money on for example the Onkyo 875/905 for when HDTV does become available? Any views/answers would be much appreciated.

Tom

 

[professorhat]

Hi there

I'm not sure what [quote user="UpTheGas"]regarding future proofing my AV setup is it worth forking out a lot more money on for example the Onkyo 875/905 for when HDTV does become available?[/quote] means but I can tell you the Onkyo TX-SR605 does not upscale. So the extremely poor salesman was indeed extremely poor (at least in terms of his advice).

 

[Anonymous]

If your plasma has built in freeview and you have a good signal,then the picture will be good anyway. So i wouldn't worry about the upscaling until you have your Viera up and running.

If you have sky/cable, then the Onkyo 875 will upscale very well.Haven't really looked into the cheaper models,but pretty sure they don't upscale anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

from www.creative-audio.uk web site :

NB - If you are already using HD sources (e.g. Sky HD, HDMI DVD player, PS3) then you arguably don't
need any up-scaling to 1080p, in which case, the Onkyo 805 is almost
identical in performance to it's big brother, the 875, for £200 less -
it's an absolute steal!

 

[Anonymous]

The above answers to your question are incorrect the Onkyo 605 will upscale any composite, s-video, component and hdmi input and will output the upscaled video via ether component or hdmi. The only thing it cannot upscale is scart RGB as it does not have that connection. (Cannot vouch for quality of the up conversion though). The only one in the Onkyo range not to upscale is the 505 which can only act as a passthrough.

 

[professorhat]

[quote user="SyRs"]The above answers to your question are incorrect the Onkyo 605 will upscale any composite, s-video, component and hdmi input and will output the upscaled video via ether component or hdmi.[/quote]

No, the Onkyo TX-SR605 cannot upscale any video, it can merely convert or de-interlace analogue signals to digital signals. If you don't believe me, you'll probably believe Clare Newsome
.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes sorry my apologies, its the 875 and above which can scale above and the rest is up-conversion allowing any video input to output through Hdmi. Sorry again for incorrect info. Whose Clare Newsome BTW?

 

[professorhat]

[quote user="SyRs"]Whose Clare Newsome BTW?[/quote]

Dear God, man - don't say it so loud... she'll have all of our skins!!

Only joking, Clare! Clare was the editor of WHFSV magazine but has now been promoted to the Supreme Being (see this post!).