Whats the rule of thumb ? here we go again

[skr1]

Some forums ago andrew pointed out that the value of an item can in some cases be a indicator as to the up-scale ability.

Others suggest view the item see for self, But i have noticed that their are other factors to consider, (cable runs)

Enough said what advice can you give me (apart from shut up)--DO i hd sky into pioneer pdp6090 direct or through the ONk 905 and what about when i add blu-ray and here we go what settings if through the 905 .The blu-ray for sound through the 905 is what i would do But do i set the amp at 180p If i put everything through the 905 which i planned to do .Do i need to ajust the tv settings eg-should equal the 905? IS there a rule of thumb? thanks

 

[fr0g]

skr1:
Some forums ago andrew pointed out that the value of an item can in some cases be a indicator as to the up-scale ability.

Others suggest view the item see for self, But i have noticed that their are other factors to consider, (cable runs)

Enough said what advice can you give me (apart from shut up)--DO i hd sky into pioneer pdp6090 direct or through the ONk 905 and what about when i add blu-ray and here we go what settings if through the 905 .The blu-ray for sound through the 905 is what i would do But do i set the amp at 180p If i put everything through the 905 which i planned to do .Do i need to ajust the tv settings eg-should equal the 905? IS there a rule of thumb? thanks

No help at all, but I think the rule of thumb is to check out all settings, and use the best...

sorry.

 

[professorhat]

The most important thing to do is not try and get the 905 to upscale things that don't need upscaling. Case in point is a Blu-Ray disc - this should be set to output at 1080p. This is because, at 1080p, it doesn't need any upscaling, it's already at Full HD so if you set to output lower and get the 905 to upscale, you'll actually be losing detail. Same goes for Sky HD - if you're watching an HD channel which is being broadcast at 1080i, make sure the Sky HD box is outputting at 1080i, otherwise you're losing detail.
For SD sources (e.g. DVD on a Blu-Ray player or standard channels through the Sky HD box), this is more complex. For Sky HD, this is a fairly easy one as I've no doubt the scaler in the 905 or the TV will be better than the Sky HD box. In which case, set it to Auto and it the Sky HD box will automatically output at 1080i for HD programs (which the 905 can upconvert to 1080p) and will output at 576i for SD channels (which the 905 can upscale to whatever is best for your TV). On the other hand, the Pioneer is also likely to have a very good scaler in it, so you might be best trying a direct hook up to the TV to see what it looks like. Whatever you choose, you definitely want to hook the Sky box up via optical to get the 5.1 sound.
On the DVD side, since you're going to want to hook your Blu-Ray player up to the 905 as you say for sound, you then only have to test whether the scaler in the Blu-Ray player is better than the Onkyo. So set the player to 1080p for DVD output and see what it looks like, then set the player to 576p output so the 905 upscales and see which is better. The trouble with this is, you do have to remember to switch the player back to 1080p when watching a Blu-Ray!
Ultimately, the only person who can decide is you!

 

[skr1]

Thankyou for your time and help professorhat. From the info so far my best bet seems to be set the Onkyo to 1080p would you agree? blu-ray 1080p and set the sky hd to auto ?. thanks .

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

I wouldn't set the 905 to do any scaling at all - pass through all picture signals untouched if you can. The Pioneer scaling and processing will be superior to the 905 so let it deal with the picture side of things and let the 905 deal with the audio side. Sky HD should go straight into the back of the telly with an optical cable to carry the audio to the Onkyo. Blu-Ray should go through the Onkyo so the Onkyo can process the HD audio.

 

[skr1]

Thankyou fuzzyinlondon

 

[D.J.KRIME]

One downside of routing all video feeds through Your amp to a single input on Your screen which nobody ever seams to note is that from differant feeds such as Sky, DVD and Blu-Ray is that Your optimum picture settings for these differant feeds may differ substantually in terms of Contrast, Brightness etc which means Manually having to adjust these settings every time You change Your Source or setting each Colour mode for a differant source and rembering which source is set to which mode on your TV.

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

Very true DJ. That's why I recommend having SKY HD going straight into the back of the TV while having DVD and Blu-Ray go through the amp (which will be fine to share settings as far as I know). It's also worth considering having a SCART go from the Sky box into the back of the TV for your Sky SD viewing. The TV will do a much better job of de-inerlacing and upscaling it than the Sky HD box and will benefit from having its own settings as Krime alludes to above.

 

[professorhat]

Well, you can also set the Onkyo 905 to Auto meaning it will pass through any signal which is in your TV's natural resolution and upscale anything which is below that i.e. in my case, TV's maximum resolution is 720p so PS3 is passed through as set to 1080p for Blu-Rays / DVDs or 720p for most games, Xbox is passed through as set to 720p and DVD from my region 1 DVD player is upscaled as it can only output at 576p (it's an old player but the Onkyo upscaling makes the picture look fantastic). It does all this without me having to change anything.
I should point out though that the upscaling chip in my TV is clearly pretty pants as the picture improvement from my region 1 DVD player now it goes through the Onkyo is astounding. The Pioneer though I'm sure has a much better chip in it.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Are Reion 1 DVDs not at 480p not 576p prof?

 

[professorhat]

Good point - yup, my bad!

Thanks matey!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

There is also the factor that not all DVDs are encoded(flaged) for Progressive playback but these discs are generally from smaller publishers or discs where the tilte has entered the public domain.

 

[skr1]

This is a very intresting topic and i do you thank you all .Looks like the rule of thumb as changed my view as a novice.The thoughts and expressions and settings are proving most helpful.

 

[Anonymous]

Does any one know how the scalers in the PZ series fair? Was thinking of getting a PZ80/85/81 with Onko SR875. Thanks

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

I'm sure someone can confirm but I imagine they'd work very well together. I'd get the Onkyo to upscale your SD sources as I'm sure it has a better chip than the Panny. However the Panny is a very good screen and would displays the pictures received from the Onkyo with aplomb. The 875 has come down a lot in price recently too and looks a very tempting buy at the moment.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok cheers. My TV box is scart but scaler will be useful for xbox 1 and 360 on componment!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

No need to use any scalers for 360 tho

 

[Anonymous]

even though it would scale 1080i to 1080p?

 

[professorhat]

With the latest firmware, your 360 should be capable of outputting at 1080p over component. It may be your TV isn't capable of receiving 1080p through component though, quite a few aren't... If this is the case, inputting the 360 via the Onkyo which will then pass through the signal via HDMI should sort this issue.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

bennyben:

even though it would scale 1080i to 1080p?

You TV would Deinterlace the image anyway, But as the Prof has also said the 360 will happily output a 1080p signal over Component or even VGA should your TV not take a 1080p signal over Component. But My Samsung happily accects 1080p from My 360 over both Component and VGA as I think most modern FULL HD sets will, if your set is a HD ready one the IMHO there is no real advantage setting the 36o to 1080p as 99% of the games are at a native 720p.

 

[Anonymous]

Think the Pannys only take 1080p through hdmi for some reason? At least there are ways around it if needed, thanks guys.

 

[skr1]

Hi just to report ...The Pioneer pdp -lx 6090 is quite clearly Quality.the big surprise was the quality of standard def for the size of screen ( fam/friends agree.) Still working with the settings.So far i have found an improvement sending sky std , setting the 905 upscale to Through . And let the pioneer upscale.The pioneer seems to upscale std def better than the 905 its a close call but you can see a differnce. Post more later

 

[Clare Newsome]

Ooh, i've been on holiday and missed this one.

I've got the 905 and would most definitely say put everything through it and set sources to auto/native - and that's when i've got a Full HD £3500 projector's upscaling at my disposal: the Onkyo handles everything that bit better. From Sky HD to PS3, it all improves (though obviously when the PS3 is outputting 1080p, it just goes straight through...)ÿ

 

[skr1]

Clare Newsome:

Ooh, i've been on holiday and missed this one.

I've got the 905 and would most definitely say put everything through it and set sources to auto/native - and that's when i've got a Full HD £3500 projector's upscaling at my disposal: the Onkyo handles everything that bit better. From Sky HD to PS3, it all improves (though obviously when the PS3 is outputting 1080p, it just goes straight through...)

Hi clare hope you enjoyed hols?

What i noticed is -When i upscaled from the 905 std sky it was good. When i set the onkyo to through, the pioneer upscaled picture v good !. Reason--- the edge of colour was very slightly smuged on the onkyo only noticed on close up! At the same distance the pioneer was clear. To my mind worth a further look. And it was the pioneer that upscaled a slightly improved colour picture. Hope this makes sence? I must Add this is from a crittical eye. I love both units. By the way my 905 works well with the xvz1200 sharp,

 

[professorhat]

Clare Newsome:
Ooh, i've been on holiday and missed this one.

I've got the 905 and would most definitely say put everything through it and set sources to auto/native - and that's when i've got a Full HD £3500 projector's upscaling at my disposal: the Onkyo handles everything that bit better. From Sky HD to PS3, it all improves (though obviously when the PS3 is outputting 1080p, it just goes straight through...)ÿ

Having just bought the 905, this makes me a happy man Clare! Now I just need to get the money for the projector. I'm thinking InFocus IN82 or IN83 once I've auditioned them - I just can't bring myself to trust the LCD projectors in my mind yet, but I will check out the Panny PT-AE2000E at the same time just to be sure!