Seeking approval

[Morticae]

Can you stop by my house and clean up all that crap and maze of wires hehind my credenza?

Sure! My line of work is mostly in data centers and high-end networks. I don't do wiring unless it's in-wall or properly laced. Of course zip-ties are a bit easier and faster, but you need to be careful not to tighten them too hard or you can hurt your cables.

Here's a site with a decent tutorial:
http://www.mostlyaudio.com/lacing1.html

PS - For theater installs especially, make sure you don't lace your AC power to your speaker wire or something. Also, make sure any wires you lace are properly shielded. That should probably go without saying here, but you never know.

 

[AVRat]

I know we don't "need" it, but that's why I just took advantage of SVS's price drop for a couple of PIANO GLOSS BLACK PLUSes.

 

[Adam]

I know we don't "need" it, but that's why I just took advantage of SVS's price drop for a couple of PIANO GLOSS BLACK PLUSes.

AVRat, that sentence alone almost instantly made me want to go out and buy something new...anything. Oh, man, I'll bet those are going to look and sound fantastic.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I feel your pain brother. I started out with a 2k budget... I am now 12k deep and that doesnt account for the bedroom set up

$12K?
Wow I don't feel so bad. Maybe if I told me wife that, she might let me buy more things? NOT. I'm done for like 2 years.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I thought it would probably be enough, but that's why I asked here of course. I mean, all of this is completely subjective anyway... I don't *need* a system at all (neither do any of you, though you may not admit it!), but the idea of the sound of frag grenades ricocheting around my room gets me all hot and bothered. I think the 705 has features that I legitimately need (phono for example), so I will probably stick there.

Now to break out my pro wiring skillz (the one thing I do have here) and start fishing some line!

Okay. You got the approval. Onkyo 705 is good to go. HSU VTF-2 is good to go.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Can you stop by my house and clean up all that crap and maze of wires hehind my credenza?

What's wrong with maze of wires?
Shoot. They look manly. J/K

 

[davidtwotrees]

Hey, Mort. Welcome. How refreshing to hear a new poster have all his ducks in a row and show a well thought out game plan that has been researched here and elsewhere. I was not surprised to hear you had a technical background. The left brainers do well in this hobby! My brother is an engineer, and he doesn't mind spending extra money if there is logic and common sense behind it. I would spend the extra moolah. What you get is power for your money. There will be more pep in the music, more slam in the bass, more whizz in the flying bullets. $350 is a 17.5% increase in your budget. I would say the sub and AVR upgrade would come close to that as a return on your money. I like to look at in terms of my earning power. How many hours would you have to work to pay for that $350 upgrade. For me it would be twelve hours or so. A blink of an eye.

I support Blue Jeans Cable. They are American entrepenuers who are making it in our country where most of this industry is long gone overseas.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I dont think that is correct; my wife told me that's what I have spent but I can only come up with $10,050 counting the bedroom set up and the LCD in the office.

$12K?
Wow I don't feel so bad. Maybe if I told me wife that, she might let me buy more things? NOT. I'm done for like 2 years.

 

[Morticae]

Hey, Mort. Welcome. How refreshing to hear a new poster have all his ducks in a row and show a well thought out game plan that has been researched here and elsewhere. I was not surprised to hear you had a technical background. The left brainers do well in this hobby! My brother is an engineer, and he doesn't mind spending extra money if there is logic and common sense behind it. I would spend the extra moolah. What you get is power for your money. There will be more pep in the music, more slam in the bass, more whizz in the flying bullets. $350 is a 17.5% increase in your budget. I would say the sub and AVR upgrade would come close to that as a return on your money. I like to look at in terms of my earning power. How many hours would you have to work to pay for that $350 upgrade. For me it would be twelve hours or so. A blink of an eye.

I support Blue Jeans Cable. They are American entrepenuers who are making it in our country where most of this industry is long gone overseas.

Thanks man. It definitely comes from being in the IT world. I know how annoying it is when someone comes to me with a computer question they could have answered with 2 minutes of googling. If you are going to ask someone for free help, it's just common courtesy to put in the due diligence ahead of time to make sure you aren't wasting peoples' time and energy.

I also tend to think in terms of opportunity costs rather than dollar values, but you gotta go a step further and compare it to other things you'd like to do. For instance, is $350 worth more to me as a (somewhat?) better sound system, or as half of a plane ticket to Alaska? I make plenty of money, but I've only been out of college for a year, so I'm still building my base.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I dont think that is correct; my wife told me that's what I have spent but I can only come up with $10,050 counting the bedroom set up and the LCD in the office.

That's still a lot, though. I think I spent a total $8K this year. I will have to wait another 2 years before spending another $4K on either a 1080p projector or 73"+ MIT.

 

[Morticae]

One more question if anyone is reading this still:

It doesn't *really* matter since I'll be on satellite soon, but I was apparently under a false impression about the Onkyo x05 series.

When we're talking "upconversion", this means that the Onk will upconvert component, S-Vid, etc to 1080 and shoot it out of its HDMI. However, it will NOT do any video processing on HDMI inputs, correct? It WILL strip audio off HDMI inputs though?

Does the Onkyo 875 do video processing on the HDMI inputs? Are there even any receivers in this range that do? I still like the 705, but is there a better option in the video area?

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Just have Morticae send you some money; he said he makes plenty

That's still a lot, though. I think I spent a total $8K this year. I will have to wait another 2 years before spending another $4K on either a 1080p projector or 73"+ MIT.

 

[ZoFo]

About your Cables

They certianly are fine and would do the job but I would seriously look at Blue Jean Cables - I have used them for my last two HT's and could not be happier. You can get your cables built to length and have a choice of boot/cable colors and they will be built, sweep tested & shipped in minutes after placing your order. Nothing fancy, just some really nice, sturdy Studio grade interconnects made to order!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

One more question if anyone is reading this still:

It doesn't *really* matter since I'll be on satellite soon, but I was apparently under a false impression about the Onkyo x05 series.

When we're talking "upconversion", this means that the Onk will upconvert component, S-Vid, etc to 1080 and shoot it out of its HDMI. However, it will NOT do any video processing on HDMI inputs, correct? It WILL strip audio off HDMI inputs though?

Does the Onkyo 875 do video processing on the HDMI inputs? Are there even any receivers in this range that do? I still like the 705, but is there a better option in the video area?

Upconversion just means they will make the screen size FIT your TV. It does NOT multiply the lines of resolution from 480i to 1080i. You still have 480 lines after upconversion.

Upscale means they will take the 480 lines and multiply it or kind of "double it" to make 1080 lines of resolution. So your end result is 1080 lines of resolution.

The Onkyo 875 has upscaling ability, but the 805 does not.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Just have Morticae send you some money; he said he makes plenty

So what's he doing talking about the Onkyo 875?
If I made plenty of money, I would think about the Denon 4308.
Well, make that the Fifty-something-08 model
5508?

 

[Morticae]

Upconversion just means they will make the screen size FIT your TV. It does NOT multiply the lines of resolution from 480i to 1080i. You still have 480 lines after upconversion.

Upscale means they will take the 480 lines and multiply it or kind of "double it" to make 1080 lines of resolution. So your end result is 1080 lines of resolution.

The Onkyo 875 has upscaling ability, but the 805 does not.

See I don't understand what this means, because with an LCD screen "make the screen size FIT your TV" also means converting from x to 1080. The only way for an image to "fit" a 1080p LCD is for it to have 1080 lines of resolution. Also, the only image that an LCD will display is progressive... so somewhere along the line, any image that fills my screen has been converted to a 1080p feed.

If the 805 will convert any 480 signal to 'fit' my screen then it clearly has video processing capabilities. If so, I'm curious about the quality because this is an area where the algorithm used can make a significant difference.

 

[Morticae]

So what's he doing talking about the Onkyo 875?
If I made plenty of money, I would think about the Denon 4308.
Well, make that the Fifty-something-08 model
5508?

Just because I make plenty of money doesn't mean I have to spend it on ultra fancy home theater equipment. I put a lot into stocks and other things. To be honest, if I was making 2mil+/year I would still probably only have a ~$10,000 home theater. I just think there are more important things... but this is not my hobby so it's different for you guys. I just happen to think that the marginal returns on a system over about $2500 is not worth it to me personally.

 

[avaserfi]

See I don't understand what this means, because with an LCD screen "make the screen size FIT your TV" also means converting from x to 1080. The only way for an image to "fit" a 1080p LCD is for it to have 1080 lines of resolution. Also, the only image that an LCD will display is progressive... so somewhere along the line, any image that fills my screen has been converted to a 1080p feed.

If the 805 will convert any 480 signal to 'fit' my screen then it clearly has video processing capabilities. If so, I'm curious about the quality because this is an area where the algorithm used can make a significant difference.

Acudeftech guy was actually wrong. Here are the proper definitions.

Upscaling: When you take a 480 image and make it 720/1080. This is what makes it fit on the screen properly.

Upconverting: When one plugs a composite cable into a receiver and the receiver outputs via say HDMI. In this case the receiver unconverted the signal from composite to HDMI.

De-interlacing: Taking a interlaced image to progressive scan. 480I to 480P

 

[ParadigmDawg]

It's not a big hobby of mine either... well... not like bikes, SCUBA, Wakeboarding is to me anyway. I too put most of my money in investments as I am sure a lot of people do on here. I spend a lot of time on this forum because it is fun and I have a desk job

Just because I make plenty of money doesn't mean I have to spend it on ultra fancy home theater equipment. I put a lot into stocks and other things. To be honest, if I was making 2mil+/year I would still probably only have a ~$10,000 home theater. I just think there are more important things... but this is not my hobby so it's different for you guys. I just happen to think that the marginal returns on a system over about $2500 is not worth it to me personally.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Acudeftech guy was actually wrong. Here are the proper definitions.

Upscaling: When you take a 480 image and make it 720/1080. This is what makes it fit on the screen properly.

Upconverting: When one plugs a composite cable into a receiver and the receiver outputs via say HDMI. In this case the receiver unconverted the signal from composite to HDMI.

Check this out:
Upscaling & upconversion

http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdbasicsfaqs/f/dvdbasics12.htm

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/features/2402/video-upconversion-facts-and-fallacies.html

Onkyo 805: HDMI V1.3 REPEATER (3in/1out, 1080p compatible), w/HDMI video UP-CONVERSION:
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-SR805&class=Receiver&p=i

Onkyo 875: Reon-HQV™ HD video SCALING up to 1080p:
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-SR875&class=Receiver&p=i

Seems like Up-Conversion is not converting 480 to 1080.
Up-Scaling is scaling from 480 to 1080.