Analog to hdmi?????

[speakerman39]

I have read that the Onkyo 674 receiver can upconvert from analog to hdmi. Likewise, this is also available on other receiver such as the Denon 2807 and the Yammie 1600. Are there any others out there that can convert from analog to hdmi that is MORE affordable and thus less expensive than the likes of the Onkyo 674 or the others mentioned above? I have regular cable and the picture on my new 40" Samsung LCD absolutley sucks!!! With dvd the Samsung is amazing. My Pioneer 1015 will upconvert analog to component BUT not real sure how much better, if any, the picture would be with respect to component. Please help if you can.

 

[no. 5]

I have regular cable and the picture on my new 40" Samsung LCD absolutley sucks!!! With dvd the Samsung is amazing. My Pioneer 1015 will upconvert analog to component BUT not real sure how much better, if any, the picture would be with respect to component. Please help if you can.

so:

good picture with DVD's

bad picture with TV (i.e satellite, cable, rabit ears)

right?

 

[speakerman39]

so:

good picture with DVD's

bad picture with TV (i.e satellite, cable, rabit ears)

right?

Yes, I have the Toshiba A-1 HDdvd Player and regular dvd's look amazing w/the 40" LCD. I cant wait to see HDdvd's with it. But, my cable absolutely sucks!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the bulit in scaler would do a better job BUT I was wrong.

 

[PENG]

I have read that the Onkyo 674 receiver can upconvert from analog to hdmi. Likewise, this is also available on other receiver such as the Denon 2807 and the Yammie 1600. Are there any others out there that can convert from analog to hdmi that is MORE affordable and thus less expensive than the likes of the Onkyo 674 or the others mentioned above? I have regular cable and the picture on my new 40" Samsung LCD absolutley sucks!!! With dvd the Samsung is amazing. My Pioneer 1015 will upconvert analog to component BUT not real sure how much better, if any, the picture would be with respect to component. Please help if you can.

My own experience is that the picture quality of an upconverted component video from S-video is not better than that obtained by feeding the S-video signal directly to the TV. In fact, the improvement is not noticeable to me. I still have all the analog signals from my VCR, DVD player1 & 2 all hooked up to my 3805 for conversion to component video output just for the sake of convenience. As to analog, say S-video and component video conversion to HDMI, it is possible that any improvements may not be significant enough for you.

I just replaced my 36" Sony XBR HDTV with a Toshiba 47LX196 1080p LCD. The picture quality does improve somewhat but only if the input signal is 1080i, i.e. the HD channels. The 480i channels do not look any better on the LCD than the old Sony CRT. I also tried using my Denon 3910's HDMI output that upconverts 480p (non HD DVD) to 720p or 1080i, and found that the picture actually looks sharper if I leave it at 480p and let the Toshiba do its own conversion/scaling.

I am not trying to discourage you from getting a receiver that does the conversion, just thought I share my experience. You may get better result, but it may not be significant.

 

[no. 5]

But, my cable absolutely sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!

A good freind of mine has a 30" AQUOS, DVD's are stunning, but TV looks like he's using a seven hunderd foot long coat hager for a video cable.
he only has the option of coax or composite, but the picture is bad either way.


BTW, speakerman, I like your sig.

 

[speakerman39]

A good freind of mine has a 30" AQUOS, DVD's are stunning, but TV looks like he's using a seven hunderd foot long coat hager for a video cable.
he only has the option of coax or composit, but the picture is bad either way.


BTW, speakerman, I like your sig.

Thanks for the compliment regarding my sig. A friend of mine is a cable tv installer and he claims that I will see a significant improvement to my new tv picture if I at least upconvert the composite out to component. That is, my friend feels like it will be at the very least tolerable. Heck, any improvement would help. I do watch a lot of cable and getting the digital box is only $5 a month more. The DVR though is $14 a month more. Just cant see myself renting a DVR. Down the road I may invest in one and be done with it. Right now they are still too expensive.

 

[speakerman39]

My own experience is that the picture quality of an upconverted component video from S-video is not better than that obtained by feeding the S-video signal directly to the TV. In fact, the improvement is not noticeable to me. I still have all the analog signals from my VCR, DVD player1 & 2 all hooked up to my 3805 for conversion to component video output just for the sake of convenience. As to analog, say S-video and component video conversion to HDMI, it is possible that any improvements may not be significant enough for you.

I just replaced my 36" Sony XBR HDTV with a Toshiba 47LX196 1080p LCD. The picture quality does improve somewhat but only if the input signal is 1080i, i.e. the HD channels. The 480i channels do not look any better on the LCD than the old Sony CRT. I also tried using my Denon 3910's HDMI output that upconverts 480p (non HD DVD) to 720p or 1080i, and found that the picture actually looks sharper if I leave it at 480p and let the Toshiba do its own conversion/scaling.

I am not trying to discourage you from getting a receiver that does the conversion, just thought I share my experience. You may get better result, but it may not be significant.

Do you believe the video would look as good if not better with upconverting from composite to S-video? I can always run analog audio outs to the receiver as I am not too concerned with digital audio when watching cable tv.

 

[just_visiting]

I have read that the Onkyo 674 receiver can upconvert from analog to hdmi. Likewise, this is also available on other receiver such as the Denon 2807 and the Yammie 1600. Are there any others out there that can convert from analog to hdmi that is MORE affordable and thus less expensive than the likes of the Onkyo 674 or the others mentioned above? I have regular cable and the picture on my new 40" Samsung LCD absolutley sucks!!! With dvd the Samsung is amazing. My Pioneer 1015 will upconvert analog to component BUT not real sure how much better, if any, the picture would be with respect to component. Please help if you can.

What is your budget for a new receiver?

 

[PENG]

Do you believe the video would look as good if not better with upconverting from composite to S-video? I can always run analog audio outs to the receiver as I am not too concerned with digital audio when watching cable tv.

I have not tried upconverting from composite to S-video as my 3805 converts everything to component video. I do believe it will be as good, if not better. Again, any upconverting may give you a slightly cleaner picture overall but it won't give you the details that were not there in the first place. A HD cable box will do the trick for you.

 

[speakerman39]

What is your budget for a new receiver?

Ummmmm........right now a big "0" as money is tight here. Dont really plan on getting a new receiver any time soon. If I have to I will go ahead and go w/the DVR that my cable company has in order to get 1080i when watching my cable channels. When watching dvd's my Toshiba A-1 does a suberb job. But, if I were going to get a new receiver it would either be a Yamaha RX-V2600 or a Denon 2807 and possibly the Elite TSX84. There are also a few others but chances are I would end up w/the Yammy because I can get a really good deal on them. The others would cost me more. What did you have in mind?

 

[speakerman39]

I have not tried upconverting from composite to S-video as my 3805 converts everything to component video. I do believe it will be as good, if not better. Again, any upconverting may give you a slightly cleaner picture overall but it won't give you the details that were not there in the first place. A HD cable box will do the trick for you.

Well, I am going to go ahead a try it via composite to component and see if it would be tolerable. If not, then I will upgrade once again and get the DVR which will display full 1080i. Just hate to pay $14 extra p/month for something I am renting. Wish there was one(DVR) I could buy that would be affordable. Do you know of any?

 

[PENG]

Well, I am going to go ahead a try it via composite to component and see if it would be tolerable. If not, then I will upgrade once again and get the DVR which will display full 1080i. Just hate to pay $14 extra p/month for something I am renting. Wish there was one(DVR) I could buy that would be affordable. Do you know of any?

I am sure it will be "tolerable". Rental is not always bad, my first rental one failed and they replaced it with a new one. I have no experience with any "DVR" (assuming you meant digital video receiver, not digital video recorder) other than the Scientific Atlanta's Explorer 3250HD rented from the cable company. Are you saying that you are subscribing to HDTV cable/satellite service and yet do not have a HD box?

 

[speakerman39]

I am sure it will be "tolerable". Rental is not always bad, my first rental one failed and they replaced it with a new one. I have no experience with any "DVR" (assuming you meant digital video receiver, not digital video recorder) other than the Scientific Atlanta's Explorer 3250HD rented from the cable company. Are you saying that you are subscribing to HDTV cable/satellite service and yet do not have a HD box?

No, my local cable company aka Insight Communications offers a DVR (digital video recorder) that has dual tuners and does upconvert the cable(analog) signal to full 1080i. This is the only way they offer getting a high def picture. They do, however, offer an HD package BUT is would cost me even more. I will be more than happy with the picture that the DVR displays. Personally, I could care less about recording. Mainly, I watch a lot of the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and National Geographic stuff. Just got through watching Jack *** 2 and The Descent and the picture was absolutely amazing. Hope to soon watch an HD DVD on my new LCD. The cable company will be here in the morning. Just wished there was an affordable way to take my regular cable and upconvert the RF signal w/o spending a bunch of money. All the hype about the DVR does NOT impress me BUT the picture quality does.

 

[PENG]

No, my local cable company aka Insight Communications offers a DVR (digital video recorder) that has dual tuners and does upconvert the cable(analog) signal to full 1080i. This is the only way they offer getting a high def picture.

That's what I thought DVR was! I didn't realize you were trying to avoid renting a HD package and would settle for an upconverted signal instead. Actually a clean 480i channel can look quite good without any upconversion. I really don't find upconverting do much in terms of picture quality, but if it works for you, go for it. By the way, I thought only HD channels offer the widescreen format. Your new LCD TV is widescreen right?

 

[speakerman39]

That's what I thought DVR was! I didn't realize you were trying to avoid renting a HD package and would settle for an upconverted signal instead. Actually a clean 480i channel can look quite good without any upconversion. I really don't find upconverting do much in terms of picture quality, but if it works for you, go for it. By the way, I thought only HD channels offer the widescreen format. Your new LCD TV is widescreen right?

Well, the DVR will display 16:9 on most channels. On some HD channels it only displays 16:9 which drove me crazy with my former 4:3 32" Sony hdtv. It is doubtful that I will get the HD package anytime soon though. However, Discovery HD looks interesting.

 

[PENG]

Well, the DVR will display 16:9 on most channels. On some HD channels it only displays 16:9 which drove me crazy with my former 4:3 32" Sony hdtv. It is doubtful that I will get the HD package anytime soon though. However, Discovery HD looks interesting.

I know the feeling, I replaced my 36" XBR Sony only a couple of weeks ago. Being 4" larger than yours, it wasn't bad for the 16:9 stuff but the 2.35:1 DVD movies drove me crazy too.

 

[ragged]

Well, in my opinion, if you want the best picture possible, don't go through a receiver. Get an hd cable box and connect video directly to tv. Don't use a receiver to upgrade your picture.

I have hd service from verizon fios with a sharp aquos 32" lcd hdtv. Awesome hd picture, and standard def channels come in at 480p, and still look good.

I bought a yammie 2600, connected everything thru hdmi cable and the picture was worse. Even if I set the receiver just to pass thru the hd signal, the signal was still worse than when it was connected directly to the tv. I then returned the yammie and got a pioneer elite vsx82-txs and the picture quality was still worse than the yammie.

In the end, I kept the pioneer, kept renting the hd cable box and just used the receiver for sound.

You may want to try one of these, it may be a cheap way to improve your picture quality. I never tried one.

http://www.dvd-gear.com/video-scaler-for-hdtv-dvi.htm

 

[speakerman39]

Well, in my opinion, if you want the best picture possible, don't go through a receiver. Get an hd cable box and connect video directly to tv. Don't use a receiver to upgrade your picture.

I have hd service from verizon fios with a sharp aquos 32" lcd hdtv. Awesome hd picture, and standard def channels come in at 480p, and still look good.

I bought a yammie 2600, connected everything thru hdmi cable and the picture was worse. Even if I set the receiver just to pass thru the hd signal, the signal was still worse than when it was connected directly to the tv. I then returned the yammie and got a pioneer elite vsx82-txs and the picture quality was still worse than the yammie.

In the end, I kept the pioneer, kept renting the hd cable box and just used the receiver for sound.

You may want to try one of these, it may be a cheap way to improve your picture quality. I never tried one.

http://www.dvd-gear.com/video-scaler-for-hdtv-dvi.htm

Well not sure about the hdmi switching with respect to your Yammie BUT I do know that when I ran composite cables to my Yammie RX-V757 it upconverted to component. That did improve my picture a lot. Of course, that was also w/a crt tv and NOT an LCD. Btw, Impact Acoustics has a video upscaler for only $120 that will take regular rf cable to a more higher defintion picture via VGA. Not sure about the picture resolution. I may give that a try down the road.

 

[midknight_sky]

I know this thread is like a year old but I had the same question about analog cable on 1080i. Basically I was told I needed to buy a monter power center by a circuit city guy. I found one at amazon which was the cheapest but do you guys think this will fix it or found another way to get a good analog pic? I can't post a link but it's the Monster Power HTS 1600 PowerCenter at amazon