HK AVR 7300 and 32" Sony wega trinitron

[Giuseppe]

Hey guys

I have a question about my tv. I have an HK AVR 7300 which uses that forouja (spelling?) technology which upconverts the video. From what I understand, I need an HDTV ready tv for the upconverting to work. Whenever I turn on the upconverting the picture gets black and white and splits into two videos. Therefore, I don't think my TV is HDTV ready and cannot support the upconverting. Here is my TV http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Sony_KV_32FS120. I am wondering if someone here who knows more about this stuff can tell me if my tv is hdtv ready? And if not there is a converter I can buy to make it HDTV ready right?

Thanks

 

[jmanlp]

I don't know about a converter but everywhere I looked said that tv is standard def. so upconverting to HD is not going to do it.

 

[Giuseppe]

Dang, I thought my Tv wasn't hd. Does anyone know anything about the converter I heard about? Or am I screwed?

 

[Hanse18]

Your TV has a MAXIMUM resolution of 480i. This means it only, ONLY, has the capabilities to display 480 horizontal lines by displaying 240 lines the first 1/60th (of a second) and then the other 240 lines the second 1/60th. 480i is REGULAR tv. It is the same picture that has been supported by every TV in the last 50 years, or so I believe. There is no way to make your TV display more lines of resolution. It's simply not possible. So any converter you think you know about is not going to improve your picture quality AT ALL. It won't even work. To be honest, it seems you are using component cables, and it was a waste of money to buy those in the first place, since S-Video will suit your needs fine.

So no, your TV is not HD, nor will it ever be, regardless of any wonder-converter you may come across. In fact, you could have saved alot of money if you had not bought the hk-7300, since the faroudja chip is currently worthless to you. If you can still return that, you might want to.. and find something that will upconvert any signal to be displayed over S-video or Component, without the de-interlacing feature. The HK AVR-635 would suit your needs, or any models from last year by yamaha, denon, or pioneer should work as well.

 

[Giuseppe]

Well, I see your point about the HDTV. But, first of all I wanted to get the HK AVR 7300 because I have a 7.1 system and want the nice clean power. Plus I got the HK 7300 and the Harmony remote for $1000 Canadian which is an unbeatable price anywhere you look. Second of all I did get component cables and fiber optic cables because my friend works at futureshop and I got all the cables more then 70% off. Plus if I ever upgrade my TV, which I will very soon anyways, they will help. Not to mention that I have a 52" DLP projection HDTV ready TV upstairs that I could always switch around. So thanks for your opinion but I didn't rush into this whole home theatre bit without thinking stuff through. Anyways, I can always buy another TV that is HDTV ready in a couple of months.

 

[quicksilver]

Thats great that you got such a good deal on your equipment but I don't think anyone said you rushed into your home theater purchase. It might be inferred that you did since you didn't know your Sony TV was not HD ready and never will be. I have the same tv and there is no convertor to make it hdtv. You have a great system...might as well hook it up to a TV that will make it shine as well.

 

[Giuseppe]

Cool, I see your point. When I bought the TV about 3 years ago no one was talking about HDTV. And I didn't think that I would need an HDTV so soon.

 

[Hanse18]

no one "needs" an hdtv yet. regardless of what anyone tells you, the only thing that is "required" anytime soon is a dtv-capable TV, but even that isn't an issue for a majority of people since our cable boxes will decode that digital signal before it ever reaches your TV anyways. The assumption is that once we switch over to complete digital, most stations will carry an HD channel since they will have extra bandwidth available. I still prefer watchin SD broadcasts on a nice 480i TV, such as yours, over any of my HDTV's. I was simply saying your current receiver is overkill in the video department, but you got a good deal on it so congrats, looks like a steal.

One thing you must remember is that your TV will do the same thing as that faroudja chip, and there is no guarantee that the chip will do a better job than your tv can... so it may be useless, or even detrimental to your picture quality, depending on your HDTV.

 

[Giuseppe]

Yeah I see what you are saying. The only crappy thing is that for some reason (I have 5 video inputs on my HK) when I connect my PS2 video into the video 2 slot it won't show up. Then when I turn on the foroudja I atleast see a bit of a picture. So does that mean I need the foroudja to be on in order to see my PS2? Right now I have my PS2 connected into the front of my TV which works fine, but it would look better if I could get the cable out of the way. Anyone know why I can't get picture though video 2 inputs?

 

[Hanse18]

What kind of video cable are you using on the PS2? I am going to assume it is composite or S-Video, because most TV's, especially Standard def ones, don't have component inputs on the front panel. The faroudja chip may also handle any kind of basic upconversion (composite -> S-Video -> Component), so when you have the faroudja chip on, do you have it outputting a 480i picture? (I am also assuming you are only running a component video from the 7300 to the TV) I don't mean to sound condescending, but everyone forgets some of the obvious stuff sometimes, so I'm just covering all the bases. If that is not the problem, perhaps you should try outputting the video at the same level that it came in on (if you are using the standard composite video into the 7300, run composite to your tv, etc.).

 

[Giuseppe]

What kind of video cable are you using on the PS2? I am going to assume it is composite or S-Video, because most TV's, especially Standard def ones, don't have component inputs on the front panel. The faroudja chip may also handle any kind of basic upconversion (composite -> S-Video -> Component), so when you have the faroudja chip on, do you have it outputting a 480i picture? (I am also assuming you are only running a component video from the 7300 to the TV) I don't mean to sound condescending, but everyone forgets some of the obvious stuff sometimes, so I'm just covering all the bases. If that is not the problem, perhaps you should try outputting the video at the same level that it came in on (if you are using the standard composite video into the 7300, run composite to your tv, etc.).

Hmmm, lets see. I am connecting my PS2 with composite, so all I do is connect the yellow wire into my TV, with the sound connected using fiber optic cable. The faroudja chip only has an on and off button, which I think only up converts 480i to 480p all other types just go through the HK unchanged. So if it is outputting 480p I am not sure how to change it to 480i, lol. And I am running component cable from my DVD to the HK and from the HK to my TV, is that wrong? Hope that covers it all. Do you have any other ideas to what I am doing wrong? Thanks

 

[Giuseppe]

Ok, after fooling around with some wires and skimming through the manual a few more times I realized what I did. I am such an idiot. Since my PS2 doesnt use the faroudja chip I have to make a connection from the regular monitor connection on the back of my HK to the TV. There is also a component connection to the TV for when I watch DVDs and such. So I finally got it to work. I think I will be buying a better TV soon with an upconverting DVD player.