I'm in the market for a new receiver, and several of the ones I'm considdering have component video upconversion. Originally I thought this would be a very important feature, though I have some questions/concerns.
My biggest concern are the vertical bars when watching 4:3 channels on my 16:9 (rear-projection) television. In my current setup I have the component video from my cable box going directly into the TV. I also have the composite video of the cable box going through my amp into the composite input on the TV. When watching HD shows, I use the component input on the TV. When watching normal TV, I use the composite input configured for Wide or Wide-Zoom. Since not many things are HD yet, a lot of my viewing is 4:3 in Wide-Zoom. If I watch non-HD channels using the component input, I get black vertical bars. If I watch non-HD shows on HD-channels using the component input, I get gray vertical bars. I'd like no bars at all (except for the kind that serve beer), and would prefer that the TV detect the input format and adjust accordingly.
I'd like to use any upconversion feature to run a single component input to my TV, but I fear that if that input is 4:3 that I'll get the bars and eventually burn them into the TV. I could probably do what I'm doing now and run both a component AND composite cable from the AMP to TV, and switch inputs based on my channel. I'd prefer not to do this if possible.
Is the Amp, or TV, or whatever smart enough to switch between HD-mode and 4:3/wide-zoom mode based on the channels I'm watching?
Thanks!
Dave
