was I mislead by marketing spec?

[scott911]

Hi - Just looking for an opinion,

I bought a fairly high end hdmi 1.3 reciever that advertises "Scales all video to 720p/1080i/1080p" by way of "Faroudja xxxx Scaler/Deinterlacer"

I've only just learned (having just gotten a 1080p source) that this unit does NOT accept a 1080P signal. It's happy to take a downgraded 1080i input and then faroudja-it-up to 1080P again - but that just seems nuts.

Do you think that's nuts? thanks in advance for your opinions.

Note that I'm purposely not mentioning manufacturer. They've been good to me, and don't want to negatively post about them - especially without known more. Perhaps someone here will enlighten me on some logic I'm missing.

 

[highfigh]

Hi - Just looking for an opinion,

I bought a fairly high end hdmi 1.3 reciever that advertises "Scales all video to 720p/1080i/1080p" by way of "Faroudja xxxx Scaler/Deinterlacer"

I've only just learned (having just gotten a 1080p source) that this unit does NOT accept a 1080P signal. It's happy to take a downgraded 1080i input and then faroudja-it-up to 1080P again - but that just seems nuts.

Do you think that's nuts? thanks in advance for your opinions.

Note that I'm purposely not mentioning manufacturer. They've been good to me, and don't want to negatively post about them - especially without known more. Perhaps someone here will enlighten me on some logic I'm missing.

Do you see anything about a "pass-through" option in the input setup menu? If so, it should handle 1080p. I know Denon has a way to enable/disable up-conversion.

 

[Soundman]

Hi - Just looking for an opinion,

I bought a fairly high end hdmi 1.3 reciever that advertises "Scales all video to 720p/1080i/1080p" by way of "Faroudja xxxx Scaler/Deinterlacer"

I've only just learned (having just gotten a 1080p source) that this unit does NOT accept a 1080P signal. It's happy to take a downgraded 1080i input and then faroudja-it-up to 1080P again - but that just seems nuts.

Do you think that's nuts? thanks in advance for your opinions.

Note that I'm purposely not mentioning manufacturer. They've been good to me, and don't want to negatively post about them - especially without known more. Perhaps someone here will enlighten me on some logic I'm missing.

Sounds like classic marketing to me. If I understand you correctly, it doesn't accept a true 1080p signal, but it' happy to upconvert to 1080p, right? So, they are saying it scales to 1080p. They just aren't telling you what signals it can and can't accept. Does that make sense?

 

[lsiberian]

Hi - Just looking for an opinion,

I bought a fairly high end hdmi 1.3 reciever that advertises "Scales all video to 720p/1080i/1080p" by way of "Faroudja xxxx Scaler/Deinterlacer"

I've only just learned (having just gotten a 1080p source) that this unit does NOT accept a 1080P signal. It's happy to take a downgraded 1080i input and then faroudja-it-up to 1080P again - but that just seems nuts.

Do you think that's nuts? thanks in advance for your opinions.

Note that I'm purposely not mentioning manufacturer. They've been good to me, and don't want to negatively post about them - especially without known more. Perhaps someone here will enlighten me on some logic I'm missing.

What receiver is this. No more hiding names!

 

[Highbar]

With a brand and model number we could look at the manual online and help. Or someone may have the same model. Without it's really hard to help.

 

[scott911]

soundman: you're right ...

more accurately, the manufacturer's confirmed that it does not accept 1080P - when asked directly - And relatedly, no pass through is available.

So I've literally got to down grade and then upgrade signal again. This is annoying on a logical level, I'm not sure it it's something that would be perceptible....

 

[AVRat]

Would this be the Sherwood R-872?

 

[Soundman]

soundman: you're right ...

more accurately, the manufacturer's confirmed that it does not accept 1080P - when asked directly - And relatedly, no pass through is available.

So I've literally got to down grade and then upgrade signal again. This is annoying on a logical level, I'm not sure it it's something that would be perceptible....

Well, I have seen other receiver's do the same thing. Personally, I think it's a marketing gimmick. Unless you really pay attention you wouldn't notice. It's an easy oversight. From a consumers perspective, it makes no sense not to include this feature. My only guess is that cost was a factor and the manufacturer was trying to meet a specific price point.

 

[mtrycrafts]

soundman: you're right ...

more accurately, the manufacturer's confirmed that it does not accept 1080P - when asked directly - And relatedly, no pass through is available.

So I've literally got to down grade and then upgrade signal again. This is annoying on a logical level, I'm not sure it it's something that would be perceptible....

Well, if you have to downscale, you are really losing resolution that you will not get back by upscaling. How could it create something not there?

 

[Seth=L]

Would this be the Sherwood R-872?

Your powers of deduction know no bounds. I would sumize that this is correct.

 

[MDS]

The first run of TVs with 1080p resolution were the same way. The screen resolution was 1920 x 1080 (1080p) but they could not accept a 1080p signal as input. It could scale and/or deinterlace any resolution that it can accept up to its native resolution (as all fixed pixel TVs do).

Lots of people cried foul on that and would say it's not a 1080p TV, it's a 1080i TV but that is not accurate. If it is an 'X' TV, it means its native resolution is 'X'. Likewise, a receiver or dvd player that claims it can scale/deinterlace up to 1080p doesn't necessarily mean that it can accept 1080p as input.

Perhaps the marketing materials should spell that out more clearly but whenever possible it's always best if the buyer can verify the unit is capable of doing what he needs it to do before purchasing it.

 

[AVRat]

Nowhere, in the manual, website, anywhere that I can find do they say anything about video resolution input capabilities as a spec. That's just wrong! They do have in the manual as a note:

When the VIDEO MODE is set to "AUTO", "HDMI" or "COMPONENT", if 1080p video signals are input into the HDMI IN or the COMPONENT INs, no video signals will be output from the HDMI or the COMPONENT MONITOR OUTs regardless of VIDEO SCALING setting.

 

[Biggiesized]

How on Earth could they advertise the receiver as being HDMI 1.3 capable and not allow it to accept 1080p input? HDMI 1.0 allows 1080p input!

http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/hdmi-1.4-and-through-the-ages

 

[AVRat]

Well, just because it's HDMI 1.3 capable doesn't mean it uses everything that the 1.3 spec is capable of. A lot of gear is like that.

 

[scott911]

not a trivial omisison.

I agree with you AVRat, I wouldn't but an hdmi 1.4 reciever and then come home pissed because it wasn't handling 3D!

But, my inquiry is specific to the omission of handling 1080P - and the receiver's inability to simply pass through that content. That's a feature you can find on just about the cheapest units out there.

As a point of interest, I looked at today's front page of audioholics. A couple recievers are listed (1 Mar, 3 Onks) I read the specs, write-up, even went to Onkyos web page.

I didn't see any of those recievers saying either: "wow - the HDMI 1.3 accepts 1080p signals", nor did see any text saying "HMDI 3.1 ports will accept only up to 1080i"

All simply advertise a number of 1.3 HDMI ports. I think the safe and reasonable conclusion to make is that each of these is accepting 1080p.

That's what I have a problem with - if for whatever reason this unit can't handle what seems to be a pretty dominate standard offering among hdmi 1.3 class recievers, I think they should disclose it in the actual specs and advertising bullet points.

And btw, this is a currently model, $1K plus reciever....

 

[AVRat]

Totally agree. Been doing a little research on some other gear and it's amazing how little spec info is provided considering how much the gear is capable of. This is the reason I thoroughly research products before I make a purchase.

 

[strube]

And btw, this is a currently model, $1K plus reciever....

Can I ask what's with the secrecy? Why you won't come out and tell us exactly what receiver this is so it will benefit everyone, so nobody has to guess, and so if there were some way someone could assist it would be simpler (though at this point it sounds like that isn't necessary)?

It's not like you are slandering the company or anything, rather you are providing useful and extremely important information to potential consumers, just as any reviewer would.

I know you said you are trying to protect the manufacturer, but that really doesn't make sense to me. This seems like a situation where it would be unfair to not disclose the product, as it is a very big issue. You yourself recognize it, and are unhappy with it, and unless they plan on giving you an updated unit because this issue was not advertised, then they really aren't warranting any sort of protection, IMHO.

 

[scott911]

not so much secrecy as I didn't want to come across whining about something that I didn't know that much about.
AVRant figured it out right away - it is that Sherwood. Very nice machine otherwise...