Yamaha RX-V1900 & HDMI questions

[Lexus23]

I have just upgraded to the above Yamaha 1900 AV Receiver and this is my first venture into HDMI. The 1900 has 4 HDMI 1.3a inputs. I have read so much about HDMI switching, repeaters, pass through, video conversion, and video upgrade that I am very confused.

1) I understand that an HDMI can pass both audio and video over the single cable. And that HDMI has a 2 way communication with the equipment that it is attached to.
2) I understand "switching" is just the ability of a receiver to switch the signal of the vars equipment attached to the receiver so only 1 HDMI cable to the TV is necessary.
3) I understand "video conversion" is the receiver can convert lower grade input connections to HDMI so that equipment connected to the receiver with component, composite, or S-video do not need their own specific type of connection to the TV (all will be converted to go thru the HDMI connection).
4) I understand "video upgrading" is the receiver can upconvert or upscale the video output of the equipment attached to it into a higher resolution up to 1080p for output to the TV.
5) I understand that "pass thru" in its most basic form simply passes thru both the video and audio from the attached equipment to the TV - no processing of either, basically a convienence factor used in conjunction with switching above.

What I cant seem to understand is the more advanced "pass thru" where the receiver has the optional abilities to process the audio (repeater?) and/or the video.

For example, plug my DVD via HDMI into my Yamaha and the Yamaha via HDMI into my HD TV.
1) Does the receiver intercept the audio to decode it and process it thru the attached speakers? And then let the video portion pass thru unprocessed to the TV?
2) If yes to the above, how does the receiver upgrade or upscale the video portion?
3) Since my TV upscales video inputs, do I want one or the other to do it (either the TV or the receiver but not both)?
4) What if I dont want to turn on the receiver and simply watch a DVD thru the TV and TV speakers?
a) Does the receiver have to be turned on just to pass thru the unprocessed signals?
b) Does the receiver have to be somehow told not to process either the audio or video signals?

What about the 2 way communications that HDMI is supposed to have between attached equipment?

In my example above is the DVD talking with the receiver and the receiver talking with the TV? How does the TV know there is a DVD sending the audio & video signal if the receiver is in the middle?

Thanks to any and all who can answer all my questions.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum! Let me try to answer some of your questions.

1) Does the receiver intercept the audio to decode it and process it thru the attached speakers? And then let the video portion pass thru unprocessed to the TV?

You can set it up to either process the audio through the attached speakers or to pass the audio on to the TV. That's covered on page 80 of the owner's manual. The receiver will pass on the video to the TV regardless of how you set up the audio.

2) If yes to the above, how does the receiver upgrade or upscale the video portion?

The video menus begin on page 80 of the owner's manual. Upconversion is covered starting on page 80, and upscaling is covered on page 81.

3) Since my TV upscales video inputs, do I want one or the other to do it (either the TV or the receiver but not both)?

I'd suggest that you try both options and decide which one looks the best to you.

4) What if I dont want to turn on the receiver and simply watch a DVD thru the TV and TV speakers?
a) Does the receiver have to be turned on just to pass thru the unprocessed signals?

After searching through the owner's manual, I believe that it does have to be on in order to have HDMI information passed through it.

b) Does the receiver have to be somehow told not to process either the audio or video signals?

Yes to audio, no to video (well, it will always pass the video, but you can tell it not to process it). You'd need to set the "HDMI Audio" to "AMP+TV" as described on page 80 of the owner's manual.

 

[Djizasse]

Oh my god Adam! You keep doing it

 

[Lexus23]

Adam,
Thanks alot for your reply and time spent to help me out on this. Dont know how I missed this in the manual - just overwhelmed I guess.
Take away is that it appears to me that "HDMI Pass Through" really refers to only the Audio portion of the HDMI signal, and the Video portion always goes through - options being straight pass thru (unprocessed) or upgraded/upscaled by the receiver.

FYI/FMI, in a previous post regarding "HDCP Receiver with Repeater Architecture" a Michael J Human stated:
My receiver, the Yamaha RX-V3900 will let me choose among 2 options for HDMI passthrough when the receiver is in standby mode.
1) Last input selected
2) Fixed input
So if you just wanted TV from a DVR or set top box of some sort, you set it to that input. When you put the receiver in standby mode, it will send that signal to the TV.
If you want to choose among multiple devices, you would have to turn the receiver on, switch inputs, then put it back into standbye.

The V1900 is in the same series as the V3900 with the V3900 being the higher more expensive model, but I dont see any reference to this feature in my V1900 manual. So I guess the V1900 receiver has to be ON in order to pass anything thru the HDMI cable.

 

[Lordoftherings]

FYI/FMI, in a previous post regarding "HDCP Receiver with Repeater Architecture" a Michael J Human stated:
My receiver, the Yamaha RX-V3900 will let me choose among 2 options for HDMI passthrough when the receiver is in standby mode.
1) Last input selected
2) Fixed input
So if you just wanted TV from a DVR or set top box of some sort, you set it to that input. When you put the receiver in standby mode, it will send that signal to the TV.
If you want to choose among multiple devices, you would have to turn the receiver on, switch inputs, then put it back into standbye.

The V1900 is in the same series as the V3900 with the V3900 being the higher more expensive model, but I dont see any reference to this feature in my V1900 manual. So I guess the V1900 receiver has to be ON in order to pass anything thru the HDMI cable.

So my guess is that you don't own the 1900, or if you do, did you check if that feature works?

 

[Adam]

So my guess is that you don't own the 1900.

I believe that the OP does indeed own the 1900.

Don't be thrown off by the quote of Michael's text, which wasn't put into the normal quote box. Michael own's the 3900.

 

[Lordoftherings]

I believe that the OP does indeed own the 1900.

Don't be thrown off by the quote of Michael's text, which wasn't put into the normal quote box. Michael own's the 3900.

No, Adam, I'm not thrown off, Michael is absolutely right. I will also add that Michael is a very nice guy with lots of knowledge and a great attitude.
He is a very valuable person, helping many people here and at AVS.
Michael is the Yamaha man.

The 3900 and the Z7 for sure have the option of sending an HDMI signal through them, even with the receiver turn "Off" (Standby).

Then if the OP does in fact own the 1900, he should be able to see if that feature is also applicable to his receiver. That's what I was referring to.
I'm searching right now as I speak to see any mention of this for the 1900.

But I know for a fact that the 3900 an the Z7 have that capability, and I believe that the 1900 has it too.

Bob

 

[Adam]

I checked the 1900 yesterday or the day before (for another thread), and I could find no mention of that capability in the owner's manual for that unit - which is in complete agreement with what the OP stated.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Confirmation.

^ I can now confirm this also.

After several searchs, I found out that only the Yamaha RX-Z7 and the RX-V3900 have an HDMI Pass-Through mode (that can pass signals with the receiverr off).

HDMI-Through (Z7 & V3900 only), can route HDMI signals to either ouput (the 2 HDMI outs) when the receiver is in Standby. You can also set it to route the "last-used" source, or to lock onto a "particular" one regardless of which source was last selected.
[This could be wonderfully useful for quick, "catch the news" TV viewing from a cable or satellite tuner, for example, or for a two-screen setup where you use a front-projector system for serious home theater viewing and a smaller LCD screen for the daytime.]

Voila, it is now confirmed and official, only the Z7 and the V3900 have that capability.

Bob

 

[CNY Audio Guy]

Yamaha 1900 or 3800 video processing capabilities

In the "Home Theater Magazine June 2008" review on video processing of mid-priced AVR receivers both the Yamaha 3800 & Z11 were poorly rated for video processing; specifically " Surprisingly, there was absolutely no processing for HD signals at all. Even with analog sources, the AVR would simply pass the video through. This is better than applying a video solution that cannot handle a 1080i source properly, but we would still like to see receivers move toward solutions that can at least deinterlace 1080i to 1080p now that there is so much 1080i broadcast HD out there".

I have (4) Yahama receivers so I enjoy the audio features but now am looking for a new AVR and originally considered the Yamaha 3800 ( My Yamaha 1600 is most current with HDMI 1.1 v).

My questions:

1. why would I purchase a AVR with only "pass through" ( no video editing).

2. The comment of the HT mag reviewer makes sense; I want my cable 1080i digital signal upconverted to 1080p; what receivers today in the $2,000 range do a decent job of scaling and upconverting but HD & SD sources?

Thanks

 

[Adam]

Hi. If the video source signal isn't at the same resolution as your television, it will be scaled. The issue is simply where will it be scaled and which component will do the best job. The scaling can be done at the source (e.g. upscaling DVD player), between the source and the TV (e.g. receiver), or at the TV itself.

If you send a 480i signal to a television with a 1920x1080 resolution, the television will scale the signal to match its native resolution. It has to. If the scaler in the TV is a good one, then there's no reason to do any scaling before hand (with either an upscaling DVD player or a video processor in a receiver).