I haven't studied receivers close enough until yesterday when I noticed a review say that a JVC with HDMI made non-HD channels upconvert to 1080p. So does this mean all my channels can look like my DVDs do through my upconverting DVD player? If so I am saving my money starting now!
Also I have a 50 inch Panasonic Plasma that only does 1080i...Does anyone have any recommendations of a reciever that does the upconverting plus will push my Polk R300s and my Polk CSR center to sound good (89db sensitivity)? I'm thinking the Onkyo TX-SR605 or 674.
I'm thinking anything but, Stang. I am not very helpful in the video conversion game, but a lot of other componants will do audio better.
A good friend called last night for a rec, and I am in the middle of specing it for him today.
The Pioneer Elite is looking good for him, with all the features he needs. Digital cable box is new, need DTS. The power looks OK, but only that, but he doesn't have, and will not get, speakers better than the paper ones he has now. I bet a Pioneer would run the polks.
You ought to get your friend to do like I did and slowly replace his speakers with the cheaper ones from Polk. frys.com carries the Polk R150 for $50+shipping. I also bought some Polk R300s for $30 each from H&H Gregg and the Polk CSR for $80 from there also. If he slowly upgrades piece by piece as deals come up it won't be too bad for him.
I figure I'm out of pocket about $200 for 5 surround speakers when I'm done since I don't plan on replacing my JVC sub for a while.
Oh btw I think I'm still trying to get an understanding of whether or not it's worth getting an upconverting receiver to upconvert my DirectTV non-HD channels.
Depending on your monitor, the quality of upconversion is a hit or miss proposition. Even under ideal circumstances, you will not realize true HD from 480i broadcasts. You may see marginal improvement or none at all. I would not purchase an upconvertring receiver soley for DIRECTV usage.
I need a good new receiver but I'm mostly weighing whether or not it's worth paying extra for a receiver that will improve my DirectTV picture coming in. If a receiver can't improve my incoming picture like my upconverting DVD player does my movies then I'm only concerned with sound.
On a side thought I'm now running my picture through HDMI cables from my DirectTV to the TV and I've noticed a slight improvement over the old way I was doing it (S-Video etc). Is my DirectTV box improving my video to it's best right now maybe?
Maybe. By using a digital stream (HDMI) instead of an analog one (S-video) you might notice a cleaner picture. But the difference on most standard definition programming would likely be slight. You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. If you think that an upconverting receiver will make standard definition broadcasts come anywhere close to HD, you will be sadly disappointed.