My new 752 just arrived - I'm already in love with the sound, but I'm having an issue with video and thought I'd see if anyone had any suggestions.
I connected the receiver to my TV using the receiver's s-video output, and proceeded to go through the setup process. Setup worked fine, except that the background of the display has a very fuzzy background. When I connected other video inputs and tried to watch them through the receiver, they also display with a severe fuzziness. I haven't yet hooked up my DVD player and run component video through the receiver, so I'm not sure if I'll have the same problem there.
I can always keep my video sources connected directly to the TV, but given that this is a brand-new receiver I'd like the video switching to work properly. Has anybody had a similar experience? Any suggestions?
I own a T762 and have not had this problem, but I think I remember reading on a different thread that another 752 owner had a similar problem and that it was solved by replacing the s-video cable with with a higher quality cable. A lot of times, the cables that might be supplied with a VCR or DVD player or one that might be found at certain discount stores (you know...the ones where the employees where blue smocks) are of poor quality and are succeptable to interferance from other electronic devices. If you buy a new cable, keep the receipt and box and take it back if it doesn't improve.
I have a similar problem with my t752. I don't know if I would use the word "fuzzy", but "blocky" perhaps? It's hard to describe.
I only have the problem with the on-screen-display and when the box converts from composite to s-video (ie a vcr with RCA video out being converted to s-video before being sent to the tv). Are you seeing the nastyness when your input source is also s-video?
Also, what version of the firmware is your unit using? I don't know if that matters... I'm trying to find out myself if a firmware upgrade will make my blockiness on video conversion go away (I currently have 1.06, but should have 1.20 or 1.22 soon). You can check your version by pressing and holding the video and audo buttons at the same time on the unit.
Johnny, thanks for the feedback. If it keeps up I'll try another cable... This cable was not terribly cheap - entry level monster. Not crazy high-end but definitely not something a manufacturer just threw in.
Thanks again...
Any other thoughts/suggestions are most welcome!!!
Jack - thanks for your comments. I haven't yet tried an s-video input to see if the problem persists - maybe that is the problem. Did you try using a composite connection to the TV? Did the problem persist?
I have v 1.22 firmware... After all the problems I read about with the older versions I made sure of this before I bought. Have you had problems w/ your firmware?
I haven't played with it long, but so far the only problem I've seen is the one where you get a "click"ing noise when you change the volume in the mid- to loud- range (and also when moving through the onscreen display options).
The dealer had 2 752s... he let me take one home while he upgrades the other, then we'll switch. That way I don't miss out while it's being serviced ;)
I did try using a composite connection to the tv, and that looked just fine. My setup:
TV input 2 is s-video, connected to s-video monitor out. Tv input 3 is composite, connected to composite monitor out. 752 dvd satellite input is s-video 752 input 6 (for my playstation 2) is composite 752 vcr input is composite.
If I watch a dvd (s-video) and tv is on input 2 (s-video), all is crystal clear. If I play playstation (composite) or watch the vcr (composite) on tv input 2 (s-video), it's all blocky/fuzzy. If I play playstation or watch the vcr on tv input 3 (composite), all is well again.
Unfortunately, I didn't think to try watching a s-video input on the composite tv input. Maybe I'll try that tonight.
Now that you mention it, I think I remember reading somewhere (a manual, maybe) that the on-screen display is output on the composite outs... maybe it's nasty because I'm looking at it off the s-video? That's another experiment for tonight.
Hope that's a little helpful. I'll let you know how my experiments turn out tomorrow. I was hoping the nasty picture problem would be fixed by the firmware upgrade, but if you have 1.22 maybe it's just a sucky conversion process.
My dealer didn't even know it could do the conversion from composite to s-video, though, so I'm not TOO bummed out. I guess other high-end brands (like Rotel) don't in order to keep costs down. It sounds like a call to a NAD service guy might not be a bad idea if we get it narrowed down to their video "transcoder" (that's what they call it in the manual, anyways). Maybe they just designed it crappy, but maybe they have a fix for it too.
Just a question...maybe I can learn something useful for my 762...why do you have both the composite and s-video going from the receiver to the tv? The way I understand it is that you only need one or the other...not both. Plus...at least on mine...the OSD can be carried via either one...not just composite as you said. Maybe just try using one of the two cables from the receiver to the tv...not both. See if this clears things up. Just a thought...but maybe the receiver gets "confused" (I know...bad term...but I couldn't think of anything better) when you use both outputs.
Hmmm... good question, Johnny. I think I hooked up the composite as well as the s-video because I didn't think it could do the conversion at first. I'll try disconnecting one tonight.
I didn't mean that the osd couldn't be carried on the s-video, just that internally it might be generated as a composite and then converted to s-video before the monitor outputs (and thus would suffer from the same conversion artifacts I'm seeing now with other composite to s-video conversion). Pure speculation, though.
I like the idea of "unconfusing" it, though. I'll give that a try. Although I thought using both was supposed to be viable, I've seen wierder things happen ;)
Jack, I think your thoughts about the s-video to composite are probably right... It's supposed to do conversion but maybe it just doesn't do it well, which is just fine with me - rather have them put the effort into the audio circuitry anyway.
I'll try setting it up something like yours - s-video in to s-video out (for vcr), composite in to composite out (for ps2), and component-in to compenent-out for my dvd player and xbox.
thanks again for your help! i'll post back after i've played around some more and let you know what i learn.
After night #2 of playing with the 752, here's the results of my experiments:
1) The OSD, which looks crappy on s-video, looks just fine on the composite out. 2) Watching a s-video signal downconverted to the composite out looks fine (vice-versa looked nasty) 3) Unplugging the composite monitor out cable (so as to not "confuse" the unit with more than one monitor out style) had no effect.
Unfortunately, the notorious 752 curse came down on me hard last night and I started having the problems other people have been having. When I turned it on I got static on all channels for about 10 seconds (it gradually faded to a low level, but it was still there). And while I was checking out the static I noticed a low hum coming from my front speakers. Then I noticed my center channel was dead, and only a system reset would bring it back (which unfortunately erases all of your setup settings). Finally, I noticed that when switching from a digital to an analog source on the same input (my cable box does channels 1..99 in analog, 100-900 in digital) I get a loud static burst.
It's a damn shame... I really like the sound and feature set (especially for $550), but I can't abide the flakiness. I'm taking it to the dealer today with the list of problems. They're definitely updating the firmware, but I'll make sure they address all of the issues (nasty-looking composite to s-video conversion included). In the meantime he's letting me test drive a Rotel RSX972. It's $100 more and lacks some features (only 5.1, no prologic II) but it has a 5 year warranty and the Rotel stuff is supposed to be flawless.
Thanks for the additional info. Very disappointing to hear about your problems - I knew I was taking a bit of a risk with the 752, and now I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Some of the problems you describe are (from what I've heard) related to the firmware - hopefully that will leave me OK, and you OK once it's updated. Please keep me posted!!!
I just bought an NAD 753 yesterday and I am having sort of a grainy picture when I try to run my VCR through the receiver (composite to S video, I guess). I also noticed a hum on the VCR output, but none on the other outputs. Finally, I cannot get the sound to work on my DVD output. I have a component video cable going from my DVD player directly into my TV. Picture is great. I tried to run the sound through the receiver using a Coax cable out of the DVD player into "Coax 3" input on the receiver. No sound, and I have tried all kinds of configurations via the receiver's OSD.
Robert - Jonathan is right. You need to select Coax 3 as the input for DVD using the OSD.
As for the grainy picture, I had the same problem. The receiver cannot really convert composite to S-Video, and if you try you'll get the graininess you saw. I've set mine up so that if it's an S-Video source into the receiver, I'm using S-Video output to the TV. If it's composite video into the receiver, I'm using composite to the TV. No graininess anymore...
I know it's quirky, but it's worth the trouble - had mine a few weeks now and I'm already hooked.
So how is that connected to the TV? Do you attach both composite and S-Video at the same time through the same SCART-converter (and will that work automatically?), or do you use different AV inputs on the TV depending on what you are using as video output and switch manually between them?
I use different A/V inputs on the TV and switch manually depending on the source type. It's a bit of a pain (makes switching less than the seamless experience i hoped for), but the upconversion from composite to s-video doesn't seem to work on most receivers that promise the feature.
Will is right. I use S video from my vcr to the receiver and then to the tv for VCR viewing and OSD. The DVD connects component to the TV and optical to the NAD. Satellite is component to the TV. Whoo! You have to make sure that everything has enough connections. I was lucky I could watch VCR through the S-Video. The TV ran out of other inputs.