Why route video cable through receiver? (1 Viewer)

[Philip Hamm]

I know this is really old skool, but......
It sure is nice to have the Outlaw prepro menus available no matter what source I am viewing. Of course, this requires all S-Video hook-ups which puts me in the Home Theater stone age. But that old Mitsubishi NTSC set still holds up!

 

[RickER]

My LD, and DVD audio go through my receiver. They also go to the TV. As was said who wants to fire up the receiver just to watch the news. But then again, i don't watch much "TV" i watch movies, and special shows in a home theater, such as it is! LOL I find mono movies sound better on my TV speakers rather than my Paradigm center channel. Now my cable TV is sent to my monster power strip/surge protector before it goes to my TV. I think that is only smart. Any thoughts on that one guys?

 

[Philip Hamm]

who wants to fire up the receiver just to watch the news.

The way I see it, with a receiver and speakers, who would ever want to use the TV speakers for anything?

 

[Garrett Adams]

Philip, same here. The first day I got my Sony HDTV I turned off its' internal speakers. Not that they weren't good, they were; but they were no match for the 7.1 bad boys in the vicinity.

 

[Michael Reuben]

It sure is nice to have the Outlaw prepro menus available no matter what source I am viewing.

Having recently upgraded to a unit that does component switching and is capable of displaying its menus even with component sources, all I can say is that I agree.
M.

 

[NicholasL]

Isn't the simplest solution just to use RCA, S-video, or component cables from ALL your gear into the reciever. Then just a simply component cable from the receiver to the TV. That way, all signals will be maximized in quality since it is going through component. The only downfall is you'll have to spend a little extra cash on an extra component cable.

 

[Andrew Pezzo]

I like to think of my receiver as the hub for my HT. All of my gear goes into this and then one S-Video connection to my TV. I also have the standard cable wire going from the VCR to the TV because I record a fair amount of TV. It makes switching components much easier if your remote doesn't have macros.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Isn't the simplest solution just to use RCA, S-video, or component cables from ALL your gear into the reciever. Then just a simply component cable from the receiver to the TV.

That only works if your receiver upconverts everything to component format. And frankly I'm not interested in having a receiver perform such conversions. I prefer that the signal reach the display without being altered by a unit whose primary function is to process audio signals.

M.

 

[BrianWoerndle]

Nicholas, Michael is right. Very few receivers will upconvert the video for you.

On that note, my Denon 3803 does upconvert to component. And Michael, you would be surprised, it does it very well. And talk about convience. I have all three types of sources (mostlty S-Video, but that old 2nd VCR is still composite). I have 7 different video sources in all going into my receiver, and just one compnent cable going to the TV. I never have to change the TV channel, no matter what source I am using. Everything is done through the receiver. And I have not noticed any signal degradation.

Also, my receiver will let you record source A to source B while watching source C. Very handy for dubbing tapes so you don't have to sit there and watch the whole thing.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I know some people dont like the idea of fireing up the receiver to just watch TV, but the world is changing.

You DO know that HDTV has Dolby Digital as it's built-in sound format? Does any of your HDTV's have 5.1 speakers built into the TV? Of course not.

If you dont use your receiver for HDTV, you are simply missing out on the surround experience. (No, you dont loose any sound, but all the sound comes from just 2 TV speakers.) Even with an ordinary TV, many things offer ProLogic (Dolby Surround).

My advice: get used to fireing up the receiver with the TV. You are going to be doing it anyway. Dont try to 'baby' the receiver/speakers and increase it's life by only using it for DVD's. (That's whats behind a lot of this concern, right?)

 

[ScottRCapt]

Greetings,

I am new here, but if I can I would like to add another point of view to this discussion.

On the question of signal degradation occurring when running video signals through a HT receiver. This was a factor that I did not consider when I bought my Kenwood VR-6060. I did route all of my video through the receiver and everything worked as I thought it should. I was quite happy with my setup and yes, the S.O. thought I had too many “toys”.

That was until I started to notice the video signal dropping out on my T.V. like a I was viewing a bad video tape on brand new DVD's playing in my Sony CX-850D, especially during demanding portions of video/audio portions in the DVD's like the explosive scenes in XXX etc. I thought I had a laser alignment problem with the Sony DVD player.

But then I also noticed in digital programming from my local Time Warner Cable Company, when changing channels the signal would be pixilated from the top of the screen on my 32"RCA slowly to the bottom, almost like watching a slow screensaver on a computer monitor.

I looked into this problem a bit further and discovered that my Kenwood 6060 only has 10Mhz of component video bandwidth available.

Quote below from Crutchfield.

"Component Video Bandwidth"

"The bandwidth available to send component video signals to your receiver. You'll need bandwidth over 10 MHz to pass on progressive-scan video without noticeable softening of the picture. And for HDTV signals, you'll need bandwidth in the upper 20s or higher to avoid noticeable softening of the picture (with most TVs)"

I am assuming that the entire video hardware in my Kenwood is less than spectacular. And today I placed an order for a brand new Sony DA4ES, which has 50hz of component video bandwidth (along with a lot of other specs that the Kenwood cannot match up to). I am chalking up my faux paux as a life lesson; I had thought I was getting a good deal with the Kenwood. I only proved that you get what you pay for.

So... Check your spec's before you route the video through your surround sound receiver. It may not be up to the task. Especially you other Kenwood brethren out there, unless you own a Sovereign line Kenwood, keep shopping.

:b